Green-winged Teal, from the Game Birds series (N40) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes 1888 - 1890

This card featuring a Green-winged Teal was produced by Allen & Ginter, a cigarette company, sometime in the late 19th century. These cards were a popular marketing strategy at the time. What can a cigarette card tell us about the cultural and social history of the United States? Well, consider the way it frames nature. The image is a composite one: on top, the teal stands placidly in its natural habitat. Below, though, men in a boat suggest something of the real relationship between humans and nature. This was a time of massive industrial expansion, and also of growing anxiety about the disappearance of the natural world. Were such collectible cards a way of acknowledging that something was being lost? Was this card an attempt to manage that anxiety? To answer such questions, we might look to company records, the writings of early environmentalists, and other records of the period.