Hall of Fame’s Picturing America’s Pastime Exhibit Opens at the Hot Springs Convention Center

(COOPERSTOWN, NY) – The National Pastime and the art of photography came of age almost simultaneously, and baseball has long been a favorite subject of professional and amateur shooters alike.

This spring as part of Hot Springs Baseball Weekend, fans can experience some of the game’s most telling images from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s world-renowned archive through Picturing America’s Pastime.

Running May 8 through July 27 at the Hot Springs Convention Center in Hot Springs, Ark., Picturing America’s Pastime features 51 framed photographs representing the Hall of Fame’s collection of approximately a quarter million images. An extension of the Museum’s exhibit in Cooperstown, the touring version of Picturing America’s Pastime captures the essence of an exhibit designed to show the historic link between the two American passions.

“Some of the greatest photographers of the last 150 years found baseball to be the perfect canvas for their work,” said Erik Strohl, the vice president of exhibitions and collections at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “The images in Picturing America’s Pastime represent a small sample of the brilliant work we preserve in Cooperstown, and the touring exhibit gives fans all over the country the chance to experience the beauty and power of these photos first-hand.”

Featuring work from photographers spanning generations, like Charles M. Conlon, Carl J. Horner, Arthur Rothstein, William C. Greene and Brad Mangin – along with many unidentified photographers whose images have been donated to the Museum – Picturing America’s Pastime captures the grandeur of the early game to the vibrancy of today’s sport through images in sepia, color and black-and-white.

Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Ted Simmons and Lee Smith will also appear as part of the third annual Hot Springs Baseball Weekend May 8-9, celebrating the legacy of one of the earliest Spring Training sites for Major League Baseball teams.