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Diploma from Tobacco Exposition, 1888

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation. 

Context

Tobacco has been a major part of Virginia commerce for more than four centuries. Early tobacco art usually took the form of the planters' brand that makers used to distinguish their crop. Most planters used a form of their initials to distinguish their crops, and these became advertising marks as early as 1625. Eventually, the labels displayed designs that were more artistic, including pictures of indigenous people and other figures to portray the romantic origins of tobacco.

By 1890, there were more than 100 tobacco factories in Richmond alone, which created fierce competition. Advances in the production of lithographs made the use of brightly colored images in advertising more commonplace.  Tobacco companies took advantage of this means of reaching out to consumers from various income levels. Advertising became paramount to the success of tobacco companies who began to create new and different ways to advertise their products. Trade cards, calendars, fans, matchbooks, and trays became popular throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This image is a facsimile of the diploma (what today would be termed an award) given to Wm Cameron & Bro. for the best exhibit of dark manufactured tobacco at the Virginia Agricultural, Mechanical and Tobacco Exposition held in 1888. The award was published by the company in 1889. The tobacco factories of the Cameron brothers were among the most successful in Virginia, with agents selling their tobacco worldwide, including in Australia, China, India, South Africa, Europe, and North America. By the 1890s the Cameron factories in Richmond and Petersburg employed hundreds of workers and could produce as much as four million pounds of tobacco each year


Citation: Virginia State Agricultural and Mechanical Society. This is our Latest and Greatest Triumph: from the World's Greatest Tobacco Exposition. 1889, Broadside 1889 .T44 BOX, Special Collections, Library of Virginia.


For information about the Cameron brothers see their Dictionary of Virginia Biography entries:
Alexander Cameron
William Cameron

Standards

Social Studies: VUS.1, VUS.3, USI.1
Art: 4.18, 4.19,5.18, 5.19
English 11.2

Suggested Questions

Preview Activity

Scan It: Scan the document. What might have been the purpose of the document?

Post Activity

Analyze: What can you learn from this award? How effective do you think it was as a form of advertising?

Current Connections: Compare and contrast current tobacco advertising with advertising from the late-19th and early-20th centuries. How has advertising for tobacco products changed?