Molineux Rifles, Brooklyn, New York Militia, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century American ephemera with this petite commercial color lithograph, *Molineux Rifles, Brooklyn, New York Militia*, from Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company's Military Series (N224). in 1888 to promote their popular Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, this card—measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches—was tucked into cigarette packs as a collectible incentive, captivating boys and young men with its bold imagery of uniformed militiamen wielding swords. These cards capture the Gilded Age fascination with military prowess and local pride. The Molineux Rifles, a volunteer militia unit from Brooklyn, symbolized civic duty and patriotism amid rising national tensions leading to the Spanish-American War. Tobacco companies like Kinney cleverly tapped into this enthusiasm, producing series of chromolithographed cards that turned everyday smoking into a gateway for collecting. Chromolithography, a pioneering color printing technique, allowed for vivid, mass-produced details in reds, blues, and golds, making affordable art accessible to the masses. Today, preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection—a treasure trove of printed ephemera—this card offers a window into commercial ingenuity and cultural militarism, reminding us how everyday objects chronicled America's spirited past.

About the Artist

Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company · 1869–2011

**Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company (1869–2011)** Founded around 1869 by Francis Sherwood Kinney in New York City, the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company quickly rose to prominence in the burgeoning American cigarette industry. Francis, a pioneering tobacco manufacturer, experimented with hand-rolled cigarettes using blends of Turkish and Virginia tobacco, scaling to mass production by employing Europ...