Governor Church, Dakota Territory, from "Governors, Arms, Etc." series (N133-1), issued by Duke Sons & Co. 1885 - 1892

This small card was printed by W. Duke and Sons & Co. sometime between 1870 and 1920. It is a promotional item for ‘Honest Long Cut’ tobacco, and it’s also part of a series on US Governors. The image presents us with three distinct panels of the Dakota Territory: its coat of arms, its ‘snowed in’ landscape with a train, and a view of the Devil’s Lake. In the center is a portrait of Governor Church. The whole composition creates a visual code for a place and its governance. These promotional cards were designed to be collected and traded, thus creating a network of consumers who were also, in effect, advertising the product. The imagery may have had an impact on ideas about what the Dakota Territory was – especially its people and their relationship to the land. To understand this better we need to consider such things as the history of tobacco, advertising, and the cultural politics of westward expansion.