Victorian Trade Cards

by Patricia and James Cummings

Cards of all kinds were seen with more frequency during the Victorian era which might be better called “the age of collections.” For example, a Victorian lady would leave her “calling card” if the party with whom she wished to visit of an afternoon, were not at home. Christmas cards were being sent more often toward the end of the nineteenth century, for two reasons. They were more available, and also, the post office changed its policy of making the recipient of the card pay for postage. Another type of card, trade cards, contained advertising and sometimes, company logos. Product name recognition was the goal. That great trend-setter, Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition of 1876, is heavily responsible for the popularity of trade cards.

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At first, trade cards were printed in only black and white. When chromolithographs became available, the preference of collectors for the more colorful trade cards became apparent. These little gems of art were sometimes included within the packaging of products. They were stamped with the name of a local merchant and given away as a free gift. In addition, the cards could be purchased in packs by mail order. Once acquired, the cards were often traded. Many an evening in the 1890s was spent gluing them into scrapbooks. More than 100,000 different cards were produced and the trend of saving them continues today.

A handful of different textile-related categories were represented on these cards: Clothiers, Washing Machines, Irons, Sewing threads, and Sewing machines. Our first introduction to trade cards was in having seen the seven irons-related trade cards that we photographed for an article about irons which appeared in the Winter 2003 issue of The Quilter magazine. You can only imagine my surprise to find that trade cards were issued for all kinds of businesses, from the Boy‘s Companion Tricycle Co., to Spooner Patent Horse Collars, to Hoyt’s German Cologne, and hundreds of other companies.

The images of these quaint-looking, slice-of-life cards, present romantic notions of life as it could be in an ideal world. Ironically, they portray happy children with their pets and at play, at a time when many children were working long hours in the unsuitable and dangerous environment of the mills. The cards also present peaceful-looking landscapes and waterscapes. One White Sewing Machine Company trade card’s painting is reminiscent of similar works by Currier and Ives. The bird’s eye view of a farm, with cattle in the foreground on a snowy day, is enclosed by an ice-edged maple leaf. Above the scene are the words: “The White: The King of all Sewing Machines. 650,000 now in Use.” On the back, the following additional sentiments are added:

The Most Popular Machine on the Market; Manufactured at Cleveland, Ohio; Represented in every town and city of progress in the United States; White Sewing Machine Co.; If you would have the best, buy the “WHITE.

A second trade card from the White company provides a glimpse of a Victorian parlor scene where one of the three ladies sitting there, is showing off her new White machine. The captioning is: “WHITE: Best in the World.” The graphics that appear on the backs of some of the cards are fascinating, but the reverse side of this particular card has no additional declarations.

The Household Sewing Machine Co. of Providence, Rhode Island, is responsible for two cards in my collection. The first one portrays a lady sitting and sewing on her machine. Her young son, dog and two kittens play at her feet. Another card for that same company shows a small girl riding on the back of the family dog, with two older children alongside.

The back of the card reads:

The Household” is everywhere acknowledged to be the SIMPLEST, MOST RELIABLE, MOST BEAUTIFUL, and the BEST SEWING MACHINE made. It is adapted to Family Use and to Manufacturing Purposes. Send for Descriptive Circulars. Do Not Fail To Examine It. Household Sewing Machine Co., Providence, RI, Principal Offices at Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis.”

Clark’s “Mile-End” Spool Cotton was one of the many thread companies who were well-represented on trade cards. This company liked humorous images as demonstrated by one of the cards which shows a mischievous little boy tripping a man on the sidewalk by using thread from their spool of cotton. The back of the card says:

Best Six Cord; All Numbers from No. 8 to 100; The Colors are especially dyed to match; All Shades of Dress Goods and can be used; Instead of Silk by Dress makers and Families; The Black is Strong and Smooth, and of the Purest Dye; It will retain its very Deep Black hue as long as Silk Fabrics, The White, Black and Colored Is the Standard for use upon all Sewing Machines.

A second card from that same company shows a little girl and her kitten on the front as she reaches for a spool of thread that she appears to have dropped. The wording at the top simply says: "Clark’s Mile-End Spool Cotton.” The back of the card is less verbose than the first one. It says:

The Best Thread for All Sewing Machines is Clark’s Mile-End Spool Cotton. Best Six Cord in White, Black, and All Colors. (By the way, a “cord” means a “ply”).

Birds were popular designs on trade cards. A black and white card made from a steel plate engraving features a bird as the focal point. Likewise, two graceful and swooping swallows adorn the front of the third card I found for Clark‘s Mile-End Thread.

That card has a little poem at the bottom called “The Swallow”:

One Swallow don’t (sic) a Summer make- The proverb’s true my friend. But one Spool many a garment makes, If that Spool’s “Clark’s Mile End.

The back of the card says in small print: The proprietors of Clark’s Mile End Spool Cotton propose to issue a series of twelve aquarelles from designs by the celebrated Parisian Artist Hector Giacomelli, Illustrative of our Native song birds. Preserve the cards as issued.

