Decker, Catcher, Philadelphia, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1887 - 1890

Curator: It feels sepia-toned even before I know it’s an albumen print! There’s such a melancholy beauty in its antiquated aesthetic, you know? Like looking back through a very specific window in time. Editor: Indeed. This is "Decker, Catcher, Philadelphia" from the Old Judge series (N172) created between 1887 and 1890 for Old Judge Cigarettes by Goodwin & Company. Albumen prints like this were essentially advertisements tucked into cigarette packs. Consider the vast industrial apparatus behind this. Curator: Exactly. It is about the American Dream, a sepia photograph carefully inserted within packaging for mass consumption, all carefully placed like dreams of another world… Or of success. What a contrast! The tobacco factories… Baseball players, caught in a moment’s time… Editor: Think about the chemistry involved, too: egg whites coating the paper, silver salts reacting to light, precise timing. And then the cutting, collating, the packaging—labor upon labor, all leading to mass-produced baseball cards in cigarette packs that romanticize this… past-time activity! Curator: True! It feels odd now… but back then, that might have been one of the most artistic or at least elevated item somebody from a certain part of the society could have… Editor: Elevate them... because then people could buy the item! The capitalist strategy... I wonder what happened to Decker. This little print, made possible by complex labor relations, tells a much broader story of industrial growth, baseball mania, and the art that emerges from those dynamics. Curator: It is amazing to ponder! How it managed to evolve into an item for a museum. You almost can feel this echo of someone who once carefully pulled it out a pack. Editor: From factory floor to gallery wall – material culture can travel some very unexpected paths.