Card Number 54, Agnes Folsom, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-6) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Duke Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century advertising with *Card Number 54, Folsom*, a charming portrait from the Actors and Actresses series (145-6), produced by W. Duke, & Co. in the 1880s. This petite albumen photograph, measuring just 2 /16 × 1 3/8 inches, the poised elegance of actress Agnes Fom, one of many celebrities featured in these collectible trade cards. Issued to promote Duke Cigarettes, cards were wildly popular, enticing smokers and collectors alike to amass full sets tucked into cigarette packs—a clever marketing ploy during the tobacco industry's boom. Albumen prints, the medium here, were a hallmark of the era's photography, created by coating paper with egg whites for a glossy surface that yielded sharp, luminous details. Affordable and reproducible, they democratized portraiture, blending fine art with commercial ephemera. Folsom's image reflects the cultural fascination with theater stars, particularly women, whose fame fueled public imagination in Victorian America. Now part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection in the Drawings and Prints department, this card offers a window into how commerce and celebrity intertwined, preserving a slice of Gilded Age pop culture for today's visitors.

About the Artist

W. Duke, Sons & Co. · 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...