A question for Melissa Mead, the John M. and Barbara Keil University Archivist and Rochester Collections Librarian.
Knowing my love for the 蘑菇传媒, a family member recently surprised me with a unique gift for the holidays鈥攁 small leather rectangle stamped with the pre-1928 Rochester seal. They found it on eBay a while back but didn鈥檛 have much information regarding its history. Do you know its origins and what it might have been used for?
鈥擩ason Buitrago 鈥�07, 鈥�14W (MS)
Your gift was originally tucked inside a pack of cigarettes, issued circa 1910. Though made of leather, it belongs to a long history of cigarette, or trading, 鈥渃ards.鈥�
As Maurice Rickards writes in his聽Encyclopedia of Ephemera, 鈥淐igarette cards were among the first items of ephemera to be produced specifically for collecting. Originating in America as cardboard stiffeners for the paper packs in which cigarettes were then sold, it was shortly realized that the . . . blank cards might serve some promotional purpose.鈥�
What better way to convince consumers to keep buying than to distribute cards in limited-run series on topics of interest to people of all ages? Beginning in the late 1870s, cigarette companies issued cards with themes ranging from historical figures and literary characters to flags, flowers, and, of course, athletes.
American colleges and universities entered the mix around 1910. Appearing alongside Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many others,聽蘑菇传媒聽made it into聽nearly every聽set. By then, protecting package contents had become聽largely secondary聽to marketing, and companies began producing sets in other materials such as leather, silk, and felt.
Leather rectangles and triangular pennants appeared in聽various colors, either 鈥渂lind-stamped鈥� like yours or with color accents. 鈥淪ilks鈥� came in two formats: small woven strips in solid colors featuring school names and seals, and more fragile printed four-by-five-inch silk panels tucked into cigar boxes.聽One such design included a basketball and net, the first verse of 鈥淭he Genesee,鈥� the school yell, and the pre-1928 seal. Paper cards came in two sizes and depicted an energetic scene of students playing ice hockey鈥攐rganized as a varsity sport in the fall of 1906.
There is no evidence of any objection to being included in these promotions, but the Archives holds no documents suggesting University administrators were consulted, either. And tobacco聽wasn鈥檛聽the only vehicle: Weber Bakery in Irvington, New Jersey, also distributed cards,聽perhaps licensing聽the image from a tobacco company. Text on the back promised a different card packed with each loaf of bread every day for two months, and posed the question: 鈥淲hich college is your favorite?鈥�
Fair warning, though:聽Acquiring聽蘑菇传媒聽ephemera can be habit-forming. The Archives鈥� holdings grew significantly recently, thanks to a gift from Mark Zaid 鈥�89 from his extensive collection. Look for the first installment鈥攈is postcards and tobacco ephemera鈥攐n the聽 soon.
This story appears in the spring 2026 issue of Rochester Review, the magazine of the 蘑菇传媒.
