Card Number 224, Markham, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: This is Card Number 224, Markham, one of the trading cards from the Actors and Actresses series produced in the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as promotional material for Cross Cut Cigarettes. Editor: There’s an interesting mix of vulnerability and theatricality. The actress appears seated on what looks like a rocky outcrop, with a shield or decorative piece nearby. It evokes this curious staged moment of repose amidst potential action, a kind of ambiguous narrative space. Curator: Exactly. The mass production of these cards speaks to the emerging consumer culture of the late 19th century and, crucially, the role of women, both as performers and as consumers, within it. These images helped to circulate idealized images of femininity, yet the actresses were also working women in a precarious industry, and often subject to the whims of both their producers and the public. Editor: It is fascinating how companies employed iconic people and classical or heroic imagery. The inclusion of the round, shield-like object with spoke design feels loaded. Its presence almost whispers about the actress's strength. I would propose the image acts almost as a classical allegory where the cigarette brand aims to harness these allusions of grandeur by association. Curator: I think it is not merely the suggestion of individual female strength but, perhaps, an invocation of something larger. The image, as circulated in the context of tobacco consumption, may be an appeal to middle-class aspirations and perhaps also colonial expansion through the fetishization of archetypal female forms. This card became a tiny element of larger systems of representation and value. Editor: A compelling point. We’re drawn back into thinking of how objects carry psychological freight and social currency beyond their immediate, surface appeal. I will remember how cigarettes became entangled with representations of theatrical actresses. Curator: Indeed. When we reflect on this photograph now, more than a century later, we gain an intimate glimpse into how celebrity, consumerism, and gender were being constructed, consumed, and circulated through print.