A football play photographed at field level, with players blocking and running across the grass while a man in a dark suit and bowler hat crosses the foreground. Helmets, padded trousers and striped stockings are clearly visible; several figures are blurred by movement. A steepled church and other town buildings stand beyond the field.
The hand-lettered caption reproduced along the lower edge reads “END RUN BY GATES AT ATKINSON, NEBR.” It identifies both the play and its location, but gives Gates’s surname only. The teams, date of the game and identity of the church are not established by the card.
The stylized “SCHULTZ PHOTO” signature appears at lower left. This is a real photo postcard with a divided back and an AZO stamp box, unused for correspondence or mailing. A few pencil marks on the reverse provide no securely readable additional identification.
- Title on card
- END RUN BY GATES AT ATKINSON, NEBR. (inscribed)
- Medium
- RPPC
- Subject
- Nebraska, Outdoor Scene, Sports and Games
- Dimensions
- 5.24 × 3.4 in (133.2 × 86.4 mm)
- Condition
- Short crease descending from the upper edge; otherwise sound. A faint rectangular outline surrounds the foreground man’s head and upper torso, though the scan does not establish whether this is a surface mark or was reproduced from the negative.
- Provenance
- Unused for mailing. The AZO stamp box with four upward-pointing triangles dates the postcard paper to circa 1904–1918.
- Catalogue no.
- MRPPC3435
Catalogue details
Location
Atkinson, Holt County, Nebraska · Atkinson, Nebraska, United States
Photographed subject · Locality (town) · 95% confidence
The supplied front reading, “END RUN BY GATES AT ATKINSON, NEBR.,” unambiguously identifies the depicted town, supporting city-level identification rather than a particular football field. Independent historical geography agrees: the Nebraska State Historical Society reproduces an 1889 railway map identifying Atkinson in Holt County, and an 1887 newspaper account likewise places Atkinson there. ([history.nebraska.gov](https://history.nebraska.gov/dividing-holt-county/?utm_source=openai)) Searches of period-directory material, photograph catalogues, historic maps and library collections did not locate an independent exact-caption match or establish the field or background church. The Library of Congress holds a 1915 Holt County atlas and directory, but its catalogue record does not identify this football scene. ([loc.gov](https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4193hm.gla00201/?sp=1&utm_source=openai)) The confidence applies only to the explicitly captioned town; no church name, field name, stree
Source: Nebraska State Historical Society — Dividing Holt County (includes 1889 railway map)
