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Ward's Catalog cover
Currently on display
From the Smithsonian Collection
This catalog cover illustration shows that Ward's was acutely aware that most purchase decisions that a couple or family might make from the catalog were joint decisions. So marketing approaches for all products had to appeal in one way or another to both genders - for example, stressing both style and economy was important. |
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Physical Description |
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Catalog cover, from Warshaw Collection
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Details |
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Credit: | Warshaw Collection, NMAH Archives |
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History |
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Ordering goods by mail from a catalog became increasingly popular in the 1880s. The Chicago firms of Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward and Company were mail-order giants.
Through their catalogs, retail marketing became truly national, reaching customers in tiny rural communities as well as in cities. The catalogs included almost any product imaginable, from a toy to a plow to a dress to an entire house in kit form.
Delivery was by mail or by the Railway Express Agency. In either case, the product came long-distance by train, perhaps locally by truck.
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