Private, 2nd Battalion, Maryland, National Guard, from the Military Series (N224) issued by Kinney Tobacco Company to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes

Art Historical Context

In the late 19th century, American tobacco companies like the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company revolutionized advertising by inserting collectible chromolithograph cards into cigarette. This vibrant card, titled *Private, 2nd, Maryland, National Guard is from their Military Series (N224), in 1888 to promote Sweet Cap Cigarettes. Measuring just 2¾ × 1½ inches, it depicts a uniformed soldier with rifle at the ready, embodying the era's fascination with military valor and patriotism amid growing national pride and militia enthusiasm. Chromolithography, the medium here, allowed for inexpensive, eye-catching color printing that mimicked fine art, making these ephemera highly desirable to collectors—especially boys and men drawn to the heroic imagery of firearms and uniformed figures. The Maryland National Guard reference highlights state militias, volunteer forces pivotal to America's defense before the modern National Guard's formalization. Part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, this card offers a window into Gilded Age consumer culture, where tobacco marketing intertwined with martial themes to glamorize smoking as a masculine pursuit. A charming artifact of commerce and nationalism, it reminds us how everyday objects captured the spirit of their time.

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...