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

This card, from the Actors and Actresses series, was produced by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes. It is made using photography and printmaking, both relatively new technologies at the time. The card’s sepia tone gives it a soft, antique feel, almost as if it were hand-tinted, but in fact it was reproduced on an industrial scale. Photography, like printmaking, democratized image-making; its use here, for commercial purposes, reflects a society increasingly driven by mass production and consumerism. The card is small and lightweight, designed to be collected and traded. This points to the culture of collecting that emerged alongside industrialization, with consumers eagerly acquiring and organizing these little slices of popular culture. Ultimately, the image of Bertha Welby is less about her as an individual and more about her role in the theater, and also in the wider marketplace, where identities were being packaged and sold like any other commodity. This reminds us that art and craft are always embedded in larger systems of labor, politics, and consumption.