United States, from the National Flags series (N195) issued by Wm. S. Kimball & Co.

Art Historical Context

This small but vibrant print belongs to the National Flags series (N195), issued in 1891 by Wm. S. Kimball & Company, a prominent American tobacco firm. Measuring just over four inches tall, the card was likely included in packages of cigarettes as a promotional giveaway, encouraging collectors to assemble complete sets of national emblems from around the world. The United States flag is rendered in crisp commercial color lithography, a mass-production technique that made bright, affordable imagery widely accessible during the late nineteenth century. As ephemera, the work offers a window into everyday visual culture of the Gilded Age, when companies blended advertising with informal education. By placing the Stars and Stripes alongside flags of other nations, Kimball’s series fostered a sense of both national pride and global awareness among ordinary consumers. Today, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum’s Burdick Collection, this modest lithograph reminds us how commercial prints once served as miniature ambassadors of patriotism and design.

About the Artist

William S. Kimball & Company · 1850–1950

**William S. Kimball & Company**, a pioneering American tobacco manufacturer, was established in 1846 in Rochester, New York, by William S. Kimball and James C. Hart. The firm quickly grew into one of the city's largest employers, particularly of women, producing popular brands like Peerless chewing tobacco, Rigatta and Fireside smoking tobacco, and Vanity Fair cigarettes. Under Kimball's leadersh...