This 1930's lithograph (15" x 20") of Bill Carson of the Toronto Maple Leafs by National of New York came from the estate of a family in New York. It appears to be a lithograph that was then touched up with paint in various in order to highlight features of the player. It look just like the manner in which photographers used to touch up press photos in the early days in order to draw out certain details (a players face, team logo etc). I was told that this framed lithograph (along with the other one of Nels Stewart) hung in Madison Square Garden up until the late 1960's.
In the early 1920s, Bill went to the University of Toronto to study dentistry. While at the U of T he excelled on the varsity hockey team. In 1926, he joined the NHL's Toronto St. Pats and in 1927, he was a charter member of the new Toronto Maple Leafs. It is actually even rumored that he scored the first Maple Leaf goal! In 1928, Bill's contract was sold to the Boston Bruins and he scored the winning goal in the Bruins' first Stanley Cup. Unfortunately, his career seems to have been cut short by an arm injury he received while with the St. Pats. Although he only played in the NHL for four years, he also spent some time in the American Hockey League with the New Haven Eagles and, in later years, did some scouting as well. During his short career Bill Carson was one of the best and highest paid players in the NHL. After his career in hockey, Bill returned to practice dentistry, first in Aurora and eventually in Parry Sound. Bill Carson, nicknamed "Doc", died in Parry Sound in May of 1967.
Career Notes: Brother of Frank and Gerry; OHA-Sr. Second All-Star Team (1920, 1922, 1923); OHA-Sr. First All-Star Team (1921); Signed as a free agent by Toronto, April 16, 1926. Traded to Boston by Toronto for cash, January 25, 1929. Traded to London (IHL) by Boston for cash, November 24, 1930

Long before the Detroit Red Wings were the Red wings, they were the Detroit Cougars. Detroit has its hockey history in the Western Hockey League team, the Victoria Cougars. On May 15, 1926, players were purchased when the entire roster of the Victoria Cougars was sold for $100,00.00. Charles King was named the club's first President and Art Duncan, who led the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL) in scoring while with the Vancouver in 1923-24 was named player-manager. Some of the other original players were Happy Holmes, Frank Frederickson, Jack Walker and Frank Foyston, all stars of the various western hockey leagues.
Due to a lack of a local arena, the Red Wings played their home games in Windsor Ontario, just across the river, making it the first professional franchise to have its home base in a foreign country. In their first year the Cougars, who kept the nickname from their former team, posted a 12W-28L-4T record, which secured them a last place finish in the NHL's then, 5 team American Division.
Changes happened quickly and after failing to entice Lester Patrick away from the New York Rangers, management signed Jack Adams, a former member of the Stanley Cup winning Ottawa Senators, as Manager. On November 22, 1927, the Cougars played their first game in the new Detroit Olympia. The Cougar's Johnny Sheppard scored the first goal in the new arena, as the Cougars lost to the Ottawa Senators 2-1.
In 1930, the Cougars changed their name to the Falcons and would eventually go on to be renamed the Cougars and then Red Wings. And as they say....the rest is history.

Frederick Arthur Stanley was born in London, England on January 15, 1841, the younger son of three-time Prime Minister of England, Edward George Geoffrey Stanley, the Fourteenth Earl of Derby. Educated at Eton and later at military college, Frederick Stanley received his commission in the Grenadier Guards, but opted for a political career shortly afterwards. He was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Preston, and later represented North Lancashire and Blackpool in the House of Commons. Lord Stanley was a Member of the British Parliament between 1865 and 1886, including a term as Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1885 and 1886. From 1886 to 1888, Stanley was president of the Board of Trade. On June 11, 1888, Lord Stanley succeeded the Marquis of Lansdowne as the sixth Governor-General of Canada, appointed by England's reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. Stanley's full title was the Right Honourable Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Earl of Derby, Baron Stanley of Preston, in the County of Lancaster, in the peerage of Great Britain, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. Although Lord Stanley lived in the official residence of the Governor-General, Rideau Hall, upon his move to Ottawa, he built a large summer home called Stanley House in order to indulge his love of fishing. It was located on the Baie des Chaleurs near the mouth of the Grand Cascapedia River on the Gaspe Peninsula. Today, Stanley House is a charming bed and breakfast destination.
Lord Stanley's term in office as Governor-General was uneventful, with the exception of his incomparable legacy to hockey. While in Canada, Stanley's children discovered exciting new winter pursuits, including snowshoeing, tobogganing, skating and playing hockey. His sons Algernon and Arthur formed a competitive hockey club called the Rideau Rebels, while his daughter Isobel was one of the first female hockey players in Canada. On March 18, 1892, the Governor-General asked Lord Kilcoursie, a vice-regal aide who played on the Rideau Rebels with Stanley's sons, to read a letter on his behalf to the Ottawa Athletic Association.
'I have for some time been thinking that it would be a good thing if there were a challenge cup, which would be held from year to year by the leading hockey club in the Dominion. Considering the general interest which hockey matches now elicit, and the importance of having the game played fairly and under rules generally recognized, I am willing to give a cup which shall be held from year to year by the winning club.'
Lord Stanley's offer was enthusiastically accepted, and he subsequently requested one of his aides, Captain Colville, to purchase an appropriate trophy. Known originally as the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the trophy was purchased for ten guineas ($48.67 at the time) and quickly became known as the Stanley Cup. The silver bowl was created in Sheffield, England but purchased in London, England and stood 7.28 inches tall and 11.42 inches in diameter. Today, this original Stanley Cup is kept on permanent display at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Lord Stanley insisted that the Cup remain a challenge trophy, presented for the amateur championship of Canada, and never become the property of any one team. The first Stanley Cup winner was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in 1893. In 1910, after having being awarded to both amateur and professional teams, the Stanley Cup was awarded exclusively to professional teams. From the National Hockey League's formation in 1917 until 1926, the magnificent trophy was awarded to the winner of a playoff between the NHL and the Pacific Coast Hockey League. When the PCHL dissolved in 1927, the Stanley Cup was presented exclusively to NHL playoff champions.
Lord Stanley never witnessed either a championship hockey contest or his namesake trophy presented to a championship team. Stanley's term as Governor-General was scheduled to end in September 1893, however, in April of that year (midway through the hockey season), Stanley's brother, the Fifteenth Earl of Derby, died. Lord Stanley resigned the Governor-Generalship and returned home to England on July 15, 1893 to become the Sixteenth Earl of Derby. In 1893, he was appointed president of University College and when the University of Liverpool was established in 1903, Lord Stanley became the university's first Chancellor. Between 1895 and 1896, Lord Stanley served as the First Lord Mayor of Greater Liverpool and also later served as Mayor of Preston. Lord Stanley died at Knowsley, in Lancashire, on June 14, 1908.