Victorian trade cards, one of the more picturesque collections in the Missouri Valley Room, provide not only a rich resource for researching the history of printing, advertising, medicine, fashions, late nineteenth-century culture, etc., but also Kansas City companies. The cards reached their height of popularity in the 1880s and 1890s.
Advertising card for "A. A. Pearson, Millinery and Fancy Goods" showing a girl in a red dress and white cap holding a tennis racket. Caption says: "Forty, Love." One of three cards with similar design. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1036 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for "A. A. Pearson, Millinery and Fancy Goods" showing a girl in a red hood eating red and white striped candy. Caption says: "A sweet tooth." One of three cards with similar design. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1036 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for "A. A. Pearson, Millinery and Fancy Goods" showing a girl in a red striped coat with fur collar. Caption says: "No, thanks, I don't kith gentlemen!" One of three cards with similar design. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1036 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. H. Whitney Co. showing a portrait of a woman identified as Emma Abbott. Front of card says: "C. B. Detrick, Mgr. A. H. Whitney Co., Pianos and Organs." Front lower left corner has number 925. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 18 West 12th St., Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. H. Whitney Co. showing a boy standing in a pond facing off with a frog sitting on the bank. The boy holds a pitch fork behind his back and the frog is pointing a gun at the boy. Front of card says: "C. B. Detrick, Mgr. A. H. Whitney Co., Pianos and Organs." Front lower left corner has number C-930. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 18 West 12th St., Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. Holland with an image of a girl and boy standing under an umbrella superimposed over a bell and surrounded by flowers. Card is cut in the shape of the bell. Front of card says: "A. Holland...Clothing, Gents' Furnishing Goods, Hats, Boots and Shoes." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 551 and 553 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. Holland, Shoe and Clothing House showing a long, rutted road in snow. The image is bordered by flowers and a bird. Front lower left corner has number 838. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 551 and 553 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. Holland, Shoe and Clothing House showing a framed scene of a river surrounded by snow bordered by pink roses and a flying bird. Front lower left corner has number 840. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 551 and 553 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. Holland Shoe and Clothing House showing a scene of a church in winter inside a cresent moon next to a pink rose. Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 551 and 553 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. Holland's Shoe and Clothing House showing a grey and white dove flying. Dove's eye is slightly damaged where pierced by a nail. Front lower left corner has number 385 and says: "Copyright 1884 by J. H. Bufford's Sons." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 551 and 553 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1884
Advertising card for A. J. Runkle & Co. showing a woman in a feathered hat. Front of card says: ?ǣAlice Atherton, uses Warner Bros. Coraline Corsets, Ask for it.?ǥ It also is stamped with "A. J. Runkle & Co., Dealers in Fancy Goods, Notions, Ladies' and Gents' Furnishing Goods." Back of card has an image of the corset and says: "Dr. Warner's Flexible Hip 'D' Corset. Boned with a New Material called Coraline. No more Broken Bones." followed by further advertising copy offering "A reward of $10.00 will be paid for every strip of Corline which breaks with four months' ordinary wear in a corset.." Address given on front of card:<br>Nos. 1044 and 1046 Main Street, <br>Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. J. Runkle and Co. showing two owls sitting on a branch over the ocean. One of four cards with similar design. Front of card says: "A. J. Runkle and Co., Fancy Goods, Notions, Jewelry, Hosiery, Gloves, Underwear, andc." Front lower left corner has number 245; lower right corner says: "Copyright 1880 by F. Todd." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1044 and 1046 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1880
Advertising card for A. J. Runkle and Co. showing six ducks at the edge of water. One is swimming, one is standing up flapping its wings. Image has a border of flowers. Front of card says: "A. J. Runkle and Co., Notions, Fancy Goods, Jewelry, Ladies' and Gents' Furnishing Goods." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1044 and 1046 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. J. Runkle and Co. showing a cherub riding a turtle. One of four cards with similar design. "Handwriting" on side of image says: "Long Life and Happiness." Front of card says: "A. J. Runkle and Co., Fancy Goods, Notions, Jewelry, Hosiery, Gloves, Underwear, andc." Front lower left corner has number 245; lower right corner says: "Copyright 1880 by F. Todd." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1044 and 1046 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1880
Advertising card for A. J. Runkle and Co. showing a woman with a fan outside with a girl who is leaning down to offer her hand to a bird. One of four cards with similar design. Front of card says: "A. J. Runkle and Co., Fancy Goods, Notions, Jewelry, Hosiery, Gloves, Underwear, andc." Front lower left corner has number 245; lower right corner says: "Copyright 1880 by F. Todd." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1044 and 1046 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1880
Advertising card for A. J. Runkle and Co. showing a girl holding a doll and reaching for a flower in a vase. One of four cards with similar design. Front of card says: "A. J. Runkle and Co., Fancy Goods, Notions, Jewelry, Hosiery, Gloves, Underwear, andc." Front lower left corner has number 245; lower right corner says: "Copyright 1880 by F. Todd." Back of card is blank. Address given on front of card: 1044 and 1046 Main Street, Kansas City, Mo.
