See more of the Virtual Museum of Canada
image image
Mail Box Before E-commerce: A History of Canadian 
Mail-order Catalogues image
Mail box
Mail box
image
image Main Menu Sources Contributors Travelling Exhibition Feedback image Table of Contents
image
image   For Collectors - For Teachers - For Students
image
image Travelling 
Exhibition
image
Topics
Fashion to Furnishings
Capturing Customers
Company Histories
From 
Order to Delivery
image
Timeline
Catalogues (1880-1975)
Games and Activities
image
  

Satisfaction Guaranteed:
The Mail Order Catalogue in Canada

  Entrance to the travelling exhibition 
Satisfaction Guaranteed  
  

Enlarge image.Exhibition Entrance

  
     

For generations of Canadians, the mail order catalogue was the most convenient way to meet their needs and aspirations as consumers. Today, our memory of the catalogue is bathed in nostalgia. If, however, we take a step back in time to the period between 1880 and 1960, it becomes clear that mail order was also a sophisticated business designed to satisfy large groups of customers.

Satisfaction Guaranteed is a travelling exhibition produced by the Canadian Postal Museum-Canadian Museum of Civilization, on the history of the mail order catalogue in Canada from the 1880s to the 1950s.

  Catalogue drawers for the travelling 
exhibition, Satisfaction Guaranteed  
  

Enlarge image.Drawers, containing catalogues, with mail-order timeline at eye-level.

  
     

The exhibition was presented at the Canadian Postal Museum-Canadian Museum of Civilization from June 2002 to October 2003. A scaled-down version of 117 m2 (1260 sq. ft.) toured from September 2004 to January 2007, thanks to the generous financial support of Canada Post.

It featured over 100 artifacts of all kinds, including 40 catalogues (Sears, Eaton's, Dupuis Frères), articles of clothing, toys, religious objects, musical instruments, and household appliances.

Satisfaction Guaranteed is one of many exhibitions offered to Canadian museums by the CMC Traveling Exhibitions Programme.
http://dev.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/
travelling-exhibitions/travelling-exhibitions

For further information, please contact:
Manager
Travelling Exhibitions Programme
Canadian Museum of Civilization
100 Laurier Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M8
Telephone: (819) 776-8480 ; Fax: (819) 776-8209

Coordinator
Travelling Exhibitions Programme
Canadian Museum of Civilization
100 Laurier Street
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M8
Telephone: (819) 776-8437 Fax: (819) 776-8209

Dates

Museum

11 September 2004 -
28 November 2004

EXPORAIL, Le Musée ferroviaire canadien
St-Constant, QC

10 January 2005 -
3 April 2005

The Acadian Museum of Prince Edward Island
Miscouche, PEI

16 May 2005 -
28 August 2005

Moncton Museum
Moncton, NB

19 September 2005 -
11 December 2005

New Brunswick Museum
St-John, NB

21 January 2006 -
16 April 2006

Centre d'exposition de Jonquière
Jonquière, QC

28 May 2006 -
4 September 2006

Royal Alberta Museum
Edmonton, AB

25 September 2006 -
5 January 2007

Dryden and District Museum
Dryden, ON

14 January 2008 -
4 May 2008

Grey Roots Museum and Archives
Owen Sound, ON


Canadian Postal 
Museum - Musée canadien de la poste
Canadian Museum 
of Covilization - Musée canadien des civilisations
Canada Post - Postes Canada Government of 
Canada

 

   
top of page
image
image image