ben horwitz- technology PLACEHOLDER
Lawn - Belmont (LOC)

ben horwitz- technology PLACEHOLDER
Lawn - Belmont (LOC)

Belmont is one of the longest-running horse races in the country. Pictured is the raised grandstands. In accordance with Mullan's article, in which he quotes E.J. Hobsbawn as observing that "sport had become 'a mass spectacle... transformed into the unending succession of gladitorial contests between persons and teams symbolizing nation-states... the imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people." (579-580). The lawn and stands of Belmont, while not necessarily a site of inter-national sparring is reminiscent of the circuses of Rome-- with similarities in grandstands and a rounded track that facilitated ease-of-observation. The question of connection between sports and economic and socio-political changes arises: how did the betting of money on horses in 19th and early 20th century America mirror the gladiatorial contests of Rome, and, in conjunction with Mullan's piece, did this pose a welcome distraction or a necessary component of the contest of sport?

Lawn - Belmont

[between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]

1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.

Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print