Trade Card for "No-To-Bac" Tobacco, Sterling Products Co., circa 1894

In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods flooded the American market. Some enterprising advertisers sought to distinguish their products from the competition by distributing trade cards. Special versions revealed hidden images and words when held to the light. Americans enjoyed and often saved the popular little advertisements, which survive as historical records of consumerism in the United States.