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

This is a photograph of Mabel Santley, made in the United States by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional item for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. These cards formed part of a wider cultural phenomenon in the late 19th century, where actresses and other performers became popular advertising figures. Santley's attire and pose reflect the theatrical culture of the time, where the female body was often sexualized for entertainment and consumption. The distribution of these cards was a canny marketing strategy, aligning tobacco consumption with the glamour of the stage. To fully understand this image, we might delve into archives of theatrical history, advertising ephemera, and social studies of gender and consumption during the Gilded Age. Through such research, we can better grasp how images like this one both reflected and shaped the social norms of their time.