READING THE (TRADE) CARDS
The Museum of Health Care holds a large collection of trade cards - playing-card size advertisements for health and beauty products. The popularity of trade cards flourished in the later 1800s and early 1900s; they were one of the first forms of mass marketing.
The cards show some of the products available to consumers at the time. If you "read the cards" carefully, however, they can also reveal much, much more about their era.
Explore what the cards can reveal about
