James Newton "Jesse" Duryea, Pitcher, Cincinnati, from the Old Judge series (N172) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1888 - 1889

Editor: This is a photograph, a gelatin silver print, of James Newton "Jesse" Duryea, a baseball pitcher for Cincinnati. It’s from the "Old Judge" series, dating from 1888 to 1889, by Goodwin & Company. It looks like it was originally a cigarette card. What catches my eye is the sepia tone and how staged he looks, like a character from a play. What do you make of it? Curator: The sepia tones and the "Old Judge" title absolutely reek of nostalgia, don't they? The photograph serves as a kind of cultural shorthand. Beyond baseball, consider what a cigarette card represents: fleeting pleasure, an accessible luxury. To immortalize a baseball player on one...what message does *that* send? Editor: It connects fame, leisure, and even perhaps a certain "coolness", doesn't it? Cigarettes were status symbols. Curator: Precisely. And the sepia tone further adds to this cultural myth-making. It harkens back to a seemingly simpler, more romantic past. Observe Duryea himself: not captured in action, but posed reverently. Editor: So the image acts as more than just a picture; it’s reinforcing ideas and values. Is that the visual symbolism you were alluding to? Curator: Exactly. It’s carefully curated image designed to sell both cigarettes and a dream. What stories and longings does that reveal about the era in which it was made and consumed? Editor: That's really interesting, the idea that an image, especially one attached to a product, is loaded with so much cultural significance beyond its surface. I’ll never look at trading cards the same way again! Curator: And hopefully, this nuanced perspective will encourage you to see how historical and cultural values intertwine and reverberate through time via the imagery that surrounds us!