Lillie Wilson, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 8) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This card featuring actress Lillie Wilson was one of a series produced by Allen and Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes, dating to around the 1880s in the United States. These cards were designed to stiffen cigarette packs, but they also served as advertisements and collectors’ items. Such series tell us a great deal about the period’s cultural values and the cult of celebrity. By producing and circulating images of actresses such as Lillie Wilson, tobacco companies were catering to popular fascination with the theater. Photography here is not so much about capturing the individual but about producing types. The ‘Actor and Actresses’ series helped to solidify a system of fame and visual culture, and it normalized the consumption of tobacco with the consumption of entertainment. Further research into the archives of popular culture – theater programs, periodicals, and company records – would reveal more about the social history embedded in this small card. It reminds us that all art is a product of its time, shaped by commercial and cultural forces.