From the Sports Girls series (N463) for Old Port Plug Tobacco

Art Historical Context

This charming small-scale print belongs to the "Sports Girls" series (N463), produced around 1889 by Old Port Plug Tobacco as a colorful advertising insert. Measuring just 2¾ by 1½ inches, it is a commercial color lithograph designed to be tucked into packages of chewing tobacco. The diminutive format made these cards highly collectible, turning everyday purchases into opportunities for visual entertainment and light education about emerging athletic pastimes. In the late nineteenth century, tobacco manufacturers pioneered the use of colorful lithographed cards to build brand loyalty, and the "Sports Girls" series stands out for featuring women as athletes at a time when female participation in sports was still novel. The portraits blend genteel femininity with physical activity, reflecting shifting cultural attitudes toward women’s health and leisure while serving as subtle marketing tools. Though created for commercial purposes, these ephemera offer today’s viewers a vivid glimpse into Victorian-era advertising and the growing visibility of women in public life. Part of the Metropolitan Museum’s Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, the piece preserves a delightful fragment of popular graphic culture. Its crisp colors and compact design highlight the technical skill of commercial lithography, demonstrating how fine printing techniques reached ordinary consumers in the 1880s.