Reposting: Vintage 1950s Christmas Catalog Images

(Originally posted December 2013)

More Vintage Christmas Catalog Images, or The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of

A few days ago, I posted some pages from a 1956 Western Auto Christmas catalog that I found at an estate sale.  At the same sale were some other catalogs.  I didn't scan all those pages, but there are enough to give us another glimpse back at a mid-century Christmas.

The W.T. Grant chain of variety stores was founded in 1906 by William Thomas Grant.  The chain filed for bankruptcy in 1976.  Twenty years earlier, though, its Christmas catalog showed a variety of gift items for the whole family.

At the same estate sale were two more Christmas catalogs from 1956:  Toylane (probably a generic catalog that the individual variety store could stamp its name upon) and ToyTime from May Co. in Southern California.  

There was no question in the mind of the child looking through the day's mail, what sort of treasures waited  inside these catalogs.