A Short History: General Oliver Otis Howard, from the Histories of Generals series (N114) issued by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote Honest Long Cut Smoking and Chewing Tobacco

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 1880s advertising with this petite commercial color lithograph,A Short History: General Otis Howard*, from W. Duke, Sons &.'s *Histories of Generals* (N114). Produced in 1888 by the tobacco company and lithographer Knapp & Company, this 4 3/16 × 2 1/2-inch card promoted Honest Long Cut Smoking and Che Tobacco. Likely a collectible insert for cigarette packs, it captures the Gilded Age boom in tobacco marketing, where everyday products piggybacked on national heroes to captivate consumers. The card features a portrait of Union Civil War General Oliver Otis Howard amid patriotic motifs like eagles and a coat of arms, evoking military valor and American pride. Chromolithography, the era's cutting-edge technique for mass-producing vivid, multi-color prints, made these ephemera both affordable and eye-catching—perfect for swapping among enthusiasts. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department as part of The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this unassuming artifact reveals how commerce wove into cultural memory, immortalizing generals on tobacco tins and transforming fleeting ads into treasured history. A tiny window into America's post-war hero worship!

About the Artist

W. Duke, Sons & Co.|Knapp & Company · 1870–1920

**W. Duke, Sons & Co.: Pioneers of Chromolithographic Trade Card Art** W. Duke, Sons & Co., an American tobacco manufacturer, emerged from the entrepreneurial vision of Washington Duke (1820–1905) and his sons in Durham, North Carolina. After the Civil War, Washington abandoned farming in 1874 to join his eldest son, Brodie L. Duke, in the burgeoning tobacco trade, establishing a factory that for...