Josie Sargent, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This is "Josie Sargent," one of a series of small cards produced by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. Printed on thin card stock, these collectibles were a clever marketing strategy: include these images of popular actresses with cigarette packs, and consumers would purchase more to complete their collection. Photography’s reproducibility allowed for mass production and distribution, but the card's materiality, the way it feels in your hand, speaks to other histories of creative practice. The card represents a shift in cultural values, the mass appeal to celebrity culture, and the rise of consumerism. What was once produced through specialized labor, such as portrait painting, became industrialized, commodified, and accessible to a wider audience. These little cards reveal much about labor, politics, and consumption in the late nineteenth century. It asks us to consider the relationship between art, commerce, and the evolving dynamics of celebrity culture.