Cigar Box, Hathawa

Credit LineGift of Dr. J. Malcolm Smith, London, Ontario, 1991.

Object number1991.039.002

Label TextThe graphics on cigar boxes featured fictional characters, historic figures, and drawings of plants and animals. Some also featured racist depictions of different people, in this instance, Indigenous peoples. At the end of the 19th and in the early 20th centuries, when the London Cigar Company manufactured these cigars, Indigenous peoples were active, vibrant members of Canadian society. Still, the imagery on the box depicts them as foreign and exotic “others.” This aligned with and reinforced the stereotypes and racist ideas that permeated Canadians’ attitudes towards Indigenous peoples.

NameBox, Cigar