Card Number 713, Landry, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-3) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: This is "Card Number 713, Landry," an albumen print from the 1880s, made by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as part of their Actors and Actresses series to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes. She almost looks like a Roman goddess. What significance would an image like this have held at the time? Curator: Look closely at how Landry is presented. Her classical draping and posed composure weren't accidental choices. The photograph isn’t just selling cigarettes; it’s selling aspiration. What sort of cultural messages do you think the association with classical antiquity sends? Editor: It makes it seem refined and timeless, I guess? It gives smoking an air of sophistication that feels disconnected from its reality. Curator: Precisely! Think about the symbolism involved. The name 'Landry' itself – suggesting land or estate – combines with the cigarette branding to connect leisure with wealth and an idealized vision of feminine beauty, even while she’s advertising tobacco. How might this image have shaped cultural memory regarding both celebrity and consumerism? Editor: I can see how connecting those ideas could create a powerful association in people’s minds. This little card becomes a vessel of cultural aspirations. It’s amazing how much can be packed into one image. Curator: Yes. Everyday images often work as cultural artifacts whose layered messages create long lasting societal memories. What an image tells us about the present is frequently as telling as its legacy for the future.