Illustrated Trade Cards and the Cultural Norms of 19th-Century America

It is difficult to fathom a world without images filled with color, but this was the case in nineteenth century America, where until the invention of chromolithography print culture was only black and white except for high art paintings. Chromolithography presented people with colored print media for the first time. A collector’s frenzy ensued, and people raced to collect and cherish color printed ephemera. Contemporary printing technologies were part of a bigger industrial and informational revolution. One interesting printed publication was the ubiquitous trade cards that advertised the growing production and consumption economies of the United States. Major manufacturers flooded the market with their products and trade cards simultaneously, which dominated the market and gained brand loyalty from their customers. Some popular brands included Soapine soap, Arbuckle’s Coffee, Ayer’s Sarsaparilla health tonic, Singer sewing machines, Banner Hams and Hall’s hair renewer. Historians have analyzed these trade cards as windows into the world of nineteenth century Americans, because these cards are filled with imagery of the American landscape, industries, products, social mores, and knowledge. How do the trade card images reflect the social norms of behaviors towards others (immigrants and minorities) in American society? Often trade cards stereotyped Women, African American, Native Americans, Chinese and other immigrants. The dominant prejudices and modes of discrimination of the nineteenth century were obvious and frequent. Trade cards depicted women in the expected stereotypes common in the nineteenth century Victorian age. Often women were shown helpless that were in need for salvation delivered by a manufactured product. Women of the Victorian age were constricted by their corsets and their gendered role of household labor. Trade cards that showed African Americans as caricatures were often distributed at stores that were not frequented by them and are an indication of their exclusion from mainstream society. Native Americans/Indians were shown with more respectful, but an imaginary image of the exotic. Chinese and most other immigrants were portrayed in a derogatory way. This research will complicate these popular depictions with a display of trade card selection that portray marginalized groups with civility and develop insights on their origin and audience. In addition, as American economy wealth increased, the nation engaged with the world. How did the information revolution inform American perspectives of the world? Transportation technologies including railroads, steamships, and expanded roads followed by the information revolution created by the printing technologies, postal service, telegraph, and telephones seemed to eliminate the distance between Americans and the world. Victorians were able to not only dream of world travel but afford it via chartered overseas travel adventures. These travel trade cards indicate our nation's interest in world cultures and effort to learn about the world. Although exotic, these places and cultures are not denigrated but presented as beautiful. This poster will display a visual analysis of the role that trade card played in the information revolution led by the technological development in the nineteenth century with a closer look at the social history and norms of American society.