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Advertising Trade Cards Collection, bulk 1870-1970

 

Summary

Extent:
1 boxes
Language:
English French

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of six advertising trade cards published by the Company of Products Cibils and six by the Liebig's Extract of Meat Company. The front of each card has a color illustration and a caption title in French or English. The titles are taken from the cards as they were, while those in French are translated for better access. The back of each card has the company's advertisement, additionally Liebig's includes in some their recipe and states to beware of imitations and require the signature J.v.LIEBIG in blue ink. The main subject of the images is Cuba, depicting tobacco plantations, the sugar cane industry, local markets, ports and ships. All of these made the island attractive for visitors and business people.

Biographical / historical:

There were various companies in the late nineteenth century offering meat extract products on the European market. The Company of Products Cibils and Liebig's Extract of Meat Company were two of them.

Bouillon Cibils was a broth made by stewing meat in water, promoted through advertising cards as a product for strength and energy. It can be found in its publicity that should be considered a complete diet in itself. A study on meat and bouillon extracts published in "The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal" from 1887 says that Cibils ranked first in tasting more like a beef soup in comparison to other brands. A common strategy at the time was to employ sales representatives, and Cibils had Van Geetruyen & Cie. as their general agent for sales in Belgium and Holland. The processing of the meat was done in South America, specifically in Descalvados, Brazil. While Liebig's Extract of Meat Company, did theirs in Fray Bentos, Uruguay.

Justus von Liebig (1803-1873), a German chemist, known for producing beef broth on a commercial scale, gave its name to the Liebig's Extract of Meat Company. The idea of boiling beef to create a meat extract emerges to provide nutrition to the population suffering from food scarcity and the poor meat quality. Ever since this problem existed, many have gotten sick on a regular basis, and beef broth has piqued the interest of the medical community. The meat and bouillon extracts were highly valued products on the market at the time. It is worth considering that they were promoted as liquefied meat and rich in nutrition with healing properties.

Both companies executed advertising campaigns with trade cards that accompanied their products. These cards fulfilled different functions, such as business cards, to advertise products and reach customers, as well as collectibles.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in alphabetical order and organized in two Series. Series 1 is Company of Products Cibils and Series 2 is Liebig's Extract of Meat Company.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Rights: In copyright. Standardized rights statement: https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ Special Collections & University Archives provides copies of materials in our collections for private study, scholarship, or research. Patrons are responsible for determining the proper copyright holder and securing permission to publish, quote, broadcast, exhibit, or perform that work. FIU Special Collections will provide all available information about the copyright holder of materials found in our collections. For more information please visit: https://library.fiu.edu/find/copyright/general

Location of this collection:
Florida International University
11200 SW 8th Street
Miami
FL
33199
USA