Tuck’s Little Men and Women

The Little Men and Women Series is an early Tuck & Sons group of 24 unnumbered cards, roughly divided into three groups and probably sold in sets of six. The most charming six cards are of children, a boy and a girl, perhaps ages five to seven engaged in sociodramatic play with a toy doll named “Dolly.”

Sociodramatic play is a human behavior and development term for children who roleplay themselves as adults in adult situations. Role playing of adults through observation of their parents or elders, is common and healthy in that it trains the mind and develops different skills through play.

Ten of the other cards are boys posed with props that denote occupations. The final eight show children as teens and young adults in daily routines like sharing bites from an apple on the way home from school, the man going off to work at the start of a day, or in sport or game play like boxing and the exhibition of brawn and muscle.

An Illustrated Checklist of Titles The numbers are those assigned by the Tuck online database.
1. A decided improvement – doctor 2. After Dinner 3. Black & White 4. Brawn and Muscle 5. Breakfast at Eight 6. Demanding Toll 7. Divided Pleasures 8. Dolly Needs Some Medicine 9. Fresh Rolls – baker 10. From the Ranks – soldier 11. Joys of Married Life 12. Kiss Dolly Good-bye 13. Now, Gentlemen of the Jury – barrister 14. Off for the Day 15. One of the Force – policeman 16. On the Way to School 17. On Time – conductor 18. Papa’s Pet 19. Playing Grocer – shopkeeper 20.Ready for the Bout 21. The Handy Craftsman – carpenter 22. The Village Blacksmith – blacksmith 23. United We Stand 24. Waiting for Orders – delivery boy	1.	13.
	21.	23.

The cards in this set appeared in a very early Tuck catalog. Most appeared before 1907 and have undivided backs. However this series was apparently prepared in at least two different locations – Germany, for sales in Europe, and Saxony for the USA market. The cards meant for sale in America have a divided back.

There is also another twist that applies to the Little Men and Women series in that part of the set was used to advertise the Big Dandy Bread brand produced by the Haller Bread Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is unknown how many in the set were used, but the total number of Tuck cards with Big Dandy ads numbered 60.

In the text of the advertisement, we learn that 60 beautiful and artistic picture postcards have been imported for the Haller Bread Company. The buyer was encouraged to start a collection by looking under the bread wrapper.

No proof could be found as to how many collectors got started by buying Big Dandy Bread.