From the Girls and Children series (N58) promoting Our Little Beauties Cigarettes for Allen & Ginter brand tobacco products
1887
Medium
Commercial color lithograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 5/8 × 1 1/2 in. (6.7 × 3.8 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
63.350.202.58.14
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like Allen & G revolutionized advertising with colorful insert cards tucked into cigarette packs. This commercial color lithograph, the 1887 "Girls and Children" series (N58), promotes "Our Little Beautiesarettes." Measuring just 2⅝ × 1½ inches, it exemplifies ephemera—everyday printed items now cherished for their historical snapshot. Allen & Ginter, pioneers in the trade card craze, produced millions of these vibrant cards to build brand loyalty and appeal to collectors. Chromolithography, the medium here, was a breakthrough technique ble...
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...