Trade Card for Poultry Incubators, Reliable Incubator and Brooder Co., 1902-1914

Late-nineteenth-century trade cards used colorful illustrations to promote and sell products. They also reflected the prejudices of the time. American illustrators often represented the United States through the character of Uncle Sam. The usually strong, confident white male contrasted with the stereotyped -- and sometimes degrading -- depictions of other nationalities. These depictions affirmed the discriminatory biases that many middle-class white Americans -- consumers of these advertisements -- held.