Trade catalogs and pamphlets

About this collection

    This digital collection contains a selection from Hagley Library's collection of trade catalogs and pamphlets. The materials date from 1783 to 1988 and vary in size. The trade catalogs contain lists, often illustrated, of items sold by an assortment of manufacturers, mostly American. The pamphlets largely consist of promotional materials. They are organized chronologically by publication date.
    Some materials shelved in our trade catalogs and pamphlets collections are part of special collections, like our Carter Litchfield history of fatty materials pamphlets. When possible, these items have been organized in the Hagley Digital Archive within their respective collections. In cases where a significant number of materials from a single source are present, these materials have often been grouped into a sub-collection, as in the case of the John Wanamaker Department Store catalogs.
    A comprehensive view of Hagley's trade catalogs and pamphlets can be found by searching our online catalog.
    Image: Cover of 1977 catalog for Dinky Die Cast Toys. Click here to view. in the collection

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Patrie, république et "country" d'après Samuel Du Pont de Nemours et Peter Stephen Duponceau
Contains a communication from Du Pont de Nemours read at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society, October 6, 1815, and the report of Du Ponceau.
Design Formt Den Alltag
Exhibit catalog.
Catalogue illustré : l'année 1930
Catalog offers several models of manual and electric sewing machines and related spare parts, including needles (for sewing, phonographs, and medicine), as well as bicycles. Depicts scenes of people at work in a factory setting, presumably in Podolsk, and a sample of decorative needlework. Ends with 2-page price list for sales and shipment of sewing machines, tables, and bicycles.
Les Éponges: A l'Exposition Universelle de 1900
Description of the process of selecting, cleaning (by women workers), sorting, and selling sponges from the importer of sponges from the Ottoman and Greek Archipelago. Cover half-tone shows Laloux's Sponge Exhibit.--bookseller notes.
Promotional comic books gallery
    The items in this collection offer a selection of the promotional comic books held in the Hagley Library's collection.
    These works were generally, though not always, produced by corporations and other business entities for the purposes of advertising a product, managing a company's public image, or providing consumer education. A number of these works were also produced with the goal of influencing public opinion regarding socioeconomic political issues such as organized labor and government regulation of businesses.
    This digital collection does not include all of the Hagley's holdings of promotional comic books. New items may be added periodically.
    Image: Johnson makes the Team, B.F. Goodrich Company (ca. 1945), p. 9. Click here to view in the collection.
Automat-Restaurants
Includes photographs of the interiors of the New York City Horn & Hardart restaurant (p. 38-39) and the Philadelphia Horn & Hardart restaurant (p. 40-42). The names are not listed for these restaurants in the publication, but they are identified by given addresses.
2006 Information and communications for development
"Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies contains lessons from both developed and developing countries. It examines the roles of the public and private sectors, identifying the challenges and the benefits of adopting and expanding ICT use."--Jacket.
Public Affairs Committee pamphlets
    This digital collection of twenty-five pamphlets dating from 1936 to 1956 contains the Hagley Library’s holdings of the publications of the Public Affairs Committee. Founded in 1936, the Committee’s editorial and publishing mission was to synthesize and summarize contemporary research on social and economic problems in the United States for popular public consumption in the form of accessible, affordable pamphlets.
    Between 1936 and 1986, the Committee published over two hundred pamphlets on topics ranging from industrial policy, war and society, medical science, income distribution, consumer protection, economic policy, gender inequality in the workplace, the social sciences, and more.
    While its approach to these topics sometimes led to accusations of socialist or un-American sympathies, its most controversial publications addressed race relations, particularly ‘The Races of Mankind’ (1946), which was banned from use in the U.S. Army for its rejection of biological theories about racial hierarchy.
    Image: The American Way : Business Freedom or Govenment Control? (1944), page 29. Click here to view this pamphlet.
Annual Catalogue of the Philadelphia Novelty Manufacturing Company
Text in English, Spanish, French, German., [Description and dates], Hagley ID, Box/folder number, Trade catalogs and pamphlets collection, Published Collections Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 89807
Economic Consequences of Regulatory Protection & Extraterritorial Reach
Analyzes legal and regulatory developments in the European Union financial services industry and their affect on commerce in the EU, the US, and globally.
Frederick Snare Corporation: Contracting Engineers
Contains photographs of construction projects completed by the Frederick Snare Corporation which includes construction work in New York City, Philadelphia, and Cuba.