#MailOrderCatalogDay

National Mail Order Catalog Day falls on August 18, marking the date in 1872 when Aaron Montgomery Ward sent out what is widely credited as the first general mail order catalog. It was a single printed sheet listing goods and prices, mailed from Chicago to farm families who had few places to shop. The idea that you could pick an item from a page and have it shipped to your door started there, long before the first website.

A Short History Worth Posting

Ward's one-page list grew into a thick book within a few years, and competitors followed. Sears became the best-known name in catalogs, and its Christmas "Wish Book", first published in 1933, turned into a childhood ritual for generations of kids who circled toys with a pen. For a time Sears even sold complete kit houses by catalog, shipped by rail in thousands of pieces. The big general catalogs faded as malls and then the internet took over, and Sears ended its main catalog in 1993. The habit never really went away, though: an online product page with a photo, a description and a price is a catalog page in a new format.

Post Ideas for #MailOrderCatalogDay

• A photo of an old catalog from a family attic or a thrift store, opened to a page with prices that look unbelievable today.
• A "then and now" comparison: a catalog listing next to the same kind of product on a phone screen.
• A memory post about the toy you circled and never got.
• For shops that still print a catalog, a behind-the-scenes look at the photo shoot or the printing.
• For museums, libraries and historical societies, scans of local catalog pages from the collection.

Who the Hashtag Works For

Online stores can use the day to tell their own origin story and tie it to the history of shopping from home. Vintage sellers and collectors already have the perfect material on the shelf. History accounts and teachers can use catalog pages as a snapshot of what people wore, cooked with and paid in a given decade. Because the day leans on nostalgia, it also fits well with a Throwback Thursday post in years when August 18 lands near the end of the week.

Hashtags to Pair With It

Use #MailOrderCatalogDay and #NationalMailOrderCatalogDay together, then add #Vintage, #Nostalgia, #RetailHistory or #Ephemera. Sellers can add #VintageFinds, and a store with its own print catalog can add its brand tag.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Mail Order Catalog Day? August 18 each year.

Who started mail order catalogs? Aaron Montgomery Ward is credited with the first general merchandise catalog in the United States, mailed in 1872.

Do companies still print catalogs? Yes. Many retailers still mail them because a printed book on the kitchen table gets browsed in a way an email does not.