Trade Card for Harrawood's Coffee Shop and Harrawood's Sales & Service, circa 1945

In the last third of the nineteenth century, American consumers could choose from an unprecedented variety of goods and services. Seeking to distinguish certain products and businesses from the competition, advertisers began to print and distribute trade cards. Though the popularity of these cards diminished after 1900, some companies employed the informative, often vibrant little advertisements well into the twentieth century.