The Deadball Era (1900-1920) saw the infancy of baseball photography. The era witnessed the birth of first news/photo services and the rise of the careers of some the most famous names in the baseball photography collecting hobby. Silver gelatin prints became the dominant format and stamping the backs of photos become the primary means by which photographers and photo services would identify their work product. The stamps have become a primary key for determining the provenance, i.e. the photographer and date, of Deadball photos. The series of research articles posted on this site are not meant to constitute a definitive guide on baseball photography from the Deadball Era, but rather as a sort of Rosetta Stone in aid in revealing the information that the stampings can provide.
For an overall introduction to baseball photography collecting I would recommend the excellent A Portrait of Baseball Photography issued in 2005 by Marshall Fogel, Khyber Oser and Henry Yee. It is the absolute best resource for an understanding all things related to vintage baseball photographs. It introduces and explains a “Type” system for photographs, explains how the photos were made and what to look for in determining the age of the photographic paper, etc. The book covers the gamut of the 20th century, however such an all encompassing book is by its nature limited in the depth of detail it go into on any one particular photographer or issuer.
The series of research articles here is meant to dive into greater detail on the photographic stampings of major photographers and photo services of the Deadball Era. While textual explanation is provided, most users will rely on the images of the stamps and the date ranges listed for them. The best way to view them is to watch for the subtle evolution over time of the stamps for any particular photographer or issuer. Viewed in this manner the logic and symmetry of the dating will be visibly apparent to the viewer.
Many of the stamps are able to be dated with precision, with many more narrowed to a several year window. The process of dating the stamps is an art and context is critical. Addresses on a stamp are almost always a key indicator as they can be correlated with a year based on internet research of when that issuer was in that place. It makes sense that most issuers would not use stamps with old addresses for very long after a move, after all a primary goal of the stamp was to help ensure the photos were returned at the end of their loan to a news service. Knowledge of the subject depicted in the photo is critical as well, if you have a photo image that was known to have been taken in a particular year based on uniform type of other visual clues it is very unlikely a older stamp would be applied to a later created image. More likely, the stamps shown would be the then current stamp of the issuer or one created and applied in a later year such as at the time of a future move or loan of the photo. While not usually absolutely determinative, stamps are highly probative for dating Deadball photographs.
I hope you find this series of research articles beneficial to your baseball photo collecting. If you have suggested additions, corrections or additional information to provide please do not hesitate to contact us as we are constantly updating the articles when new information comes to light.
Another great source for learning about photographic stamping is RMY Auctions, a photo auction house that has thousands upon thousands of baseball photographs on its site including the backs of the images which contains all of the stamping. They also have a very useful classification system for photographs as well which has also been widely accepted within the hobby.
