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 Teachers For Collectors - For Teachers - For Students
image
image For Teachers
image
Topics
Fashion to Furnishings
Capturing Customers
Company Histories
From Order to Delivery
image
Timeline
Catalogues (1880-1975)
Games and Activities
image
  

Shopping through Time

Subjects
 History, Social Studies, Information Technology

Themes
 Change, Technology, Fashion

Resources
 Mail-order catalogues on this site

Description

  1. As a class, make a list of ten objects that your students and their families might order from a mail-order catalogue today.
     
  2. Divide your class into groups of three or four students.
     
  3. Assign a different catalogue to each group of students and challenge them to make an order from this catalogue that includes each of the ten objects. If they can't find an exact item, they must find the closest match (for example, a record player could replace a phonograph).
     
  4. Beginning with the group that consulted the oldest catalogue, ask the groups to make presentations about what they would order from their catalogues.
     
  5. Each group should compare the items in the old catalogue to the items on the present-day list and identify the items that were not available and what was ordered instead.
     
  6. As a class, look at the changes in each item and discuss reasons for the changes.
     
  7. Challenge your students to predict how the items on the present-day list might change in the future.

 
   
top of page
image
image image