Guide to the Aviation Trading Cards Collection

History of Aviation Trading Cards

Various industries, notably tobacco manufacturers, began issuing trade cards as a way to advertise and market their businesses. In the late nineteenth century, the collecting of colorful trade cards became a popular hobby.

W.D. & H.O. Wills, as well as John Player and Sons, both tobacco manufacturers in the U.K. were among the first to issue trade card series within their cigarette packages. As more companies began to do this, the cards sold inside cigarette packs became known simply as "cigarette cards." A card series often centered on a particular theme, such as aviation in the case of this collection, and usually included 25 or 50 total cards in the series.

Scope and Content

The Aviation Trading Cards Collection consists of approximately 700 collectable trade cards and stamps issued by various industries, primarily the "cigarette cards" of tobacco manufacturers. The majority of the card or stamp series feature airplanes, but some series focus on famous aviators. Some are preserved in albums specially designed and marketed for a particular series.

Series I, Tobacco Company Cards, includes over 500 cigarette cards issued by tobacco companies in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The materials date between about 1929 and 1940, with the exception of a 1996 reproduction set (from an original 1936 set). The series consists predominantly of cards issued by John Player & Sons (branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. of Great Britain and Ireland) and Wings (part of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., Louisville, Kentucky). Other manufacturers included are: Carreras (London); Gallaher (London and Belfast); Murray Sons & Co. (Belfast); Tuckett (Hamilton, Ontario); and W.D. & H.O. Wills (branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. of Great Britain and Ireland).

Series II, Other Industry Cards and Stamps, includes approximately 170 trade cards and collectable stamps issued by non-tobacco industries. The materials date between about 1925 and 1940. Many of the items in this series are mounted in specially designed albums. Companies represented in this series include: Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co. (Whitman, Massachusetts); H. J. Heinz Co. (Pittsburgh); Lahusen's (part of Wahler & Schwarz, Kunstanstalt, Stuttgart, Germany); Skelly Oil Co. (Tulsa); Thompson Products (Cleveland); and Tide Water Associated Oil Company (San Francisco).

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing materials in this collection.

Subject Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Organizations/Corporations:

Material Types:

Preferred Citation

[Description of item, Date, Box #, Folder #], MS-519, Aviation Trading Cards Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio

Acquisition Information

The collection was purchased by Special Collections and Archives from Cowan's Auctions in Cincinnati, in December 2015.

Processing Information

Finding aid written according to DACS standards by Lisa Rickey and Ed O’Shaughnessy, August 2017.

Other Finding Aid

The finding aid is available on the Special Collections & Archives, Wright State University Libraries website at
https://wright.libraryhost.com/repositories/2/resources/876.