Catalog: The Illustrated History of Mail Order Shopping

272 Pages·2008·55.512 MB·English

by  Robin Cherry

2
Catalog

Catalog
An Illustrated History of
Mail-Order Shopping
Robin Cherry
Princeton Architectural Press
New York
Published by Trixie+Peanut
Princeton Architectural Press Pages 150–51
37 East Seventh Street
New York, New York 10003 Neiman Marcus
Page 68-71, 74–75, 97, 107, 133, 142–43, 149, 152,
For a free catalog of books, call 1-800-722-6657. 154–63, 170–72, 174–87, 202,205, 207, 224–5,
Visit our website at www.papress.com. 228–9, 248–9, 256, 262, 264, 266–9
© 2008 Robin Cherry Williams Sonoma
All rights reserved Pages 28, 29, 133
Printed and bound in China
11 10 09 08 4 3 2 1 First edition Special thanks to: Nettie Aljian, Sara Bader,
Dorothy Ball, Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning,
No part of this book may be used or reproduced Becca Casbon, Carina Cha, Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu,
in any manner without written permission from Russell Fernandez, Pete Fitzpatrick, Jan Haux,
the publisher, except in the context of reviews. Clare Jacobson, Aileen Kwun, Nancy Eklund
Later, Linda Lee, Laurie Manfra, Katharine Myers,
Every reasonable attempt has been made to Jennifer Thompson, Paul Wagner, Joseph Weston,
identify owners of copyright. Errors or omissions and Deb Wood of Princeton Architectural Press—
will be corrected in subsequent editions. Kevin C. Lippert, publisher
Editor: Lauren Nelson Packard Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication
Designer: Arnoud Verhaeghe Data
Photo Credits: Cherry, Robin.
Smithsonian: Warshaw, Baby Warshaw and Catalog : an illustrated history of mail order
Holton Collections, Archives Center, National shopping / Robin Cherry.—1st ed.
Museum of American History, Smithsonian p. cm.
Institution ISBN 978-1-56898-739-2 (alk. paper)
Pages 19, 48,58,66,67, 84, 86, 116, 134, 135, 138– 1. Mail-order business—United States—History.
41, 194, 215, 256,258–9,260–61 I. Title.
HF5466.C45 2008
JC Penney: JC Penney Archives Collection at 381’.1420973—dc22
DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University 2008022501
Pages 59, 62, 64, 65, 73
Page 106 © 2008 Eddie Bauer, Inc. Used by
permission.
Sears Archives
Pages 19–22, 40–46, 51–47, 60-63, 83,85, 87–103,
108-113, 118–128, 130–131, 133, 168–69, 192–3,
195,197–98, 201, 214, 216, 222–3, 236–44,246–47,
256, 265
Intro-
duction
1 2
p10
s
The t
Fashion
Pioneers
and n
and Their
Beauty
Successors e
p32
p16
3 t
4
n
Toys,
Around Dolls, and o
the House
Sporting
(and the C
Goods
5 House!)
p76
p114
6
Animals
p144
7
Transpor-
tation
8 Food
p164
and
Drugs
Arts,
p188
Crafts, and 9
Hobbies
p208
Books
and
Music 10
p230
Biblio-
graphy Holidays
p270 p250

Acknowledgments
This book is dedicated to the memory of my
father, who sent me boxes of mail order cat-
alogs when I was in college, never imagining
where it would lead. I miss you, Dad.
Thanks to Abigail Koons, my agent, who
said she was looking for “quirky non fiction”
and agreed to take on a first-time author
and Lauren Nelson Packard, my editor at
Princeton Architectural Press, who suc-
ceeded in tackling what my mother calls “my
congenital problem with punctuation.”
I couldn’t have pulled together the images
for this book without the help of a number of
archivists and contacts from museums and
companies around the country. I’m especially
indebted to Arlene May at the Sears Archive,
Susan B. Fine and Kay Peterson at the
Smithsonian Museum of American History
archives, Joan Gosnell at the JC Penney
archives at Southern Methodist University,
and Ginger Reeder at Neiman Marcus. I’m
also thrilled that Virginia Herz of The Robert
May Estate let me use the original image of
Rudolph-the-Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Last but not least, I owe a special thanks
to my mother for making it possible for me
to take the time to research and write this
book and for constantly saying, “I can’t wait
to see it.” Here it is.
9
“B y your eyebrow
pencils, your
encyclopedia,
and your alarm
clocks shall you
be known.”
—Sinclair Lewis, in his foreword to
David L. Cohn’s 1940 book, The Good
Old Days: A History of American Morals
and Manners as Seen Through the Sears
Roebuck Catalogs