5,100 pages! Here at the Clarinet Institute we love history almost as much as we love archiving stuff. What better way to enjoy history than to see actual advertisements from actual catalogs printed by actual companies and read by actual people!
The Palisades Art Foundation has graciously permitted us to raid their archive of scanned store catalogs to put together a fabulous collection of 17 catalogs spanning 71 years from 1875 to 1946. See what life was like back in the late 19th century. See how the fashions changed with time. See history unfold through the eyes of the consumer!
This is one of those archives where you can get totally lost in the moment flipping through the pages. I mean, really, what did they use for toothpaste in 1912? Take a look at the hats and the dresses, patent medicines, toys and thousands of other products reaching out from the past to grab your interest.
It would be great to have all these old catalogs to look at whenever you wanted. But if did have them, you would have to store them someplace! Now you can have all 5100 + pages all on one archive to view on your mac or PC!
This archive is only available as a digital download.
1875 Montgomery Ward Catalog
1896 Marshall Field Catalog
1897 Sears Catalog
1902 Sears Catalog
1903 Gibson Catalog B
1906 Eatons Catalog
1908 Sears Catalog
1909 Montgomery Ward Book of Bargains
1912 Sears Catalog
1917 Gibson Catalog J
1918 Simpsons Catalog
1930 Tonk Bros Catalog
1933 Spiegel Christmas Catalog
1935 Metropolitan Music Co. Catalog
1937 Sears Wishbook
1945 Sears Christmas Catalog
1946 Marshall Field
You can get your history archive now with our digital downloads. Just a few things you need to know:
1. After your purchase, you will get a download link.
2. These are huge .zip files. Make sure you have enough room on your hard drive before you start your download. Also, if you don't know what a .zip file is or how to work with one, do your research before you download.
3. Do not attempt to download to a smartphone or tablet. For some reason, smart phones are generally not happy with large files.
4. Only attempt to download from a wired or a strong WIFI connection at home. Don't try to download at Starbucks..... Public WIFI is notoriously unreliable.
5. Because these .zip files are so large, they will take some time to download. We recommend that after you hit "Download" don't do anything for awhile, especially if you have a slow internet connection. Check your "downloads" folder. That's where the .zip file will end up for most people.
If you have a strong WIFI or wired connection at home, these digital downloads are a great way to get you digging through your history archives right now!