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The Catalog Blog

Cool things from 20th-century American Catalogs

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Category: Uncategorized

“Where the Big Catalogue is Printed”
Posted on February 21, 2019

Sears, 1908
“Where the Big Catalogue is Printed”

Rather that show you a page from a catalog, this time we have pictures of catalogs being created…back in 1906. Continue reading “Where the Big Catalogue is Printed”

The End of the Line
Posted on October 22, 2018October 22, 2018

Sears Tombstones, 1906
The End of the Line

For many of its 125 years, Sears had you covered from cradle to grave. As proof: tombstones for that final act. Continue reading The End of the Line

Posted on September 13, 2018September 12, 2018

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End-of-Summer Vacation

The Catalog Blog is on a brief break before autumn officially starts, but will return in a week or so. See you then! Continue reading End-of-Summer Vacation

Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018
Posted on January 29, 2018January 28, 2018

IKEA , 1985
Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018

Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018 The founder of Ikea has died. Sweden’s Ingvar Kamprad was 91. His plain appearance and message of comfortably-lived simplicity belied a seriously complicated person, which is probably to be expected from someone who could create, grow, and manage a company the size of Ikea. He invented it, while the rest of us … Continue reading Ingvar Kamprad, 1926-2018

For Young Debs and Twixteens
Posted on November 9, 2017November 8, 2017

Joseph Horne, 1956
For Young Debs and Twixteens

Twixteen: a nice portmanteau which has utterly vanished from everyday language. In both photos and the illustrations, these are charming mid-century debs and twixteens, seemingly straight out of black and white television sitcoms… Continue reading For Young Debs and Twixteens

1933: Sears Commissions a Poem
Posted on March 31, 2017April 2, 2017

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1933: Sears Commissions a Poem

“They know me as a catalog and yet on lonely nights
I bring them dreams and fancies and a wealth of real delights.” Continue reading 1933: Sears Commissions a Poem

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  • Hers
  • His
  • Kids
  • Around the House
  • Tools of the Trades
  • The Great Outdoors
  • Higher Tech
  • Gifts & Gizmos
  • The Wish Book

We're celebrating all the abundance and excitement found in vintage 20th century American catalogs: the exotic, the fashionable, the surprising, the latest, the coolest, the cheapest, the oddest, the choices.

Not just Sears and Montgomery Wards, You could buy anything from a catalog in the 20th century: from a box of raisins to a house, from a computer to a car, from a billy club to an inflatable brassiere. The old-time printed catalogues which arrived in the mailbox showed the 20th-century American Consumer just how to consume.

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