Card Number 361, Von Oasten, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-3) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

This is a promotional card of Von Oasten, an actress, made around 1900 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to advertise Cross Cut Cigarettes. It’s a mass-produced object, printed on thin card stock, a product of its time, when industrialization touched every aspect of life. The image itself is sepia-toned, likely a photographic print. The actress's theatrical costume, with its layers of fabric and ornamentation, hints at the complex labor involved in creating such garments. Consider the many hands that touched this image, from the photographers and printers, to the factory workers who packaged it with cigarettes. Cards like these, distributed widely, speak to the burgeoning consumer culture of the late 19th century, where even something as ephemeral as fame could be bought and sold alongside tobacco. The amount of work involved in producing the cards is significant, as is the reliance on cheap labor. Looking at this card, we are reminded that even the humblest objects can tell us a great deal about the social and economic forces that shaped their creation.