Interesting. I have a modest collection of folk board games, some of which date back to those my father made in recreation workshops conducted by E.O,Harbin in the 1930s. Chinese Checkers was originally a Swedish game, Halma, which is played from the corners of a square board instead of the points of a hexagram; Othello a Chinese Fan Mein which entered Europe as an Italian game, Reversi; and several taken from variants on the Japanese game Go, such as Go Ban and Go Moko Narabi.
The University of Winipeg has a library of games, which are used in extension work from their Department of Recreation. With that as a model, I attempted in 1996 to convince my MS alma mater, University of North Texas, to set up a similar library. Checking back in person a couple months later, the dean fled the department office to her private one and directed a secretary to tell me the proposal had been turned down, refusing even the courtesy of telling me in person. There is no written record of this other than my initial proposal.She was a replacement for the dean I had for my recreation courses, who had moved to head the department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Incidentally, I have Certification in Municipal Recreation Administration from the International City Managers Association.