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
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 in. (10.7 × 6.4 cm)
Classification
Prints|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
63.350.206.114.77
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1880s advertising with this petite commercial color lithograph,A Short History: General Otis Howard*, from W. Duke, Sons &.'s *Histories of Generals* (N114). Produced in 1888 by the tobacco company and lithographer Knapp & Company, this 4 3/16 × 2 1/2-inch card promoted Honest Long Cut Smoking and Che Tobacco. Likely a collectible insert for cigarette packs, it captures the Gilded Age boom in tobacco marketing, where everyday products piggybacked on national heroes to captivate consumers. The card features a portrait of Union Civil War General Oliver Otis Howard...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co.|Knapp & Company · 1870–1920
**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...