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“Hmmmph – kids today! Why, when I was your age and we wanted a computer, we had to build it ourself. None of them fancy fruit stores to take your money. You ordered the computer from a catalog, then get out the ole’ soldering iron and put it together! Continue reading Build-it-yourself Computers
Yes, this must why America fought for independence – the right to select your own furniture, no matter how hideous. Continue reading Bicentennial Furniture Fireworks
In 1976, the year of America’s bicentennial, Neiman-Marcus hit a perfect note for their his and hers gift – real live Buffalos. Continue reading His and Hers, Hides and Furs
The big fashion fad of 1975 had to be the “Mood Ring” that changed color depending on your “mood”… Continue reading Feeling Moody?
Montgomery Ward, Summer 1976 Your homework assignment for today: Compare and contrast the 1976-era bathing suits on these two pages of the 1976 Montgomery Ward catalog with the swimsuits shown in my previous post from the 1922 Montgomery Ward catalog. Forty-four years between the two catalogs. Pens at the ready? Go! For extra credit, consider … Continue reading Sea-ductive Swimwear
Official Scouting Uniforms and Equipment, 1975-1976 In light of the Boy Scouts’ recent decision to go “gender-neutral” and begin accepting girls, this page from the official 1975-1976 Scouting uniforms and equipment catalog is an interesting earlier snapshot of the role of females in the organization. “Den Mothers” and “Lady Scouters” were/are the female versions of Scoutmasters. … Continue reading Scouts…or Stews?
Is there a more faddish furniture style from the 1970s than the beanbag chair? Continue reading Furniture that’s Full of Beans
I’ve never walked into a Sears store and walked out with bees. Never even considered it. And actually I guess I never COULD have walked into a Sears Store and walked out with bees or beekeeping supplies. But I could have ordered them from a Sears Catalog… Continue reading Guess you had to BEE there
Snapshot from a moment in history – the year before the start of the personal computer revolution and this 1974 Edmund Scientific catalog devoted their back cover to “computers.” […] Continue reading Personal Computers, Just Before the Flood
This famous bit of job advice from the 1967 movie The Graduate was meant to hint at how shallow — how plastic — our culture had become. But this Montgomery Ward catalog from five years later embraces plastics quite without irony… Continue reading “One Word — Plastics”