Card 326, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 5) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes
ca. 1888
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (7 x 3.5 cm)
Classification
Photographs|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
63.350.203.45.869
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Card 326* from the *Actors andresses* series (N, Type 5), by the pioneering tobacco firm Allen & G around 1888. This diminutive albumen photograph, measuring just 2 3/4 x 1 3/8 inches, captures a portrait of a female actress emblematic of the era's theatrical stars. Tucked into packs of Virginia Brights Cig, these collectible cards transformed everyday smoking into a gateway for popular culture fandom. Allen & Ginter, innovators in the trade card boom, produced series like this to boost brand loyalty, blending photography's precisi...
About the Artist
Allen & Ginter
Allen & Ginter, the pioneering American tobacco firm based in Richmond, Virginia, emerged around 1880 from the partnership of John F. Allen and Lewis Ginter, evolving from Allen's earlier John F. Allen & Company. Allen retired in 1882, succeeded by John Pope, yet the brand endured under Ginter's leadership, employing over 1,100 workers—mostly women—for hand-rolled cigarettes by 1886. Ginter, a Dut...