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

Editor: This is "Miss Borris, from the Actresses series," made around 1889 by Wm. S. Kimball & Co. It’s a photograph printed on a small card, originally part of a cigarette pack. The portrait exudes a kind of restrained elegance, wouldn't you say? What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a carefully constructed performance, encoded with the aspirations and anxieties of its time. The actress, Miss Borris, becomes a vessel for conveying a specific kind of feminine ideal that's so carefully, meticulously manufactured for mass consumption. Note her gaze, angled just so. Editor: Manufactured, how so? Curator: Look at how she's posed – the curve of her neck, the placement of her hands, even the slight upward tilt of her chin. Every element suggests a specific social positioning and status. The theatrical world held immense power and such imagery offered ways to consider what a life might become, how to move in society. How do you think that symbolism worked back then? Editor: I guess these images, circulated widely through a mundane product like cigarettes, acted almost like miniature portals into a world of glamour and social mobility that most people only dreamt of. Curator: Exactly. The card, small and unassuming, holds within it an entire world of meaning, a snapshot of societal ambitions and constraints reflected in the iconography of the stage. Thinking about these things really changes our relationship to what we're viewing, doesn't it? Editor: Definitely, I now look at this as more than just a portrait but almost like a sign of the times, captured and distributed widely. It’s incredible!