Posts Tagged ‘catalogs’
“You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers”*…
The once ubiquitous Radio Shack had, at its height, around 5,000 stores in the U.S., a number that has shrunk to 524, as the company has changed hands several times in its struggle to recover after missing the shift to ecommerce at that turn of the century.
One of the casualties of the chain’s downfall was their annual catalog, with had debuted in 1921. A wish book and a reference for a certain sort of person [of which your correspondent was one], it was finally discontinued in 2011. Cumulatively, they are a pictorial history of the development of electronics.
And now, they’re available to browse online…
In the virtual corridors of RadioShackCatalogs.com, a digital archive unfolds like a time capsule, preserving the history of RadioShack from its inception in 1921. As a venerable retailer, RadioShack had been a cornerstone of innovation for over 100 years, providing an array of cutting-edge technology products and services that spanned personal, mobile, and home technology.
The heart of this online archive lay in its collection of catalogs, spanning the years 1939 to 2011. For 72 years, RadioShack had meticulously crafted these catalogs, showcasing a diverse range of products that mirrored the evolving landscape of technology. From hi-fidelity stereos to communication equipment, from computers to electronic components, these catalogs are a visual journey through the history of RadioShack.
Brands like Tandy, Realistic, TRS-80, Micronta, Archer, Optimus, Clarinette, Nova, Patrolman, Enercell, and Science Fair adorned the pages, each representing a chapter in the RadioShack story. Professionals, tech-savvy consumers, and hobbyists alike eagerly perused these catalogs, seeking the latest gadgets, tools, and electronic wonders that would shape their world.
What sets RadioShackCatalogs.com apart is its innovative approach to showcasing this historical material. The pages of these catalogs come alive in a page-flipping format, allowing users to traverse the years, page by page. Whether researching RadioShack products, immersing in historical material, tracking the progression of electronics and computer technology, or simply indulging in a nostalgic trip down memory lane, this site offers a unique and captivating journey through time experience.
In a world where technology continues to advance, this digital repository ensures that the memories, products, and innovations of RadioShack will forever be accessible to those who wish to reminisce and appreciate the enduring impact of this iconic retailer.
Every annual catalog, computer catalogs, sale catalogs, corporate histories, and more: Radio Shack Catalogs.
* Radio Shack slogan
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As we browse, we might spare a thought for Masaru Ibuka; he died on this date in 1997. In 1946, he co-founded (with Akio Morita) a small post-war radio-repair company that grew into the giant Sony Corporation.
“We live in an age when the traditional great subjects – the human form, the landscape, even newer traditions such as abstract expressionism – are daily devalued by commercial art”*…
… But it wasn’t always so. A current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York is devoted to the work of (often anonymous) artists who illustrated commercial catalogs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries…
Art of Commerce: Trade Catalogs in Watson Library features a selection of the library’s extensive holdings of sale catalogs. Watson Library has almost two thousand trade catalogs published in many countries from the eighteenth century to the present. Objects featured include furniture, jewelry, tiles, ironwork, glasswork, lighting, stoves, tableware, textiles, decorative paper, artist’s materials, fashion, typography, automobiles, and musical instruments. Numerous catalogs illustrate works of art or related objects now in The Met collection.
The library has strong holdings of Art Deco trade catalogs including Modern furniture design = Le dessin moderne des meubles—a colorful furniture portfolio by Czech architect Karel Vepřek—and Van Clef Arpels présentent, an elegantly illustrated accessories publication designed by Draeger Frères, the most innovative graphic designers and printers of the period. Both catalogs are on display in the exhibition.
Trade or sale catalogs — also called commercial or manufacturer’s catalogs —are printed publications advertising products of a particular trade or industry. Sale catalogs were often used in shops or showrooms to promote a company’s products. Examples include the massive Reed and Barton catalog Artistic workers in silver & gold plate from 1885 that illustrates the entire inventory of the company…
Among the more unusual and appealing trade catalogs in the exhibition is a German Art Nouveau-inspired cake decorating book from 1910 and a baby carriage catalog from 1934 offering Art Deco styled tubular steel baby prams. These trade catalogs demonstrate the distillation of major art movements applied to quotidian objects.
The earliest trade catalog in the exhibition is Muster zu Zimmer-Verzierungen und Ameublements, a neo-classical interior design catalog by luxury German manufacturer Voss und Compagnie, offering entire rooms that can be bought en masse or as separate pieces. It is illustrated with richly toned hand-colored engravings that detail the design and color of the objects.
One of the library’s most fragile and weighty catalogs is Album des principaux modeles de verres: produits spéciaux en verre coulé. It is a magical trade catalog with sixty-five intact glass samples manufactured by French glassmaker Saint-Gobain. Founded during the time of Louis XIV, the company remains a manufacturer of glass for construction.
The majestic ironwork catalogue of Maison Garnier has pink-tinted papers and was bound in Morocco leather as a special copy for Rémy Garnier, the son of the firm’s founder. The firm’s initials are boldly blind stamped on the cover.
The most unusual and perhaps unexpected catalog, Urinoirs, illustrates the decorative ironwork structures of urinals (or pissoirs) that adorned the streets of Paris from the 1840s to the mid-twentieth century. The ornamentation of these structures demonstrates an impulse to beautify the animated street life of Paris and other cities…
See the items mentioned at the links above, and other articles in the exhibit here.
Beauty in the service of business: “Art of Commerce: Trade Catalogs in Watson Library,” from @metmuseum (where one can see the works on exhibit through March 4, 2025).
* Andy Warhol
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As we browse, we might spare a thought for Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde; the novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and master of the bon mot died on this date in 1900.
As he said: “There are moments when art attains almost to the dignity of manual labor.”
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