Victorian trade cards are an early form of advertising. Popularized after the Civil War by businesses, they offer a colorful and diverse look at popular culture and society in the late 1800s. The advent of lithography in the 1870s made it possible to mass-produce them in color, leading to a golden age from 1876 to the early 1900s when halftone printed newspaper and magazine ads became more economical. They typically had a picture on one side and an ad on the other, and were popular for medicines, sewing, and farm equipment, and a range of other products. Vicksburg's merchants actively utilized trade cards to advertise their wares. Even the newspapers used them. Below are photos of some of them:
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