Singer Sewing Machines, founded in 1851 in Boston, was the largest sewing machine manufacturer in the world by 1860. The company was known for its innovations in installment payment plans and early advertising, as well as creating international markets. Singer had a history of creating trading cards for world's expositions, including an international set of cards for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
This card was likely part of a set for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle in 1909, and shows a photograph of the exposition grounds (on the University of Washington campus) as seen from Portage Bay on the front, and an advertisement for Singer Sewing Machines and the Singer "66" on the back.
Caption information source: "How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War," by Alex Palmer, Smithsonian Magazine, July 14, 2015, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-singer-won-sewing-machine-war-180955919/ Caption information source: "An Orphaned Sewing Machine," by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Harvard Magazine, January 5, 2017, https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2017/01/an-orphaned-sewing-machine
Physical Description: 1 advertising card ; 4.5 x 7.25 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
