Card Number 129, Trowbridge, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes
1880s
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/2 × 1 3/8 in. (6.4 × 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
63.350.207.145.1.179
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Card Number 129,rowbridge*, a petite albumen photograph from the and Actresses series (145-1), issued W. Duke, Sons & Co. in 1880s to their Cross Cut Cigarettes Measuring just 2½ × 1⅜ inches, this tiny portrait captures the poised elegance of actress Trowbridge, embodying the era's adoration for theater stars. These cards were tucked into cigarette packs, sparking a collecting frenzy among enthusiasts who traded and albumed them like modern trading cards. Albumen prints, the medium here, were the gold standard for photography in th...
About the Artist
W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 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...