Post image for Civil War Trading Cards

Civil War Trading Cards

by Kevin Levin on February 22, 2010 · 6 comments · Follow me on

in Civil War Culture, Memory

For some of my older readers this post may bring back some fond memories of childhood and the Civil War Centennial.  Below is a small selection of Civil War cards that was released in 1962 by Topps.  Two additional collections of Civil War cards were also released which you can read about here.  Of course, I remember collecting baseball cards, but I am pretty sure that this series had been retired long before I took the weekly allowance down to the local candy store.  What I find so striking is the scale of violence depicted on some of these cards.  I have no doubt that they are responsible for fueling many a young boy’s imagination.  Click here for a much larger collection of cards as well as a price list.  Enjoy!


Get a Signed Copy of My Book ($25 Direct From Author)

"In this stunning and well-researched book, Kevin Levin catches the new waves of the study of memory, black soldiers, and the darker underside of the Civil War as well as anyone has... Levin is both superb scholar and public historian, showing us a piece of the real war that does now get into the books, as well as into site interpretation."

David Blight, Author of Race and Reunion

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Tom February 23, 2010 at 3:59 am 1

Yes, those Topps cards are pretty awesome. I was too young when they first came out, but bought a few back in the 1980′s. They were $3 to $5 then, which was a lot for a trading card. An interesting window into the marketing of the centennial. A lot of the non-sports Topps card from this period have been reprinted: Mars Attacks, Batman, etc. I wish someone would reissue these for the 150th.

Reply

jfe February 23, 2010 at 12:36 pm 2

I remember having these!

Reply

Charles Lovejoy February 23, 2010 at 2:07 pm 3

I brought home a set of these when I was about 6 or 7 and I also remember Topps or someone else making a set of WW 2 cards like these I had also . My father who was a ww2 combat vet turned 60's peacenic thought they were evil but he let me keep them along with my Marx Civil war set.

Reply

Chris Evans February 24, 2010 at 5:05 pm 4

Thanks for posting this. I have not seen these Civil War cards before. Very fascinating and interesting!
Chris

Reply

Ray O'Hara September 2, 2011 at 9:45 am 5

I guess I come under the heading of older reader as I collected those cards.

Reply

Mark Payne April 23, 2013 at 10:51 am 6

These cards bring back graet memories. I had a set from age 8-11. It started a life long interest in the Cival War for me. What fantastic illustrations that made the whole set exciting as a young man, and the brief expanations on the back of the cards kept me mezmorized. I wish I still had them.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: