Presenters
Abstract
Between 1875 and 1900, the printing industry in the United States was revolutionized by new technologies. During the same period, the American perfume industry underwent remarkable growth, due to several cultural changes and scientific advances: new manufacturing processes, the invention of synthetic fragrance compounds, an expanding luxury market, and increasing opportunities for exhibiting scented toiletries at World’s Fairs and other large-scale expositions. American perfumeries, seeking effective and affordable methods of promoting their products to a newly affluent clientele, began advertising intensively through printed materials. But how could they use visual and verbal means to create desire for the intangible sensory experience of wearing personal fragrance?
Trade cards, in particular, encouraged the public taste for perfume in late nineteenth-century America. These colorful cards were an intriguing meeting-point for all the developments mentioned above, yet they have never been studied as a discrete phenomenon. Drawing on specific examples from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New-York Historical Society, the Boston Public Library, and Duke University, this paper considers the ways that American perfume companies used trade cards to promote their wares, with imagery that incorporated nostalgia, humor, references to fine art and literature, and allusions to feminine societal roles. Many cards were even scented with the very products that they advertised, adding a unique olfactory aspect to their interplay of image and text.