Blanche Thorne, from the Actresses series (N203) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. 1889

This small photograph of Blanche Thorne comes from a series of actresses, printed by the American tobacco company, Wm. S. Kimball & Co. These cards, like other advertising ephemera, functioned as a form of proto-celebrity culture, where the theater star became a figure for mass consumption. The photograph itself is fairly conventional, showing a pretty, young, white woman gazing serenely into the distance. But the fact that it was distributed with cigarettes suggests a particular kind of social context. At the time these cards were made, the late 19th century, ideas about gender, consumerism and spectacle were rapidly changing. Actresses, like Thorne, were among the first women to achieve a kind of fame that was both public and mediated. They were performers, of course, but also subjects of intense media scrutiny and objects of desire. To really understand this image, we might research the career of Blanche Thorne herself, look at other ephemera from the period, or explore the history of tobacco advertising.