Old Guard, New York City Militia, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This chromolithograph was produced by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, as one of a series of collectible cards to be packaged with Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. The image depicts a soldier in the uniform of the Old Guard, a New York City militia unit. These cards reflect the surge in patriotic sentiment around the turn of the century, but they also reveal the way commercial interests leveraged that sentiment for profit. Here, the visual codes of military dress – the elaborate hat, the formal posture, the rifle – create an image of strength and order. But these were also the years of rapid industrialization, immigration, and social change. So the image also speaks to anxieties about national identity. To fully understand this image, we might research the history of advertising, the rise of consumer culture, and the changing role of the military in American life. This reveals how art is deeply embedded in its social and institutional context.