Field Officer, Artillery, United States Army, 1886, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1888

This chromolithograph was made in 1886 by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company as an advertisement for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes. These cards were printed using multiple lithographic stones, each applying a different color to build up the image. It was a modern, highly industrialized process. Consider the material: paper. Cheap and ubiquitous, its very disposability was the point. These cards were designed to be collected, traded, and consumed just like the cigarettes they promoted. The image itself, a Field Officer of Artillery, U.S.A. 1886, speaks to themes of power, nationhood, and perhaps even the romance of military life. But the card also reveals a complicated nexus of labor, consumption, and national identity. The Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company profited from the mass production and sale of tobacco, a product grown and harvested by exploited labor. These cards, in turn, served to normalize and promote both their brand and the social structures that underpinned their success. So, next time you light up, think about what is not seen.