Gordon A. Pfeiffer Nineteenth-century Delaware Trade Card Collection

The Gordon A. Pfeiffer nineteenth-century Delaware trade card collection comprises over one thousand trade cards (2 linear feet) of Delaware suppliers and merchants. The collection of trade cards largely features merchants with addresses on or nearby Wilmington’s Market Street and demonstrates an increased availability of Delaware goods and services, particularly in downtown city-centers. In addition, the highly decorative and colorful trade cards reveal an increasing complexity in advertising that targeted a burgeoning Delaware middle class. Some cards also depict commonly held social attitudes towards race gender and class.