Rachel Booth, from the Actresses series (N246), Type 2, issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sporting Extra Cigarettes
ca. 1890
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/16 × 2 7/8 in. (7.7 × 7.3 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
63.350.220.246.53
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of 1890s theater with this petite albumen photograph of actress Rachel Booth, part of the Actresses series (N246), Type 2. Issued by the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company to promote their Sporting Extra Cigarettes, this collectible card captures Booth's poised elegance, embodying the era's adoration for stage stars. Measuring just 3 1/16 × 2 7/8 inches, it was designed for insertion into cigarette packs, sparking a collecting frenzy among enthusiasts. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites and silver salts, delivered the sharp detail and warm tones ...
About the Artist
Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011
**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...