Named one of​ ​​​Life​ ​magazine's "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century" and the first member of the LGBT community to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Billie Jean King carries a legacy far beyond her 39 Grand Slam titles. Over her long career, she leveraged her role as a public figure to champion human rights, challenge discrimination, and fight for gender equality.

Two temporary installations on our fourth floor highlight King’s 1970s advocacy on behalf of women in sports, and her place in the larger narrative of women’s history. Part of the Center for Women’s History, the cases feature items from the Billie Jean King Archive, donated to the New-York Historical Society in 2016, as well as other more recent King-related acquisitions.

See the Ted Tinling dress she wore at Wimbledon in 1982; her signature Adidas sneakers from the early 1970s​​; and​ ​the Essex Bowl she received​ ​after winning the Essex County Country Club Ladies’ Invitational Tennis Tournament a record three times.