Satisfaction Guaranteed from New Exhibition on Mail Order History
Hull, Quebec, June 12, 2002 — A new exhibition on the golden age of mail order commerce in Canada will open at the Canadian Museum of Civilization on June 14, 2002. It will be presented in the Canadian Postal Museum.
Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Mail Order Catalogue in Canada will evoke a bygone age, dating back to the 1880s, when mail order shopping ushered in the era of mass consumption. Small-town and rural life in Canada would never be the same. The exhibition portrays both the commercial and the human aspects of this golden age, when the catalogues of companies like Dupuis Frères, Eaton’s, Woodward’s and Simpson’s held pride of place in many Canadian households and made a strong emotional appeal to the dreams and aspirations of consumers.
“For nearly a hundred years, mail order played a role in the lives of Canadians from coast to coast and helped to create a mass consumer economy,” notes Joe Geurts, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice-President of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. “This exhibition reveals a colourful — and very human — aspect of postal communications, which had a direct impact on our social history.”
The exhibition will feature exquisitely illustrated vintage catalogues and samples of some of the products they featured between 1884 and 1960. The inner workings of this business, its reliance on the postal service and its impact on Canadian households will be presented through approximately 200 artifacts and historic photographs.
On display will be a hockey sweater belonging to the late Maurice “Rocket” Richard, borrowed from a private collection. A similar sweater inspired a much-loved story by Canadian writer Roch Carrier, The Hockey Sweater, about a young boy’s attempt to mail-order a Montréal Canadiens’ sweater bearing the famous Number 9. This nostalgic tale, set in the 1940s, was also the subject of an award-winning National Film Board animated film.
In addition, this highly interactive exhibition offers visitors a chance to calculate the difference between prices at the turn of the century and prices today, to step into the pages of an actual catalogue layout, and many other activities. Special events and programmes planned in support of the exhibition include design workshops for children and adolescents, a lecture on mail order history, a fashion show, and a reading by author Roch Carrier.
From the homes we built to the clothes we wore, mail order catalogues could supply every need — and fill every Canadian’s wish list. As it profiles the role played by catalogue shopping in most Canadian households, Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Mail Order Catalogue in Canada also reflects Canada’s changing social landscape over nearly a century.
Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Mail Order Catalogue in Canada will be presented at the Canadian Postal Museum of the Canadian Museum of Civilization from June 14, 2002 to October 13, 2003.
Media Information:
Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169
Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7167
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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