Archaic Bee-Hive Huts, from the Habitations of Man series (N113) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco 1890

The Giles Company produced this lithograph around 1888 as part of a series of collectible cards distributed by the W. Duke, Sons & Co. tobacco firm. The image depicts what the company calls "Archaic Bee-Hive Huts," ancient dwellings that would have appeared quite exotic to American consumers. But why would a tobacco company want to circulate images of foreign architecture? Well, trade cards like this one were a popular advertising strategy at the time. They were colorful, collectible, and designed to associate the brand with ideas of worldliness and knowledge. This particular series, "Habitations of Man," suggests a progressive, anthropological worldview, but one filtered through the lens of American consumer culture. To fully understand this image, we would want to know more about the Giles Company, W. Duke, Sons & Co., and the other images in the Habitations of Man series. It’s in those details that the cultural history of an image like this one comes alive.