P.H. Mayo & Brother

P.H. Mayo & Brother was a commercial entity active in the production of lithographic prints and advertising ephemera, with their documented activity centering around the year 1894. The firm specialized in creating collectible promotional items, reflecting the common late 19th-century practice of distributing collectible cards within consumer goods, particularly tobacco products.

The verifiable artistic output associated with P.H. Mayo & Brother consists primarily of collector's prints designed to market Mayo's Cut Plug Tobacco. Six of these prints are represented in major institutional collections, establishing their historical relevance as significant examples of American commercial art. These documented works belong to the College Football Stars series (N302). This series focused on prominent athletes of the period, functioning as an early form of sports celebrity marketing. Specific figures documented in these prints include players from institutions such as Harvard University, including Acton, Beale, Brewer, and John Dunlop, as well as players like Murphy of Yale University.

The six documented prints provide valuable insight into late 19th-century American advertising and print culture, with examples of the firm's output held in permanent collections, notably the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Given the historical significance and age of these documented artifacts, many of these images have entered the public domain. They are frequently made available to researchers and enthusiasts as downloadable artwork and high-quality prints through major museum digital resources.