Influential pre-1920 card?

[Zan]

I have a unique opportunity to write about a baseball artifact and how it influenced 19th century baseball and the US. Here is the description of the assignment:


On your own, find a primary source having to do with baseball before 1920. The source may be a visual source (an advertisement, print, early baseball card, etc) or a textual source (an article, letter, novel, diary entry, etc). You must find your own source; you cannot use one of the sources provided on Blackboard. In order to do this independent research, you might want to talk to GMU’s research librarians. You also might want to consider a trip to the Library of Congress or, if you’re looking for an excuse to go, to the Baseball Hall of Fame Research Library.

Write a paper analyzing what the source and its context reveal about baseball and the 19th century. Be sure to make observations about both the game of baseball and the broader culture. In order to avoid simply providing a collection of observations, you should provide a thesis that says something like: “this document reveals three primary truths….”

I really want to write about a card, but my specialty is 1930's and 40's. Any help here?

Brian