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Guide to the John and Jane Adams Trade Card Collection
MS-0406
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Collection Title: John and Jane Adams Trade Card Collection
Dates: 1875-1915
Identification: MS-0406
Creator:
Adams Trade Card Collection
Physical Description: 0.67 linear ft
Language of Materials:
English
French
Repository:
Special Collections & University Archives
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA, 92182-8050
URL: http://library.sdsu.edu/scua
Email: scref@rohan.sdsu.edu
Phone: 619-594-6791
Note:
Other Information:
This collection has been digitized. Click the link below to access the digital collection.
Additional information may be found at http://ibase.sdsu.edu/index.php?a=ViewItem&i=531
Trade cards, also known as advertising cards, were wildly popular collectibles in the latter half of the nineteenth century
as consumer culture took over America. Advertising a huge variety of manufactured goods in bright chromolithographed colors,
trade cards were produced by advertisers to encourage recognition of brand names and to stimulate demand for the products
advertised. Though trade cards sometimes feature rather generic Victorian images of flowers or birds, these attractive pieces
of ephemera often feature comic little vignettes with punchy slogans, or instructions for catchy games to be played using
the card. Some are die-cut, and some have folding or moveable pieces--features that surely made great fun for their collectors.
Trade cards were often issued in series to emphasize their collectible aspect, and this collection has many representatives
from various series; for example, McLaughlin's Coffee "War Ship" series, or Arbuckle's "States" series.
Trade cards often contain a separate advertisement for the local seller of the product, usually on the verso of the card.
A huge variety of social and cultural topics are open for study using trade cards. Depictions of women and femininity, domesticity
and the American home, advertising methods and consumerism, social mores, race relations, humor--all are made tangible in
this type of American ephemera.
This collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Digital Records
Ephemera
Adams, Jane Ford -- Art collections
Adams, John R., 1900-1994 -- Art collections
Advertising cards -- Private collections -- California -- San Diego
Advertising cards -- Specimens
Advertising cards -- United States -- Specimens
Trade cards -- Specimens
These materials were separated from the unprocessed John and Jane Adams Ephemera Collection, Box 6 (Advertisements).
These materials are in the public domain. However, the nature of historical archival and manuscript collections means that
copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Copyright resides with the creators of materials contained
in the collection or their heirs. Requests for permission to publish must be submitted to the Head of Special Collections,
San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission is given on behalf of Special Collections
as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder(s), which must
also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and
private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement
of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
This collection is open for research.
Identification of item, folder title, box number, John and Jane Adams Trade Card Collection, Special Collections and University
Archives, Library and Information Access, San Diego State University.
John and Jane Adams Greeting Card Collection
John and Jane Adams Autograph Album Collection
John and Jane Adams Postcard Collection
The collection is arranged alphabetically by type of product. Within each folder, cards are arranged alphabetically by name
of product advertised. There is a "Miscellaneous Products" folder found at the end of the collection which houses cards not
readily categorizeable. Cards that do not advertise a product, but were rather meant to serve as advertising for a business,
are housed in the "Individual Businesses" folder.
When a count appears in parentheses after a product listing in the finding aid (i.e., Union Sewing Machine (10)), this denotes
that there are ten different cards advertising the Union Sewing Machine. There are no duplicate cards in the collection.
A variety of products are advertised in the collection. All trade cards in the collection are American except two French cards
which can be found in the "Miscellaneous Products" folder.
This collection has been digitized. Copy and paste this URL into your browser's address bar to access the digital collection:
http://infodome.sdsu.edu/projects/tradecards/.