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Reporting from: https://exhibits.library.cornell.edu/tradecards/feature/men-and-women
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Trade Cards: An Illustrated History

Highlights from the Waxman Collection

Men and Women

Technology and industry may have undergone revolutionary changes during the Victorian period, but public attitudes toward gender roles were strictly conservative. With very few exceptions, the cards show middle-class women confined not only in their corsets, but tethered to their homes and household responsibilities. Their pursuits consisted mainly of overseeing maids and housekeepers or making life comfortable for their husbands and children. While they participate in some leisure time activities, they are not shown as deeply involved. Unmarried women are frequently depicted as flirtatious, although they sometimes hold off unwanted attention. Working-class women tend to be shown in a derogatory light, often as members of immigrant communities. Irish charwomen, for example, are a common image and often the butts of humorous jabs, portrayed as blowzy and shrewish, henpecking the men in their lives.

Love and Romance

"Delicious cakes" trade card, depicting two young children kissing
The innocent love of children, mimicking adult romantic love, is a recurrent theme in trade card art. This advertiser apparently decided that there was something appealing about this precocious behavior and that it would help sell flour.
Trade card depicting woman doing laundry with man in window
Flirting is part of young love, and this pretty maiden is able to attract her dashing beau’s attentions because her Empire clothes wringer makes everything go more easily.
Trade card depicting woman doing housework while talking to man
It was a clear sign that social attitudes were changing when “circumstantial evidence” of a dalliance could be treated as amusing. Here, it is also obvious that it was the young woman, her barrel filled with Milford Flour, who had made the daring move.
Trade card depicting man and woman in art gallery
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. found humor in the young man’s intense attention to female classical statuary, while his companion was clearly pained by his studious reverence for the arts.
Florence Lamp Stove trade card depicting a family at home
Not always associated with Victorian marriage is the kind of domestic cooperation seen in this gently humorous promotion of a Florence brand tabletop lamp stove.
Trade card depictiing a deacon and his wife
Affection is not often depicted among older people, but in this spirited trade card for Ayers Sarsaparilla, it is clear that the Deacon and his wife are a happy, loving couple.
First card in a three card series depicting a brief love story (flirtation)
This series of agricultural trade cards tells a brief love story: PLOWING—a flirtation by the gate; REAPING—a kiss happily exchanged; THRASHING—the milk bucket is upset, and so is the maiden. Note that these three cards are clearly drawn from three different sets, each carrying the imprint of a different advertiser. This amusing tale was apparently successful and likely used by a wide variety of businesses.
Second card in a three card series depicting a brief love story (shared kiss)
Third card in a three card series depicting a brief love story (heartbreak)

A Woman’s Place

"Gardner & Seymour make the best flour" trade card
Not only was a woman’s place in the home, she was responsible for her family’s health and happiness in every respect. This mother is serving cake to her children, while the inscription above states, “It brings peace and gladness to the household.”
The American Machine Co. trade card
Barely any cards other than those with agricultural settings show women at work, and they are rarely seen in shops, factories, or offices. These laundry workers may be domestics in a large household.
Trade card advertising a vacuum
Perhaps controversial today, but not so surprising in Victorian America, is the notion of a carpet sweeper as a Christmas gift. It both defined a woman’s place, while appearing “enlightened” because its intent was to lighten the load of household work.
Pillsbury's Vitos trade card advertising a wheat food for breakfast
For many women burdened with domestic obligations, the idea of breakfast in bed was an appealing one, and advertisers could be reasonably confident that most men would not object to the vision of a glamorous woman, her long hair unbound, lounging amid her quilts and pillows. This is an 1898 card.
Trade card depicting Nellie Bly
These trade cards, celebrating the daring investigative journalist Nelly Bly (1864-1922), seem to suggest that change for women could be on the horizon. This card is one of a series of six about Bly, who shocked and thrilled the public when she traveled around the world in 72 days. Wilson Biscuits is the advertiser.
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