You might be seeming super-smeller Dominika Cibulkova, a frequent league player, or a weekend hacker.

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Whoever you are, you know that wonderfully pungent quasi-fragrance of a freshly opened canister of tennis balls.

In a new digital exhibit—titled *Tins, Cans, and Cartons*—the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. does its best Container Store impression. The exhibit's 600-plus ball holders, harking back to yesteryear or hailing from today, make for nostalgic viewing.

So many brands are represented, from Slazenger to Spalding, Firestone to Wilson, and all makers in between. The actual materials include small wooden boxes, pressurized plastic containers, and even an older item that almost looks like a bag for baking flour.

"The containers are striking and different from what we are accustomed to today," ITHF museum director Doug Stark said in a statement. "Each also showcases that era in tennis' evolution and historical periods of time. The colors, fonts, featured players, even the materials that are used are very much a sign of the times from when that container was created. The containers provide an opportunity to examine the broad span of tennis history."

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What might most engage some science-minded tennis fanatics is how not just the containers for tennis balls have changed over time, but also how these hand-held chambers received pressurized developments decades ago. Such sporty R&D has only been improved on in subsequent years.

Other fun lessons can be gleaned as to manufacturing operations over time, including those in wartime, given one of the exhibit's seven collections focusing on tennis-ball packaging circa World War II.

Some of the vintage packaging has even been turned into travel-mug takeaways, available on the ITHF website. The exhibit, previously available solely to those who darkened the Tennis Hall of Fame's doors, makes for another smart dart in the organization's quiver. Previously, ITHF has covered fashion and other topics with digital gusto. Another digital exhibit, forthcoming later this year, will feature assorted racquets over the sport's eras.

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Many of us will always relish that distinct smell of fresh tennis balls. The colorful, arty Tins, Cans, and Cartons exhibit shows that all the senses work together more than we know.

Follow Jon on Twitter: @jonscott9.