Snapshots of the Past

Western High School girls' basketball, Wash., D.C. – Historic Print

Western High School girls' basketball, Wash., D.C., [ca. 1899] — historic photograph
Western High School girls' basketball, Wash., D.C., [ca. 1899]. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of Western High School girls' basketball, Wash., D.C.. An authentic image from the Library of Congress, it carries the weight of the real historical record.

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Western High School girls' basketball, Wash., D.C.

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Western High School's girls' basketball team in Washington, D.C., stands out in this c. 1899 photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston, who documented schools, sports, and everyday life across the capital. The game was still new for women at the time. Smith College physical education director Senda Berenson had adapted basketball for women in the early 1890s, using divided courts and limits on dribbling and running to keep play less rough. Schools like Western were among the early places where those rules reached teenage girls, and the team's uniforms and posture show how far the sport had moved beyond the gymnasium.

Created / published[ca. 1899]
Medium1 photographic print.
SubjectsNo. 35. Reference copy may be in SSF - SPORTS--BASKETBALL--ca. 1899. Title and other information transcribed from unverified, old caption card data and item. Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection. Caption card tracings: Wash. (D.C.)--Schools; Sports--Basketball--ca. 1899; High Schools; Basketball; Women--Sports; Geogr.; Shelf.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,135 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-171180

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