Keith's Continuous Vaudeville Base Ball Score Counter: Museum Object and Cultural History
Keith's Continuous Vaudeville Base Ball Score Counter: date made: ca 1900-1910. associated institution: Keith's Vaudeville. thru person: Rinsland, George.
The object in the museum catalogue
Celluloid baseball score keeper in the shape of a baseball catcher's mitt. The score keeper has numbered wheels by which fans could keep track of each team's runs and hits in a baseball game. Celluloid, the first successful commercial plastic, was used to produce a variety of promotional products.
This score counter advertised Keith's Continuous Vaudeville Show. Benjamin Franklin (B.F.) Keith (1846-1914) was an entertainment pioneer who helped develop variety shows that were open for hours on end, and who helped bring vaudeville into middle class acceptability.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: ca 1900-1910
- associated institution: Keith's Vaudeville
- thru person: Rinsland, George
- Object Name: Score Counter
- Object Name: score counter, baseball
- Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
- Physical Description: celluloid (overall material)
- Physical Description: paper (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 2 3/4 in x 2 1/4 in; 6.985 cm x 5.715 cm
- place made: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
- name of sport: Baseball
- web subject: Sports
- Subject: Vaudeville
- Subject: Baseball
- ID Number: CL.310547.007
- catalog number: 310547.07
- accession number: 310547
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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