From the Actresses series (N57) promoting Our Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products 1890

This small card was made by Allen and Ginter, to promote their brand of tobacco products. It's printed on card stock, a cheap material meant for mass consumption. At first glance, it’s easy to miss the point of such a seemingly trivial object. But think about the context: the making of promotional cards like this was an early form of advertising, and mass production depended on cheap labor, often women and children, who churned these out in huge quantities. The image itself is revealing, an actress presented as a passive, objectified figure. When we consider the card’s small size, its material, and the social context of its production, it speaks volumes about the culture of consumption and labor at the time. It challenges us to think about the connection between art, commerce, and society.