The New-York Historical Society has acquired the archive of tennis great Billie Jean King .
The museum said yesterday it includes documents, objects, personal scrapbooks and photographs. Highlights include her 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the first to be awarded to a female athlete.
Other items include a patriotic Philadelphia Freedoms team dress that inspired a song by friend Elton John. King wore it during the 1974 inaugural season of the World Team Tennis league, which she co-founded.
King won 39 Grand Slam titles and lobbied for pay equality in the sport. She famously beat Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes" match on Sept. 20, 1973.
The National Tennis Centre, which hosts the US Open, was renamed for her in 2006.
Selected items will go on view at the museum's Centre for Women's History, slated to open next spring.
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