Check out these photos from the Montgomery Ward 1960 Fall and Winter catalog. Here are some things that I found interesting:Hey, remember nostalgia?
- nothing could be more wholesome for a mass market retailer than a father and son going out to kill birds with a pair of shotguns (there was no suggestion of mom and sister joining!)
- …
- a subset of the functions of a modern mobile phone could be obtained at the following costs:
- Rolleiflex still camera (uses “popular 127 film“): $68.50
- Movie camera: $100
- Movie projector: $100
- Smith-Corona portable typewriter (only 21 lbs!): $119.50
- Audio recorder (open-reel): $280
- Portable television (“so light” at only 33 lbs.): $158
(total: $826 or $6594 in 2014 dollars)
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Time and tide wait for no man
It's been a long time since 1960:
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10 comments:
I'll be darned. We had that same TV when I was little. I remember Mom getting mad at me because I turned it on one day and and smoke came out of it.
Hey, I gotta get some of those geriatrics for people over 35!
"Murica". I remember it.
No provision for letting the government track you without your permission, though.
Yep, remember that TV too... sigh
Nostalgia's not what it used to be. But for those of us who remember those days (and those prices), it's a sad thing...
I think the "geriatrics for people over 35" thing is bothering me...
Good stuff. These nostalgia-driven topics are always good for some perspective.
... a subset of the functions of a modern mobile phone could be obtained at [...] $6594 in 2014 dollars
And that is a particularly interesting bit of perspective.
I can still think of two advantages that collection would have, though. First, as deadmandance already observed, its several components aren't quite so vulnerable to hostile surveillance. Second, the demise of one battery isn't enough to brick the whole suite.
;)
We used to call it the "Monkey Wards" catalog. We always had the Sears one too. The poor mailman that had to deliver them all over our block. (but then again we would have morning mail and afternoon mail - twice a day!)
I've got a collection of Allied radio catalogs from when I was in high school.
I look at them, remember dreaming about all the stuff I couldn't afford, and then marvel at how far technology has advanced.
But I still want some of the items in those catalogs!
1960, the year I was born in Oakland California.
The same year the Oakland Raiders were formed and joined the AFC.
Coincidence?
I think not.
Just Win Baby.
Life was much simpler back then yet there was still struggle and poverty and politics.
You would think we could have eliminated one of those by now.
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