Grouper, from the Fish from American Waters series (N8) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands 1889

This lithograph of a Grouper comes from a series called “Fish from American Waters,” distributed by Allen & Ginter Cigarettes. These cards were originally included in cigarette packs as collectibles, reflecting a late 19th-century fascination with natural history and consumer culture. This card participated in constructing an understanding of American identity through the depiction of its natural resources. But consider the colonial implications of naming and categorizing the natural world. Who gets to decide what is "American," and how does this impact our understanding of environmental responsibility? Moreover, these cards were part of a larger system that normalized tobacco consumption, a habit that disproportionately affected working-class communities. Consider the complex layers of meaning embedded in this small card, reflecting both a celebration of nature and the complicated realities of industrial capitalism.