Trade Card for Thread, Willimantic Linen Co., 1885

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

1885

Subject Date

1885

Creators

Trautmann, Bailey & Blampey, Lithographers 

Willimantic Linen Co. 

Place of Creation

United States, Connecticut, Willimantic 

United States, New York, New York 

Creator Notes

Product by Willimantic Linen Company, Willimantic, Connecticut. Card printed by Trautmann, Bailey & Blampey, New York, New York.

 On Exhibit

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

84.13.27.20

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Ink
Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Lithography
Printing (Process)

Color

Multicolored

Dimensions

Height: 4.563 in

Width: 3.063 in

Connect 3

Discover curious connections between artifacts.

Learn More