Vintage Surprise in My Mailbox

Today the mailman rang my doorbell and left a package on my doorstep. It was from my Mother-in-law, and it was rather heavy.

It’s always fun to receive unexpected gifts, and this was one of the most thrilling because when I opened the box I found this:

The Montgomery Ward Catalog for Fall & Winter of 1946-1947!

It’s a full inch-and-a-half thick! Over 1000 pages of detailed history, and it’s BIG – 9.25” x 13.25” sized pages! It includes everything from clothing to refrigerators to children’s toys to tractor parts.

It’s so thick the index fits on the spine!

The photos are fantastic and the detailed descriptions are wonderful. It’s in surprisingly good shape for being from 1947 – I only found one “dog-eared” page and I’m not sure it was folded on purpose. (My MIL said she found it for only 5 bucks at a thrift store!)

Of course my favorite section is the women’s fashion.

I find it interesting that the styles of jackets and coats back then aren’t terribly different from the modern styles in stores today.

I especially like the wool pea coat on the bottom row, middle right page.

Other than the elaborate Forties hairstyles and the fact that none of the models are wearing jeans, it’s kind of hard to date the coats.

Rain hats and trench coats!

And look! Tying the belt of your coat isn’t such a new idea even though current fashion magazines act like it is.

There are pages and pages of beautiful hats! I wish it were easier to pick up millinery supplies at my local fabric stores – I may have to make some of these!

I love the style lines of this dress:

Only $12.98!

Some of the pages are even in color! These sweaters and cardigans are still considered stylish today:

I would totally wear the two in the bottom right corner! Love the colors!

I would love to be able to digitize this catalog to preserve the history! I may have to invest in a handheld scanner in the future…