Our modern daily lives are inundated with advertisements, constantly evolving and fighting for our attention against an ever increasing visual palette. The mid 19th-century saw a similar advancement in visual advertising. The invention of new technologies like coated papers and faster printing techniques allowed for economical printing in multiple colors as opposed to just black and white. Trade cards, a budding form of advertisement, naturally adopted this newly accessible explosion of color. The Seaport Museum collection of trade cards broadly encompasses mid-19th century-early 20th century small and diverse pieces of two-dimensional or booklet-style ephemera, with print on at least one side, whose purpose is to advertise for a business, product, or service as opposed to an individual. To learn more, read the Collections Chronicles Blog post "Small Cards, Big City."
Disclaimer note: The collection includes depictions of racism and racist imagery.