Milly Meyer, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

Editor: This is a cabinet card from 1890, "Milly Meyer, from the Actresses series" by Kinney Brothers. The photographic print shows a woman in elaborate period costume. She seems confident, but also a bit distant. How do we interpret the role of women in these types of commercial images? Curator: Exactly! This image isn’t just a pretty picture. It’s a piece of carefully constructed propaganda that tells us about the social landscape of the late 19th century. What’s particularly interesting here is the connection between actresses, tobacco, and this idea of feminine desirability. Think about who the target audience was for these Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. Editor: Presumably, men? So is it objectifying Milly Meyer, an actress of the time? Curator: More than that, I think. Actresses had a unique position; they were among the first women visible in the public sphere, but also highly vulnerable to social scrutiny. This card, distributed with cigarettes, places her image within a system that both celebrates and commodifies her. Consider also how the burgeoning consumer culture shaped and often exploited women’s image. Do you think Milly had any agency over the image or her portrayal? Editor: Probably very little. I imagine these were largely top-down decisions made by the tobacco company. This puts into perspective how image construction works. It is interesting how context alters one’s perspective. Curator: Precisely. It also forces us to consider power dynamics in visual culture and question what these seemingly harmless images tell us about societal values and control.