1880
Advertising card for A. N. Sadler & Co. showing a parrot on a perch. Card is cut in shape of the parrot. Front of card says: "Removal. The Boston One Price Clothing House now located N. W. Corner 7th and Main Streets, Kansas City. A. N. Sadler & Co.." Back of card has pieces of paper glued on it, one of which says: "H. F. Anderson Engraving Co., Pho...tor 4...." Address given on front of card: <br>N. W. Corner 7th and Main Streets, <br>Kansas City.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. O. Bettes Manufacturing Company showing three children sitting on a wall. Back of card says: "Ask your dealer for Ideal Metal Polishes / Liquid, Paste and Powder Forms .."." Ideal Shine: A cake that Scours and Polishes Everything. Ideal Glass Polisher..."."" Ideal Stove Polish..." Made in Kansas City, U. S. A.." Address given on back of card:<br>1208 East 12th St. <br>Telephone 2009.
1885 (year approximate)
Advertising card for A. W. Alger with two images of women in a kitchen called "The Old Way" and the "The New Way." The old way shows a stove falling apart, a broken dish, a spilling pot, a broken window, a cat and dog fleeing, and a distraught woman. It says: "She preferred the old way." The new way shows a woman in more fashionable dress playing with her children next to a stove with an orderly, functional array of pots and kettles. It says: "She prefers the 'Hull.'" Lower left corner of image is "signed."""Santa Sc." Back of card says: "The celebrated Hull Vapor Cook Stove! Over 75,000 in use. Hundreds in use in and about Kansas City and giving universal satisfaction..."."" For Sale By A. W. Alger.." Address given on back of card: <br>1217 Grand Ave., <br>Kansas City, Mo.
1885 (year approximate)
Back cover of a scrapbook of advertising and calling cards. It is red and embossed with a border design and the words: "Pat. March 1876."
1885 (year approximate)
Front cover of a scrapbook of advertising and calling cards. It is red and embossed and has images of white flowers and a sculpture of an angel riding a lion. It says "Scrap Book" and has a typewritten label that reads: "Gift to the Kansas City Public Library, N. Clyde Degginger."
1885 (year approximate)
Inside front cover of a scrapbook of advertising and calling cards containing the cover of a magazine: "Old Sleuth Library. A series of the most thrilling Detective Stories ever published. No. 59. Vol. III. Price 5 Cents. George Munro, Publisher, Nos. 17 to 27 Vandewater Street, New York." It has an image of a man looking at another man seated on a bed in a jail cell and portraits of three people. It says: "Old Sleuth, Badger and Co. by Old Sleuth." Two address labels above the cover say: "N. C. Degginger, 2823 Harrison, Kansas City, Missouri."
1885 (year approximate)
Scrapbook page containing seven advertising cards. Five of these are decorated letters which spell out "CARDS." The other two are pasted above and below the letters and cut to the shape of their image. One shows a hand holding a basket of roses. One shows two white doves sitting among roses.
1885 (year approximate)
Scrapbook page containing 12 advertising cards arranged in four rows of three. Each card is 7 x 8 cm. and shows an animal bordered by a scene of nature or hunting. Cards identify animals and say: "Allen and Ginter, Richmond Straight Cut No. 1 Cigarettes." Animals shown: moose, peccary, lynx, llama, bloodhound (dog), zebra, otter, musk ox, zebu, bighorn, lion, dromedary (camel).
1885 (year approximate)
Scrapbook page containing 12 advertising cards arranged in four rows of three. Each card is 7 x 8 cm. and shows an animal bordered by a scene of nature or hunting. Cards identify animal and say: "Allen and Ginter, Richmond Straight Cut No. 1 Cigarettes." Animals shown: hippopotamus, badger, gnu, fox, buffalo, tapir, polar bear, antelope, elephant, hyena, giraffe, chamois.
1885 (year approximate)