Counter-Archives in
Digital Spaces

Duke’s Cigarette Cards
Coins of All Nations, 1889

Case Study #1: Curation

This group of cigarette cards contains images that are harmful and problematic. The blur as a visual strategy obscures, corrupts, and masks the racial implications and stereotypes of the caricatures in the cigarette cards. Hovering over the card will make it clear. Clicking on any card leads to a page of curated, publicly accessible archival material from the NYPL Digital Collection related to that nation.
Read more ↓

  • Why do you think these images have been blurred?
  • What might a page filled with blurry images mean?
  • Does hovering over the image to make it clear help or hinder the experience of viewing this cigarette card collection?
  • What other visual and digital manipulations can be used to obscure the images on the cards?

Read less ↑

Algeria Arabia Austria Bavaria Belgium Brazil Burmah Canada Chili China Congo Corea Cuba Denmark Egypt England Equador Finland French Empire Germany Greece Hayti Holland Hungary India Ireland Italy Japan Liberia Mexico Morocco Newfoundland Norway Persia Peru Poland Portugal Republic of France Russia Sandwich Islands Saxony Scotland Servia Siam Siberia Spain Sweden Switzerland