Picturing America's Pastime

Picturing America’s Pastime
June 27, 2026 – January 24, 2027
 
“The greatest of all, the game which seems to breathe the restless spirit of American life, that calls for quick action and quicker thinking, that seems characteristic of a great nation itself, is baseball.”
– Photographer Charles M. Conlon, 1913
 
As baseball became our “National Pastime” in mid-19th century America, a new art – photography – was there to document the sport. From the grandeur of the early game to the vibrancy of today’s big league action, almost every facet of baseball has been captured in sepia, black-and-white and color. Baseball and photography grew up together, each becoming more refined and gaining in popularity during the mid-19th century.
Preserving the historic connections between baseball and photography, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Cooperstown, New York, maintains a collection of over 50,000 unique images, and is the world’s largest repository of baseball photos.
Organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Picturing America’s Pastime will make its only Southeastern United States stop at the Upcountry History Museum. Commemorating the interconnected worlds of baseball and photography, the exhibition takes visitors beyond the standard highlights of baseball history. Fifty-one rarely seen photos, spanning a period from 1866 to 2012, reveal the full landscape of our national pastime. Each photo includes a historic quote along with detailed captions, highlighting little-known information about the players and the photographers.
Connecting Upstate SC local history to national history is a priority of the Upcountry History Museum. The Picturing America’s Pastime traveling exhibition includes Greenville, SC’s own Shoeless Joe Jackson. In partnership with the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, the Upcountry History Museum will commemorate Jackson’s legacy along with other Upcountry South Carolina baseball legends through archival materials, artifacts and memorabilia.
 
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