A Short History: General Oliver Otis Howard, from the Histories of Generals series (N114) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco 1888

This small card, created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. around the turn of the 20th century, was made to promote their ‘Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco.’ It’s a chromolithograph, meaning that the image was printed using multiple lithographic stones, one for each color. The layers of ink give the card a slight relief, and a visual complexity that would have been appealing to consumers. It's worth considering the labor involved in the production of these cards. Each color would have required a separate stone, and a skilled printer to ensure accurate registration. The image itself blends a portrait of General Howard with patriotic imagery, and decorative lettering. These cards were essentially miniature billboards, mass-produced to associate the brand with a specific kind of masculinity, linking military service to the pleasure of consuming tobacco. The combination of craft and commerce is key to understanding the appeal of these ephemeral objects.