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

This is Miss Rafelee, an actress, printed by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as a promotional card for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. These cards, made using a photographic printing process on thin card stock, were essentially miniature billboards inserted into cigarette packs. They were part of a larger strategy to associate smoking with glamour and celebrity. The image itself, sepia-toned and carefully posed, presents Miss Rafelee in a way that emphasizes her elegance and sophistication, but it's important to remember the industrial context of its production. The mass production of these cards relied on a division of labor and a streamlined process, quite a contrast to the handcrafted appearance of other artworks. Consider the sheer volume of these cards that had to be printed, cut, and inserted into packs, the process reveals the intimate connection between culture and the burgeoning consumer economy of the late 19th century. It's a reminder that even seemingly innocuous items can tell us a great deal about the social forces that shape our world.