Samuel Colt, printer's sample for the World's Inventors souvenir album (A25) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888

Editor: This is "Samuel Colt, printer's sample for the World's Inventors souvenir album (A25) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes," a print from 1888. It’s a portrait, and there’s something about its formal composition that makes me feel like I’m looking at someone both powerful and very, very distant. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's interesting that you pick up on that sense of distance. Considering this image originates from a cigarette card, part of a series celebrating "world inventors," we must acknowledge how these seemingly innocent collectibles participated in constructing a particular narrative about progress and power in the late 19th century. Who gets remembered, and why? Editor: That's a great question. The title identifies Samuel Colt as an inventor, but his claim to fame is firearms, which have obviously had very harmful consequences for particular populations of people. Curator: Exactly. Colt's legacy is intertwined with violence and imperialism. This portrait, reproduced and distributed widely, functioned to sanitize that history. By placing Colt alongside other "inventors," it equates innovation with progress, subtly erasing the devastating impact of his inventions on marginalized communities, especially regarding westward expansion in America and violence against indigenous peoples. Editor: So the way this image presents Colt normalizes his contributions. I hadn't considered the social context of a cigarette card so deeply before. Curator: Think about who was consuming these cards, and what values they represented. Mass-produced images like this played a crucial role in shaping public opinion and reinforcing existing power structures. Whose stories are elevated, and whose are ignored or actively suppressed? Editor: Understanding the historical context really reframes how I see the portrait itself. It's not just a picture, but an active participant in a larger cultural narrative. Curator: Precisely. Recognizing that allows us to engage critically with these images and the histories they represent.