B. Nash, 3rd Base, Boston, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1890

Curator: This photograph, titled "B. Nash, 3rd Base, Boston," hails from the Old Judge series, made between 1887 and 1890 by Goodwin & Company. It's an albumen print, originally used as a promotional item for Old Judge Cigarettes. What catches your eye about this image? Editor: There's a compelling stillness, almost melancholy. The sepia tone lends it an antique, ethereal quality. It evokes the nascent days of baseball and photography simultaneously. Curator: Indeed. Consider the materials: the albumen print, a laborious process, transforms a moment into a tangible object, a commodity meant to be collected, traded, and, ultimately, consumed with cigarettes. Editor: Baseball itself embodies a fascinating American mythology, a nostalgic symbol of a simpler, idealized past. Note his stance, almost reverential, suggestive of his important role; how different this is from the multi-media spectacle of sport today! The uniform, too, conveys the image of heroism in the everyday. Curator: And let's not forget the labor involved. From the players on the field to the factory workers producing the cigarettes and printing these cards, it's a portrait not just of B. Nash, but of an entire economic and social system at work. Each card like this served the industry, popularizing images through reproduction on everyday commodities like the packaging of a pack of cigarettes. Editor: Yet, within that context of commercial reproduction, it also granted ordinary players a form of immortality, fixing their image in a time when photographic portraiture was becoming more accessible to the common citizen. They have, as such, become totems themselves. Curator: Precisely. So, in essence, we're contemplating a confluence of commerce, labor, and popular culture all imprinted on this small, delicate albumen print. Editor: It’s remarkable how much symbolic and cultural weight can be carried by one of these early baseball cards. A potent distillation of turn-of-the-century American identity.