Margaret Mather, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This is a photograph of Margaret Mather, the Anglo-American Shakespearean actress, produced as a cigarette card by Allen & Ginter. This card is part of a series of actresses distributed in packs of Virginia Brights Cigarettes. The company, Allen & Ginter, was one of the first to use images of celebrities to market their products. This one of Mather reflects the rising status of actresses in the late 19th century, a time of increased female employment. Although theatre was a male-dominated institution, here we see the actress promoted as a figure of beauty, and a consumer icon. To fully understand such images, we need to look at the historical context in which they were produced and consumed. What did stardom mean in the 19th century? To what extent were such images empowering, and to what extent were they exploitative? Such questions allow us to understand the complex social history embedded in this seemingly simple image.