1st Base, from the Girl Baseball Players series (N48, Type 2) for Dixie Cigarettes 1886 - 1888

Curator: This unassuming card, "1st Base, from the Girl Baseball Players series (N48, Type 2) for Dixie Cigarettes," comes to us from somewhere between 1886 and 1888, courtesy of Allen & Ginter. It’s currently part of the collection here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Gosh, it's... charmingly sepia. Feels like peering into a slightly faded, but persistent, dream. She's so poised! Yet there's a realness that transcends the sort of cheesecake images that sold tobacco back in the day. Curator: Precisely. It's not merely an image; it's an artifact laden with social implications. Note how the conventions of female representation at the time clash – or perhaps subtly negotiate – with the emergent idea of women in sports. The advertisement connects idealized womanhood to athleticism. A subtle nod to both physical strength and the brand. Editor: Right, the pose, those high socks... There’s almost a Victorian rigidity there, an insistence that femininity remain despite this radical act of *playing* baseball! But look at the intensity in her eyes, she's not messing around. It's a quiet revolution captured on cardstock. Curator: It speaks volumes about shifting societal expectations and desires at the time. In some ways it feels predictive, offering an opportunity for women outside the domestic sphere, connecting athletic prowess with desirable consumer goods. Think about that tension between tradition and aspiration. And now the card itself – initially designed as a throwaway bit of advertising. Editor: Ends up preserving an era! A little rebel frozen in a fleeting moment in front of some baseball field, gazing at us now across over a century! It's a reminder that history whispers even in the most unexpected places, on trading cards, in cigarette boxes. Curator: Exactly. It reveals that the construction of social ideas regarding gender are always performed even in everyday objects. Editor: This snapshot of a girl on 1st base prompts me to root for a broader understanding of who "we" were, and perhaps, a less stereotypical vision of what "we" are becoming.