Merrick’s Thread trade card presents an amusing “fish story.” The fish line in use consists of thread. One fisherman is calling over to the other who has a huge fish on the line, saying,:

He can’t break it George, it’s Merrick’s Best Six Cord Thread, Best in the World.

Willimantic Linen Co., later called American Thread Company, was known to have produced the finest six cord spool cotton of its day. One of their trade cards shows a winter scene in which a woman, in heavy winter attire, is holding a pair of old-fashioned ice skates while standing near a frozen body ofwater.

The card says: Willimantic: The Best Thread for Sewing Machines." The back of the card mentions that the thread is made from combed Sea Island Cotton, and is purely an American production and that buying it is an opportunity to patronize and sustain Home Industries.

Two Willimantic trade cards emphasize the strength of their thread. One shows it being used to restrain an elephant. The second card with this theme is a scene in which Gulliver being kept captive by Lilliputians using a spool of Willimantic thread. (A Coats thread card adopted exactly this same graphic image).

On another Willimantic card, a little girl has just written “Willimantic: The Best Thread for Sewing Machines” on a chalkboard.

Victorian trade cards are still available and affordable. They can be found online for $10.00 and up, depending on condition and rarity of the card. According to Dave Cheadle in his book, Victorian Trade Cards: Historical Reference & Value Guide, co-written with Russ Mascieri, the hobby of collecting trade cards was rediscovered in the 1970s. Cheadle’s book is currently out-of-print book but is available directly from him. It is a treasure trove of color photos and flowing commentary, and is a price guide for a representational selection of cards.

Victorian Trade Cards represent a certain finesse that perhaps the world will never recapture. While we would not want to trade our lives for those who struggled to make this country what it is today, in these little pieces of the past we can revisit the spirit of capitalism, and see the ingenuity, beauty, and determination that built the quality of life as we know it now. The trade cards are an example of merchants going a step beyond to add a little beauty to the lives of their would-be customers.

Mikado Trade Cards

In honor of "The Mikado" play, a number of trade cards featuring the main characters were issues. To see an example, read my file about the "Mikado Quilt."

Post Note

Fascinated by the these trade cards, we traveled to their area of origin, Willimantic, better known as “Thread City,” Connecticut, which is actually a section of the town of Windham. The swift-running Willimantic River was the source of water power for these textile mills which closed their doors in 1985, after a successful run of more than 130 years. Since 1820, the mill workers were members of immigrant families from Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Lebanon, Ireland, and much later, from Puerto Rico.

During our visit to the Windham History and Textile Museum, the director, Bev York, gave us a terrific guided tour of the two historic brick buildings which house artifacts from the mills. We were able to see an imposing Jacquard loom, which looks positively lethal, and other less daunting machines such as a cotton carding machine, and a cotton spinning machine. We also were able to view many different samples of Willimantic thread, carpenter‘s and mechanic‘s tools.

Willimantic: Industry and Community: The Rise and Decline of a Connecticut Textile City by Thomas Beardsley is an excellent book which presents not only a comprehensive historical overview but also a very interesting compilation of oral history interviews with previous mill workers who still reside in the vicinity. The book is an invaluable source of insight into working conditions in the mills, and the lives of the nineteenth and twentieth century mill workers.

The mills at Willimantic also produced cloth and silk thread, and much later, man-made threads. They were the first mills in the United States to install electric lighting. They were a vital part of America’s Industrial Revolution, keeping fine company with the Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI, the Lowell, Cocheco, and Amoskeag Mills, to mention just a few.

The success of the Willimantic Linen Company is attributed in great part to William Eliot Barrows, a paternalistic manager, who is instituted social reforms that made a huge difference in the lives of his laborers. Through his efforts, English classes, religious services, and voice and drama lessons were provided, and an extensive library was maintained for use of the workers. In trying to build team spirit, Mr. Barrows, established coffee breaks, free meals, and quality housing. Unfortunately, all of these policies resulted in diminished profits for the stockholders and, in 1883, Mr. Barrows resigned.

Three additional success factors were the heavy financial backing from investors, the daily train stops to major sites in the northeast and the waves of immigrants who were eager to work for little recompense. An extensive set of humidifiers placed throughout the mills, kept Willimantic’s cotton thread from drying out in the processing of it. Therefore, it retained more of its tensile strength and was, indeed, a superior product to other domestic sewing threads and could compete with the even the best English ones.

The city today of Willimantic is charming. Besides having a very upscale and well-stocked quilt shop, Quilter’s Dream, there are four frog sculptures, each bullfrog sitting upon a spool of cotton, located at the corners of a bridge near the former mills. The frogs symbolically commemorate an actual event, now referred to as the Windham Frog Battle of 1754. Residents awakened by the thunderous noise of bullfrogs, were called to muster, thinking that they would soon be under attack by the French and Indians. Instead, they found frogs which were battling to their death for a few remaining puddles, in a time of drought. This story has become part of the lore of Willimantic. What fun, and all of these discoveries because of one little trade card!