Catalog collection

This collection consists of five catalogs from 1883 to the 1910s, advertising plants, clothing, automobile tires, and home fashions.

The first catalog is the 1883 Spring “Catalogue of Plants” from the Columbus Nursery in Columbus, Ohio, John Poste, proprietor. The catalog covers all type of plants including dahlias, verbenas, roses, petunias, fuchsias, phloxes and geraniums and is illustrated.

Next is the “Cloak Drummer Co. Fall and Winter 1904–1905” which is heavily illustrated. Each page depicts various ladies and children’s coats, capes, fur stoles, and muffs. There are also several pages devoted to skirts and waists (blouses).

The third is the “Automobile Tires and Supplies” catalog from the E. J. Willis Co. of Reade Street, New York City, New York. This catalog is not dated but there is a footnote that states, “Owing to War conditions tire prices subject to change without notice” which indicates it is probably from the 1910s.

The fourth is the “Illustrated Catalogue Ypsilanti Full Fashioned Jersey Fitting Underwear for Fall and Spring, 1890–1891” from the Hay and Todd Manufacturing Company of Ypsilanti, Michigan. This catalog is illustrated but not as detailed as the others.

The fifth catalog is from the Mandel Brothers department store in Chicago, Illinois. Although the cover is missing from this catalog, dates inside indicate that it is the 1902 catalog. This catalog is heavily illustrated with drawings of the fashions for men, women and children and for the home also.

The final booklet is not a catalog; it is “An Account of the Life of Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Dumotier Marquis de La Fayette… with illustrations of the La Fayette Pattern of Sterling Silver Tableware” by the Towle Manufacturing Company of Newburyport, Massachusetts, published in 1907. As the title indicates this is a biography of the Marquis de La Fayette with only 19 pages illustrating the various pieces of the La Fayette sterling silver pattern.