Colonel, 5th Regiment, Massachusetts, V.M., from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

Editor: Here we have a lithograph print from 1888 titled "Colonel, 5th Regiment, Massachusetts" by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. It’s part of their Military Series promoting Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. I'm struck by the stiff formality of the Colonel; he seems almost comically serious. What’s your take on this? Curator: Oh, I find him wonderfully absurd, like a toy soldier ready to topple over! The formality is precisely the point, a kind of exaggerated masculinity packaged for a consumer product. I imagine people collected these little cards—a brief escape into a world of presumed order and valor while puffing away. Do you see how the figure seems both imposing and strangely flat, almost a paper cut-out? Editor: Yes, it's like he's been ironed onto the card! Is the stiff posture meant to suggest authority? Curator: Precisely! The posture, the tightly buttoned uniform, the strategically placed swords—it's all designed to project power, but it ends up looking rather fragile, doesn’t it? A commentary, perhaps unintended, on the performative aspect of military identity. He looks so uptight, I can't imagine him cracking a joke. Or maybe the joke's on us. Do you get that sense? Editor: Absolutely, there's definitely an underlying humor. So, it's almost a satire disguised as an advertisement? Curator: In a way, yes. Or perhaps satire wasn’t the intention, but that’s how it reads to our modern eyes. That’s the beauty of looking back – finding those little unexpected glints in the image. He’s sweet…but with a knowing side glance! Editor: That makes me see the piece in a whole new light. I hadn't considered how the context of the cigarette promotion played into the image itself. Curator: Exactly! It's a layered piece, promising masculinity and order, while subtly hinting at their inherent absurdities. A true period gem.