Helen Standish in Colors of Bunker Hill Yacht Club, from the Yacht Colors of the World series (N140) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Tobacco 1890

This small card was made around 1900 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as a promotional item for Honest Long Cut Tobacco. It’s a chromolithograph, a color printing process that relies on layering multiple impressions from different stones or plates. The resulting image is of Helen Standish, in the colors of the Bunker Hill Yacht Club, and is framed by a nautical theme. It is important to remember that chromolithography was a labor-intensive process. Each color required a separate stone, meticulously prepared by skilled workers. The layering of these colors created a richness and depth that was unmatched by other printing methods of the time. The availability of chromolithography allowed the mass production of images like this one, making art accessible to a wider audience, while reinforcing social hierarchies. It also raises the question of labor: who were the workers who created this card, and what were their working conditions? In its own way, this unassuming object opens a window onto the complex relationship between art, industry, and society.