Catalogues Today and Yesterday: Changing Catalogue Design

Grades
4-8

Subjects
Social Studies, History, Language Arts, Art, Information Technology/Technology Studies

Theme
Change

Resources

• Historic catalogues on this site
• Current Sears catalogue (to bring in)
• Other contemporary mail-order catalogues (to bring in)

Description
Ask each student to bring in one or more mail-order catalogues from home, including at least one current Sears catalogue.

Break the class into small groups and perform the following two activities:

1. Ask each group to select a historic catalogue from this site. They must locate the catalogue on the site.
    
2. Using the list of specific features to compare (below), ask students to compare the design and text of their selected historic catalogue with a current Sears catalogue or other contemporary catalogue.
    
   Specific features to compare:
    
   • Cover
     • image
     • design
     • text
     • message
        
   • Index of current Sears catalogue
     • How have categories changed?
     • What categories have disappeared?
     • What new categories have appeared?
        
   • Index of specialty catalogues
     • What are the categories?
     • How does the selection of goods compare to the selection in the historic catalogue?
        
   • Vocabulary
     • What words are no longer used?
     • What new words are used?
     • Make a list of outdated words and their meanings.
        
3. After a reasonable amount of time, lead a class discussion about the changes in catalogue design.