A Short History of General Benjamin F. Butler, from the Histories of Generals series (N114) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco 1888

Curator: Here we have "A Short History of General Benjamin F. Butler," a print made in 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co. It was part of a series of trading cards designed to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco. What strikes you most when you see it? Editor: It's like a dream sequence from a Civil War general's biography distilled into a tiny, somewhat surreal package. I am completely taken in by this. Curator: The image functions as a piece of advertising, a cultural artifact embedded in the growing consumer culture of the late 19th century. We can consider how tobacco companies leveraged patriotic imagery to promote their products, appealing to consumers’ sense of national identity and nostalgia. Editor: The juxtaposition of a portrait, battle imagery, and... tobacco! is fascinatingly strange. This format also tells you something: I mean, a printed card implies mass production and distribution. The way in which heroes are also merchandise... I can see it today. Curator: Precisely. The medium itself—the chromolithograph print—is integral to its message. Color printing enabled mass distribution, and its association with tobacco reflects a specific class engaging in that type of labor. These materials—the inks, the paper, the modes of production—reflect a society on the cusp of modernization. Editor: It almost feels… democratic, in a weird way. Heroes and consumer products together, both accessible, both consumable. Still, it is more highbrow with its references than the "heroic" pictures we may see today on candy, let us say. Curator: One wonders how consumers at the time responded to seeing historical figures like General Butler equated with their everyday habits, smoking and chewing tobacco. Does this elevate the product or trivialize history? It asks more than it gives. Editor: It is a fun mix, with a whiff of oddity and, for me at least, some good curiosity. Curator: Indeed, a reminder of how commerce and history intertwine, even on a humble tobacco card.