Counter-Archives in
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Duke’s Cigarette Cards
Coins of All Nations, 1889

Case Study #1: Curation

The curated selection of photographs, prints, and drawings for each nation are chosen from the NYPL Digital Collection by doing a keyword search for the nation featured on the cigarette card. Results are narrowed down to the decades preceding and following 1889, the year Duke’s Cigarette Cards, Coins of All Nations was released.
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  • Do the curated materials share visual characteristics with the cigarette card? How are they different?
  • What is the point of view of the curated materials? What narratives are presented?
  • Does seeing the curated materials offer an alternative impression of the caricature on the cigarette card?
  • How might these images have influenced Americans’ idea of people from this nation?
  • Choose a card and create your own set of curated materials using the NYPL Digital Collections.

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Liberia.

Liberia.

Cigarette card, 1889

Coins of All Nations (Duke's Cigarettes)

George Arents Collection, The New York Public Library. "Liberia." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 - 1959. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-351b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Rev. R. L. Stewart; The Training and Industrial Mission School, Monrovia, Liberia, West Coast of Africa, Founded December, 1892.

Rev. R. L. Stewart; The Training and Industrial Mission School, Monrovia, Liberia, West Coast of Africa, Founded December, 1892.

Photograph from Twenty-eight years a slave : or, The story of my life in three continents, 1909

W. Mate, London (Publisher)

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Rev. R. L. Stewart; The Training and Industrial Mission School, Monrovia, Liberia, West Coast of Africa, Founded December, 1892." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1909. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-a278-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

A good-looking type of Vai woman from Vanswa, near Monrovia

A good-looking type of Vai woman from Vanswa, near Monrovia./

Photograph from Liberia, Vol. 1, 1906

Sir Harry Johnston (Photographer); Hutchinson & Co., London (Publisher)

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "A good-looking type of Vai woman from Vanswa, near Monrovia" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1906. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-4c4b-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

A Liberian lady

A Liberian lady.

Photograph from Liberia, Vol. 1, 1906

Sir Harry Johnston (Photographer); Hutchinson & Co., London (Publisher)

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "A Liberian lady" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1906. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dd-d8d7-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Mandingo woman of Western Liberia.

Mandingo woman of Western Liberia

Photograph from Liberia, Vol. 1, 1906

Sir Harry Johnston (Photographer); Hutchinson & Co., London (Publisher)

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Mandingo woman of Western Liberia" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1906. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-9497-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

A Liberian family group

A Liberian family group.

Photograph from Liberia, Vol. 1, 1906

Sir Harry Johnston (Photographer); Hutchinson & Co., London (Publisher)

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "A Liberian family group" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1906. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-9412-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99