Eaton’s: A Holly Jolly Catalogue

Eaton’s catalogues in the Galt Museum & Archives’ Reference Library.
Photo courtesy the Galt Museum & Archives.

What comes to mind when you think of the holidays during your childhood? For some, it’s quality time with family or creating handmade gifts. The rest of us remember greedily rifling through the annual department store catalogue, begging for every toy on the page! While the digital age has largely eliminated the use of physical catalogues, it’s worth celebrating the season with a look back at these volumes.

For many decades, the T. Eaton Company (later just “Eaton’s”) was a major catalogue supplier. In fact, by 1910, catalogue sales were run separately from the company’s physical stores altogether. Referred to by many as the “homesteaders’ Bible” due to the convenience it provided rural families, the catalogue was produced twice yearly until 1976.

The most obvious change in the Eaton’s catalogue through the decades is its gradually increasing focus on pre-made, ready-to-wear items. Roughly a third of the pages in the 1901 Fall/Winter catalogue were dedicated to these. The remainder of the catalogue mostly included fabrics and other tools that allowed homesteaders to make their own clothing. This was a common practice at the time, due to material availability and economic circumstance. By the 1940 Fall/Winter edition, ready-to-wear items took up half of the catalogue. This was likely influenced by wartime expectations of housewives to join the workforce and practice rationing. There are only so many hours in the day! By the 1975 Fall/Winter release, pre-made clothing continued to take up about half of the volume, though the catalogue itself had expanded to 900 pages (from 200 in 1901). The presence of furniture and home appliances had especially increased, though most exciting was the development of toys.

In 1901, some gift options for children were an official Spalding basketball for $3.25, or dolls ranging from $1–6. The more musical could enjoy a “blow accordion” for 85 cents. By 1940, the price for a basketball was $7.95, while a much wider variety in doll types and materials allowed them to average $1. One advertised instrument in that year’s catalogue was a Lone Ranger-branded guitar, available for $8.95.

Gift options exploded by 1975. While classics stayed—like a basketball listed in the year’s Christmas catalogue for $8.99, or a Raggedy Ann doll for $6.59—variety had increased, with options like Free Movin’ Barbie, listed for $4.99. Unusual-instrument-lovers could order a student melodica—described as being “like a piano with fewer notes”—from the Christmas edition for $29.50.

The Galt Museum has covered the significance of the Eaton’s department store in Lethbridge at length through the years, including an exhibit in 2019. To learn more and see images of Eaton’s annual Christmas window display, visit galtmuseum.com/research.