Card Number 768, Miss Lynne, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-5) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

This small card, dating from the late 19th century, was printed by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes. It’s made of paper, likely using a lithographic process for the image and text. The card features a photograph of Miss Lynne, an actress, in costume. The sepia tone and relatively low resolution give the image a sense of distance, yet the mass-produced nature of the card makes it accessible. These cards were designed to be collected, traded, and consumed along with the cigarettes, thus creating a link between the performance and tobacco industries. The making of these cards speaks to broader social issues of labor and consumption. They were a product of industrialized printing, with workers employed in the factories to produce them on a massive scale. The cards, and the cigarettes they advertised, became symbols of a rising consumer culture. Ultimately, this card shows how everyday objects can reflect complex relationships between art, commerce, and society.