Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
December 4, 1988
By Helen Fagg Mitchell
Vigo County Historical Society
Advertisers played card game with buyers
“It pays to advertise!” How often we have heard that expression! It must be true as various forms of advertising have been around since man has had products he wished to sell. Advertising cards were one of the most interesting forms, and were most used during the latter half of the 19th century.
These cards were colorful little pieces of thin cardboard just the right size to hold in the hand. They had lavish illustrations and decorations with striking color lithography. Appealing children, beautiful women and exotic flowers were the principal subjects used to put the point across.
An extremely wide range of products were advertised by means of the innocent-looking little cards. Threads, sewing machines, medical products and soaps seemed to be used as subjects more often, but stoves, polish, shoes, hair products and even fence stretchers also were advertised in this way.
At the foot of the stairway on the lower level of the museum is a large picture frame which contains many of these colorful cards. These were the gift of Helen Condit and represent much time spent in collecting and arranging.
The second edition of “Warman’s Americana and Collectibles” gives the following information: The cards published from 1810 to 1850 can be found but rarely. They sometimes turn up in old family albums and scrapbooks. The prime years were from 1880 until 1893. By 1900 they were rapidly losing their popularity and by 1910 they had all but vanished.
Sometimes the cards came in sets of four or even more and it was a challenge to collect them all, as the story told by the cards was not complete until they were all secured.
Such a story is told in four cards at the museum. In the first card, Willie and Sister are standing at the top of an open well and Sister warns: “Be careful, Willie, don’t fall.”
The second card shows Willie falling, with the prediction by Sister, “Oh, dear, Willie will be drowned!”
In card number three, Willie is rising to the top of the well on a sea of billowing suds and Sister says, “Why the foam is bringing Willie up.”
On the fourth and last card, Willie and Sister are going merrily on their way with the clinching statement: “Saved by Acme Soap.”
Other cards in the collection show Gulliver grounded and bound around with J. and P. Coats thread, and a city cop being alerted by a firecracker going off at his back with laughing mischievous boys in the background
Some cards were just pretty, some were funny, others really told a message with warnings if the product was not used, and some were a means of introducing the consumer to a new product. They were, and are, fun to collect but today it presents a real challenge.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.