c.1880 Unknown New Jersey football Cabinet Photo

I have been able to date this cabinet photo based on similar non-football images by Service in Bridgeton N.J. To between 1878-1883. This is around the time when few colleges were actually fielding football teams.  The first college “foot-ball” game was in 1869 between Rutgers University and the College of New Jersey (Princeton).  This game resembled soccer more than the football we have grown accustomed to.  Around 1875 Schools such as Harvard and Yale had moved from a more soccer style to rugby rules.  

Around the same time the photo was taken Bridgetown, NJ was a bustling town.  There was a school West Jersey Academy that was almost the equivalent of a community college today.  One of the players has a W and J on their uniform.  I have been able to identify similarities between the main building at West Jersey Academy and my cabinet.  The only issue is I can’t confirm that they even had a football team back then.  Records for any school in this period, let alone a now defunct school, is hard to find.  If anyone else has any clues let me know.

1891 University of Illinois player cabinet photos

These are some really rare 1891 University of Illinois football cabinets.  This was the second official season for the team.  They went 5-1 and defeated Indiana University twice.  Two of the cabinets are identified and 2 are unknown.  Frank Arms who is in some kind of lateral pass pose, was a member of the very first team.  All cabinets have the name Wright on the back.  There is a player Royal Wright who played in 1890 and 1891 so it may have been passed down from him.

1894 Dickinson Football Cabinet Photo

Dickinson is a college in Carlisle Pennsylvania.  They played and scrimmaged with many of the Carlisle Indian School teams.  An attractive early cabinet photo, this squad had an average season going 2-2-1.

1882 Harvard Football Collotype Photos

These are examples of early collotype photos.  The process is a little bit different than a lithograph in the sense that the image is developed directly on the thicker paper.  The 1882 team went 7-1 with their only loss coming from the hands of Yale.  The second image is from the players composing the class of 85’.  On the back of the images are the names of the corresponding players.

1888 Cambridge Latin football photo

In 1888 an interscholastic league was formed between 7 schools in the Boston area and a trophy was donated from undergraduates at Harvard.  The hope was that more high school teams would churn out players that in turn would eventually become Harvard stars.  The main source of players of the time were coming from the prep schools Andover and Exeter.  The first year was a success and continued on as a tradition.  Here is a photo of the first championship team Cambridge Latin School.