The promotion of personal and domestic goods in 19th-century trade catalogues: similarities and differences

Penny Crook

The promotion of personal and domestic goods in 19th-century trade catalogues: similarities and differences

Part of the An archaeology of colonial consumption: Sydney trade and material culture, 1788–1901 project

Year: 2015

Summary

Nineteenth-century trade and store catalogues are an invaluable source of data about material and consumer cultures. They record in fine detail, small font and recurring lithographs millions of products offered sale to customers around the corner and across the globe. Their utility in historical archaeology has long been acknowledged but rarely exploited. This paper will report on the creation of a dataset of 55,000 items sourced from illustrated catalogues and price lists of major Australian, English, American and Canadian retailers and manufacturers dating from the 1860s to 1907. It will examine similarities and differences in the promotion and pricing of two classes of domestic ware (glass and ceramics) and two classes of personal goods (footwear and jewellery).

Cite this Record

The promotion of personal and domestic goods in 19th-century trade catalogues: similarities and differences. Penny Crook. Presented at Joint AIMA–ASHA Conference, Parramatta. 2015 ( tDAR id: 455188)