Card Number 14, Emma Carson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: Here we have "Card Number 14, Emma Carson, from the Actors and Actresses series" created in the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons & Co. Editor: It's remarkably…fragile feeling, isn’t it? Small, faded, like a pressed flower found in an old book. The sepia tones really amplify that sense of antiquity and the ephemeral nature of celebrity. Curator: Absolutely. These albumen prints were a form of early advertising. Duke Cigarettes included them in their packaging. It was a shrewd way to market their product, associating it with the glamour and popularity of these performers. It’s fascinating to see how quickly tobacco companies adopted such tactics. Editor: So, even a mundane thing like a cigarette package became a means for circulating images and constructing fame? I wonder about the labour involved in mass-producing these prints; each one would've taken time to produce and assemble, highlighting a particular kind of industrial practice tied to cultural dissemination. Curator: Precisely! And the choice of subjects also reveals societal values. Actresses like Emma Carson were figures of public fascination, simultaneously admired and judged. To promote cigarettes with their images hints at the perceived allure and even rebelliousness associated with the stage. Editor: It’s a tiny format, yet loaded with so much about labour, commodification, celebrity and vice. The printing process itself is part of the story. I bet most folks never thought of it as more than a throwaway trinket. Curator: That tension is crucial. What was once considered disposable ephemera now offers us insight into the cultural fabric of the 19th century, challenging our understanding of the material past. It encourages us to reassess the meaning we ascribe to the things that circulate in our own daily lives. Editor: Indeed. What seems trivial may hold remarkable stories if you examine its materials and purpose closely. It seems Duke Cigarettes understood very well how to play that to their advantage.