Adding context and meaning.....
 

Whenever I get an item I try to add some historical context to it. What is the story behind the item? - it adds some much more meaning to an item and creates a greater connection to the piece.

This innocuous early football cabinet had been staring at meet for months on ebay. It was initially over-priced and just didn’t call out to me (partially because it is a bit roached, and the seller could not identify it other than “Cornell”). I finally pulled the trigger with a $30 offer that was accepted. When it arrived I took an initial stab at identifying the team, but gave up after a while. Finally put some more effort into it, an identified the team as 1906, and a pretty successful team coached by “Pop” Warner.

From a yearbook I was able to pull many images of the games the team played…this picture of crowd waiting for the Returns from the Princeton game gives an idea of how important the team and football was in the fabric of people’s lives back then…… Suddenly this $30 item has so much more “value” to me.

http://antiquesportscollector.com/CUFBCabinet.html

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Single-Wing???
 

..and so the research continues...now I am starting to get excited...

is this 1906 cabinet the earliest image of Pop Warner's legendary 'Single-Wing Formation'?? Check out these two articles..

https://tombenjey.com/category/frank-hudson/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-wing_formation

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Great detective work, Joe! I love to "add context and meaning" but most of my attempts are fruitless. I am soon to acquire an item that I will be asking for help on the "context and meaning" front. :D

Great job Joe. I enjoy doing the same. The historical journey is the fun part!

Rob M

I recently grabbed from RMY the 1945 signing of Jackie with Montreal. The photo itself is not mind blowing, but the context and story is. When the image and the context are superior, you've got magic. The Joe D just posted in the 2016 Pickups thread is a great example. I just picked up another cool photo with a cool story once I did a little reading. Will post when I get it in.

another example...
 

another example...for 20 years (literally, not kidding) I have stared at these football RPPCs. I love them and they are framed in the hallway leading to my office. I could not pinpoint what year/game, so I just went on with enjoying them as is. Finally got a clue (or at least put more effort in) and determined they were 1909, which led me to confirming they were from the 1909 Cornell - Chicago football game. That allowed me to confirm who and what was happening in each image as I tied it to early news articles.

They are also photographed by J.P.Troy, the official university photographer for many years. I have become an avid collector of Troy athletic images, and for each I try to add some historical context. In the link you will also see a 1923 Troy RPPC from the Cornell-Williams game, and a Program from that game. There is an advertisement for J.P. Troy in the 1923 Cornell/Williams game program, advertising "Pictures and Postcards of this Game will be on sale on Monday". What's cool is having the actual RPPC from this game that was sold by Troy at the Co-Op that Monday.

http://antiquesportscollector.com/JPTroy.html

one more..
 

One more…picked up this 1916 Cornell-Michigan Football Game RPPC (J.P. Troy), and the Bear Mascot postcard from the game. The led me to a whole history of the Cornell Bear Mascot “Touchdown”.

http://antiquesportscollector.com/CUMich1916.html

last one..
 

last one..I promise ;). Got this fantastic 1914 RPPC of legendary Charles Barrett...which led me to researching the Photographer "Conlon"...which led to this cool 1914 news page with a Conlon ad, 1914 Federal League Baseball results, and the Harley Davidson ad...which made me realize I have a 1915 program with the exact RPPC of Barrett in it!!.....

...I love this hobby!!

http://antiquesportscollector.com/CURPPC01.html

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It doesn't have to be the last one, Joe. I enjoy reading stuff like this. Keep posting them as you discover them. :)

Context
 

I couldn't agree more with all you guys. The context of the item makes all the difference to me--and often becomes a search all in itself. I think that's what we call fun.