Coffee production and consumption boomed in America during the nineteenth century. Coffee producers and distributers advertised their brands on trade cards, small advertising cards often produced via the color printing method chromolithography. This small collection consists of trade cards related to coffee, mostly localized to Ohio, including cards from twenty-two coffee companies.

Patent medicines, also known as proprietary medicines, are non-prescription medicinal remedies that are trademarked and whose ingredients have been granted protection for exclusivity. The term "patent medicine" has become particularly associated with drug compounds manufactured during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In actuality, the patent medicine recipes were not officially patented. Patent medicine promoters pioneered many advertising and sales techniques; this small collection primarily features trade cards and almanacs.

Ice and coal companies delivered ice in summer and coal in winter to meet the growing demands of consumers and businesses for refrigeration and heat. The collection consists of trade cards from seventy-one companies that were used as advertisements and as order tickets for ice and coal.