Compliments of Homer, Colladay & Co. Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1879). Chromolithograph trade card.

After finishing my project with the William T. McAllister Collection of Graphic Materials, I was thrilled by the opportunity to work with a scrapbook of 19th-century American trade cards acquired by the Library Company in 2021. Immediately upon opening the scrapbook, my eyes were met by an explosion of vibrant colors with each page packed with a rich selection of chromolithographic prints advertising various businesses from the later 19th to early 20th century. This volume reminded me of a cartes-de-visite album that I had previously worked on in the McAllister Collection, and much like that album, this scrapbook of trade cards is a rich resource for understanding the material, commercial, and visual culture of 19th-century America.

Large-format trade cards pasted on the inside front cover of the scrapbook.

The rise of trade cards in the United States occurred parallel to the Industrial Revolution. As populations grew larger and manufacturers developed ways to produce more products at cheaper prices, businesses also sought innovative ways to attract new customers. In addition, the new printing process of chromolithography facilitated printers’ abilities to create vivid and beautiful designs in multiple colors relatively cheaply. All of these factors caused the trade card to become the dominant form of advertisement during the late 19th century. At the height of their popularity between the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and the early 1900s, trade cards were a popular and effective method for businesses to advertise their products. In addition, the large demand for multicolored trade cards led to an intense culture of competition between printers, in turn leading to the creation of even more captivating images. Color printing was still a novelty at the time, and trade cards became extremely popular collectible items. People began collecting cards in albums and scrapbooks and occasionally traded them to curate their perfect collection.

Trade card for Dr. Jayne’s Tonic. Chromolithograph.

Trade cards displayed humorous cartoons, beautiful illustrations, or catchy sayings often unrelated to the product itself. In order to attract more customers, they would also utilize the likenesses of famous people or beautiful women, much like modern advertisers. By studying these cards, we can try to imagine the aesthetic tastes of the collector themselves, as well as the consumer and material cultures of the later 19th century that led to our own commercial language today.

Trade cards also reflect the common aesthetic and social attitudes of their time period, and imagery used in them can often be offensive to the modern eye. Though many cards display beautiful illustrations of flowers, children playing, or animals, many also feature caricatures of African American, Asian, Asian American, and Indigenous American people. Printers capitalized on such images  to appeal to their typically white, middle-class customer base. Though difficult to see, these cards are important sources for modern viewers to understand how harmful depictions of marginalized groups are intertwined with American media history. By studying them, we can further discern how these images evolved over time and continue to affect minority representation in modern-day media.

Compliments of Homer, Colladay & Co. Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1879). Chromolithograph trade card.

Though trade cards were immensely popular between the 1870s and the early 20th century, they gradually lost their popularity once businesses started printing advertisements in magazines. Thankfully, due to the sheer volume of cards produced during the height of their popularity, many have survived in relatively good condition in 19th-century albums and scrapbooks such as the one at the Library. These cards enrich our knowledge about the aesthetic history of American commercial culture, as well as the social and economic factors that affect it.