Ruby McNeil, 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
63.350.220.246.71
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the glittering world of late 19th-century American theater with this charming albumen photograph of actress Ruby McNeil, part of Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Actresses series (N246), Type 2. Issued around 1890 to promote their Sporting Extra Cigarettes, this petite card—measuring just 3 1/16 × 2 7/8 inches—was tucked into cigarette packages as a collectible incentive, blending advertising savvy with celebrity allure. Actresses like McNeil were cultural icons of the Gilded Age, their portraits captivating audiences and smokers alike. Crafted in the albumen process, a hallmark of...
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...