Henry Prentiss umbrella & musical instrument manufacturer, ca. 1830. Catalog record
Trade cards are small advertising cards that were distributed by businesses to customers. Most provide the name and address of the proprietor and describe products and services available.
A wide range of goods such as beverages, patent medicines, clothing, jewelry, and coffins are included. Other cards promote service providers such as photographers, doctors, fortune tellers, milliners, and taxidermists.
The collection at AAS includes over 15,000 examples from 1748 through 1900. When used in tandem with other ephemera collections such as billheads, clipper ship cards, and stock certificates, trade cards amplify business history in the United States.
Access
A portion of the collection is fully digitized and cataloged online in the General Library Catalog. Select the "scanned image available here" link available in each card's catalog record to view images.
Resources
- Big Business: Food Production, Processing & Distribution in the North 1850-1900
- Bella C. Landauer. Early American Trade Cards, 1927. Catalog record
Robert Jay. The Trade Card in Nineteenth-Century America, 1987. Catalog record