Card Number 54, Agnes Folsom, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes
1880s
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 11/16 × 1 3/8 in. (6.8 × 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
63.350.208.145.6.27
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Card Number 54, Folsom*, a charming portrait from the Actors and Actresses series (145-6), produced by W. Duke, & Co. in the 1880s. This petite albumen photograph, measuring just 2 /16 × 1 3/8 inches, the poised elegance of actress Agnes Fom, one of many celebrities featured in these collectible trade cards. Issued to promote Duke Cigarettes, cards were wildly popular, enticing smokers and collectors alike to amass full sets tucked into cigarette packs—a clever marketing ploy during the tobacco industry's boom. Albumen prints, the ...
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...