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La Femme, March 15, 1945. Image via Gallica, BnF

All free to access, as of when I listed them. Feel free to send me things to add, or let me know if a link is no longer functional.

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Menswear:
- 1883-1901: Dr. Jaeger’s Sanitary Woolen System Co. Catalog for “Jaeger, the Standard Underwear of the World”.

- 1898: Rogers, Peet & Coy, 1898. New York retailer of shoes for men and boys.

- 1900, 1907-1908: B. Kuppenheimer & Co, 1900, 1907-1908. Chicago-based menswear manufacturer & retail, existed 1852-1997.

- 1907, 1916: Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 1907, 1916. Primarily handy for its men’s sportswear and outdoor clothes. 

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Womenswear:
1889: C. & W. May, Costume de Bals, c. 1889. “A trade catalog of dress patterns for costume balls, possibly for the 1889 Paris International Exposition.” C. & W. May was a London costume maker, existed from around 1880-1980.

1891: Deutsch & Co., 1891. New York womenswear retailer and furrier, active late 19th century.

Catalogue : fall and winter 1891.
1891: Le Boutillier Brothers, Fall and Winter, 1891-1892. New York-based womenswear retailer.


1899: Chicago House Wrecking Company, 1899. Mail-order catalog primarily helpful for womenswear and accessories.


1907-8: National Cloak & Suit Co, 1907-1908. New York womenswear retailer. Founded 1888, changed its name to National Bellas Hess in 1920s, functional til 1970s.

 

1909-1912: Atelier Gustave Lyon. New York and Berlin based couturier.


1915: Perry, Dame & Co, 1915, 1919. New York womenswear retailer, active in the early 20th century.
https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Perry%2C+Dame+%26+Co.%22


1950: Costume Color Council: Costume Color Council presents Costume Color Families for Fall, 1950. The color trends of the year as presented by a group of U.S. manufacturers. 


Department Stores:
Bloomingdale’s, 1890. Founded in Cincinnati in  1861, still exists in New York City today. 

Bronner’s Fashionable Clothing House, 1886. Buffalo, N.Y. clothing retailer, not sure when it closed.

Debenham’s, 1874. London-based, founded 1778, still active.


Eaton's, 1899-1969. Toronto-based, existed 1869-1999.  


Gimbel Brothers, . Founded in Indiana, primarily active in New York and Philadelphia, 1887-1987. 
1915: https://archive.org/details/gimbelholidayboo00gimb/mode/2up


1910: 
Jordan Marsh and Co., 1880-1897. Boston-based, existed 1841-1996.

 

1896’s Coming Styles Designed by the Great Costumers of Europe is a particular treat. 

Le Bon Marché, 1911. Paris-based, founded in 1852, still open today.

Liberty, 1911. London-based department store, known for its textile prints. Founded 1875, still open today.

Lord & Taylor, 1870. New York-based department store, founded in 1826, still here today.

 

Macy’s, . Founded in Cincinnati, 1858. Still open today in New York.

1877-78:  
1905-1906:
Christmas 1906:

1911,

1939.

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Marshall Field & Co., Founded in Chicago.

Fall/Winter 1896


Montgomery Ward: Founded in Chicago.

1912 Spanish-language edition.

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Newman and Levinson. San Francisco department store, not sure when active.

18811891-1892


Sears: Founded in Chicago in 1893, still around today.
1901,  


Siegel-Cooper. Founded in Chicago, expanded to New York. Existed from 1887-1930. 
1898:,


Wanamaker’s: Philadelphia-based, existed 1861-1955.
1898, 1899:

 

Department Store Primary Sources:
1888: The Ladies' Paradise
by Émile Zola, originally published in 1888.


1901: How Department Stores are Carried On, by W. B.  Phillips, 1901.


1911: Department Store Accounts, by William Emmett Russell, 1911. 


1913: Methods Used in Erecting a Modern Department Store in Chicago, by Hope Edwin Reum, 1913. 


1914: Department Store Auditing & Accounting, by A. D. Davies, 1914; Department Store Statistics with the Aid of the Slide Rule, by Robert Bruce Schreffler, 1914.


1916: Department Store Occupations, by Iris Prouty O'Leary, 1916.

1917: The Cotton and Linen Departments, by Thompson, Eliza Bailey Thompson, Lee Galloway, and Beulah Elfreth Kennard, 1917. Manual for workers in cotton and linen departments of department stores.


1922: Operating Expenses in Department stores in 1921, by Harvard University Bureau of Business Research, 1922; Department Managers' Manual, 1922; Silk, by Eliza B. Thompson, 1922. Merchandise manual for workers in silk department of department stores.


1929: The Saleslady, by Frances R. Donovan, Frances R, 1929


1944: Shoppers' Special: The Way of Life in a Department Store, by Clyde Bedell, 1941

1971: The Negro in the Department Store Industry, by Charles R. Perry, 1971. Obviously dated and often racially insensitive text, but with statistics on the African American workers in the department store industry. 

 

 

Department Store Secondary Sources:
The Good Old Days: A History of American Morals and Manners as Seen through the Sears Roebuck Catalogs, 1905 to the Present, by David L. Cohn, 1940.

The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great Department Stores, by Robert Hendrickson, 1979

A History of the Department Store, by John William Ferry, 1960

Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, by William Leach, 1993

Merchant Princes: An Intimate History of Jewish Families Who Built Great Department Stores, by Leon A. Harris, 1980
https://archive.org/details/merchantprincesi00harr


Remembering Marshall Field's, by Leslie Goddard, 2011.

 

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