Card Number 254, Mary Mills, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-7) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: Oh, the wistful air of a sepia dream... looking at this albumen print from the 1880s, "Card Number 254, Mary Mills" from Duke Sons & Co., it's a fascinating artifact, a fragment of advertising that's become something far more evocative. What jumps out at you? Editor: Melancholy. And beauty, of course. The way she’s looking off into the distance... she’s wearing that absurdly gorgeous hat practically overflowing with blossoms. There’s something deeply compelling, almost iconic about her averted gaze, which seems to signify both a sense of longing and introspection. Curator: Absolutely. And consider this was an advertising card for cigarettes! Suddenly this ethereal, almost romantic image is intertwined with the gritty reality of commerce, desire, and addiction. The albumen print itself, with its subtle sheen and tonal range, adds to that paradoxical allure, a kind of delicate preservation. Editor: Right. The flowers could symbolize her beauty, but there could also be some other meaning, which connects Mary Mills with some mythological symbol... perhaps Proserpina, the goddess who descends to hell in springtime to make plants grow again, is associated with beauty, death, and rebirth, maybe something that would give off something more ominous when linked with a company that makes cigarettes. Curator: That's a really interesting point – the possible layered associations. Of course, she was likely just chosen for her popularity and charm. But there’s power in these seemingly simple portraits. They distill something about beauty ideals and female roles during that period and also tell a tale about American consumer culture in the late 19th century. Editor: So true. Looking at the symbolism, as with all portraits, it feels less about a specific likeness, and more about who and what she came to represent, in this image... which still endures over a century later. A fascinating intersection of commerce and the human desire for immortality! Curator: Precisely. And that contrast is, I think, what keeps drawing me back. These cards aimed to sell a vice through beauty, inadvertently capturing a particular time. It prompts me to contemplate how beauty and commerce dance in this haunting vignette of American cultural history. Editor: Agreed. I will remember Mary Mills and her knowing, evocative gaze!