Trade Card for Niagara Corn Starch, Wesp, Lautz Bros. & Co., 1880-1900

Summary

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

Artifact

Trade card

Date Made

1880-1900

Subject Date

1880-1900

Creators

George L. Smith (Firm) 

Wesp, Lautz Bros. & Company 

Place of Creation

United States, New York, Buffalo 

United States, New York, Fulton 

Creator Notes

Manufactured by Wesp, Lautz Bros. & Company, Buffalo, New York. Retailed by George L. Smith, Fulton, New York.

 On Exhibit

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

90.0.281.338

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Ink
Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Lithography
Printing (Process)

Color

Multicolored

Dimensions

Height: 5.25 in

Width: 3.25 in

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