Vera Wilson, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 2 1/2 × 1 7/16 in. (6.4 × 3.7 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
63.350.220.245.1972
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 1890s advertising with *Vera Wilson, from Actresses series (N)*, a diminutive albumen photograph produced by the Kinney Brothers Company to promote their Sweet Caporal Cigarettes Measuring just 2½ × 1⅞ inches, this tiny card was tucked into cigarette packs as a collectible insert, part of a popular series celebrating glamorous actresses like Vera Wilson. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites sensitized with silver salts, delivered the crisp, detailed images that captivated collectors during photography's golden age. These ephemera cards bridged c...
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...