Card Number 548, Lena Congo, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-7) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes 1880s

This card featuring actress Lena Congo was produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. sometime between 1870 and 1920, as a promotional item for Duke Cigarettes. It’s a photographic print, likely mass-produced, using techniques that made images widely accessible. Consider the means of production: photography allowed for the easy replication of images. The making of such cards also speaks to larger systems of labor and consumption. Tobacco was big business, and advertising drove that business ever further. These cards were made to be collected, traded, and consumed. The card's small size suggests intimacy and collectibility, but also disposability. The image flattens Lena Congo into a commodity, packaged along with cigarettes. The use of photography blurs the lines between art, advertising, and industry. It prompts us to think about the labor involved in making both the cigarettes and the images that promoted them. So, this seemingly simple card opens up questions about the economics of desire, and how industries package images and objects for consumption.