Any ideas where these old team photos came from?

[Chris Counts]

A friend asked me to post these. He's curious where they come from. They are printed on thin magazine-style paper, but they have blank backs. They seem to depict some of the best 19th century teams, as well as one 20th century team. Some have the team's name and year written on the back in pencil. They range in size from about 3x4 inches to about 4x7 inches. The writing on the back looks very old. It's too bad that somebody doodled all over them. In addition to what I've posted, there's another nine baseball team photos, plus a handful of Revolutionary War scenes. Any help offered is appreciated ...

[Old Hoss]

They are very likely cut out of 19th- and early 20th-century books. For example, I think the color image at the bottom is out of Harry Clay Palmer's Sights Around the World With the Base Ball Boys book published in 1893 (or is it 1892?). I will defer to the book and publication experts here for further details.

Hope this helps,
Charles

[barrysloate]

The color plate is actually from Palmer's Athletic Sports in America. It shows the Chicago White Stockings and the All-American team of all stars at the Villa Borghese in Italy, during the 1888-89 around the world baseball tour. I suspect the other photographs are cut out from various turn of the century baseball books.

[bmarlowe1]

FWIW, those are the 1889 Boston and Louisville teams.

[smokelessjoe]

Correct me if I am wrong... There appears to be a red border / edge / trim around ALL of the images you posted???

Is this hand colored in or is it part of the printed image?

If it is part of the print - then I would think these were cut from the same place?

[Chris Counts]

Shawn, at first I thought the red might be printed, but on one of the non-sport images, there are doodles in red that match the patterns of the other doodles, which are in blue.

[smokelessjoe]

I see... So are you thinking someone traced each image in red and then cut it out?

[Old Hoss]

Thanks for the correction, Barry. I knew it was Palmer, just mixed up the actual books! Sorry for the initial misinformation.

Best,
Charles

[aquarius31]

Actually several of the team photos have been trimmed and removed directly from the Palmer's Athletic Sports in America, England and Australia book. The color plate is on page 373 and is titled "The Chicago and All-American Teams Ready for Play at Villa Borghese, Rome." I also see the Baltimore, Indianapolis and Louisville team photos in the same book and each have the blank backs.

I don't know about the origin of the other items although it is likely that they also came from a late 19th or early 20th century book. It's too bad that someone would have cut these out of larger items. Many of the full page color and b/w illustrations in these books have blank backs.

I do not believe that any of the non-Palmer photos are actual supplements from period newspapers including the Temple Cup composite. If they were a supplement, they would typically include the newspaper source and possibly a serial # (below scans are small but both show the source of NY recorder and a portion of the serial #). Additionally, supplement paper tends to be slightly thicker. You can see that this ebay auction has no source indicator and it looks similar to the one you've posted except for the missing white borders in your post.