"Ten or twelve pages were glossy, displaying the more expensive dresses, coats, hats, suits, and dolls in full, glorious colour." This glossy full-colour page from the Eaton's Fall-and-Winter 1918-19 catalogue featured several pricey items. The two coats were made of wool and the three dresses of wool, poplin, and taffeta.

"The hardware 'store' displayed tools such as hammers, saws, and clamps, as well as harnesses, black and shiny on chunky Clydesdale horses with fat, feathery feet." The leather Western Prairie Team Breeching Set included everything a farmer needed to harness a pair of horses for work in the fields. The set included bridles, lines, martingales and breast straps, traces, hames, bellybacks, back pads, breeching, and spreadchain.

"The furniture 'store' had bedroom suites with waterfalltop dressers, all matching. For an elegant look in the dining room, we could purchase a huge pedestal table with a buffet, a china cabinet, and six matching chairs - five ordinary ones and the "daddy" one with arms ." The solid-oak, nine-piece dining sets on this page included a pedestal table with leaf, buffet, china cabinet, five dining chairs, and a dining armchair.

"I would cut out everything I needed to 'furnish' a house, which was usually a shoe box but sometimes a large piece of paper. I would arrange rooms such as a living room with the coffee table, lamps, carpet and a woman, a man and babies cut out from the Sears Catalog." In 1936, a child making a dollhouse out of pictures from the catalogue could have used one of these chesterfield sets, made up of a chesterfield, armchair, and button back chair.

"I would cut out everything I needed to 'furnish' a house, which was usually a shoe box but sometimes a large piece of paper. I would arrange rooms such as a living room with the coffee table, lamps, carpet and a woman, a man, and babies cut out from the Sears Catalog." In 1948, a child could have cut these pictures out of the catalogue to furnish a dollhouse. Had they chosen the three-piece Chesterfield Ensemble, their living room would have been furnished with a chesterfield, a wingback chair, and a plain-back chair. The Davenport Suite included a davenport (a sofa that converted into a bed), an armchair and a lounge chair.

"I would cut out everything I needed to 'furnish' a house, which was usually a shoe box but sometimes a large piece of paper. I would arrange rooms such as a living room with the coffee table, lamps, carpet and a woman, a man, and babies cut out from the Sears Catalog." In 1967, a child furnishing a dollhouse with pictures from the catalogue could have chosen this apartment-sized sofa, armchair, coffee table, and lamp.

"My sister and I had nearly worn out the Eaton's catalogue. It contained about twelve pages of toys, and one of the pages was glossy, showing in magnificent colour a host of dolls, from the little black one with two bumps on her composition head, where red and white ribbon bows were tied, to the elegant "Eaton Beauty" that had real hair." This 1926 version of the Eaton Beauty Doll had a fine bisque head, curly-haired wig, and eyes that opened and closed. It was jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and knees, and it cost $1.50.

As this full-colour page shows, catalogues offered dolls to please every girl. Whether she wanted a doll with eyes that opened and closed, one that wet its diaper, or one that could smile and cry, she could have found the doll of her dreams in the Eaton's Fall-and-Winter 1948-49 Catalogue.

Throughout the 20th century, many girls wished for Eaton Beauty Dolls. Between 1900 and 1999, many different models were offered in the Eaton's catalogues. This one, named Susie, was available in 1940. The red ribbon across her chest shows that she is indeed an Eaton Beauty Doll.

"And her dress! It was just like a princess's gown, with puffy sleeves and ruffles on the full, long skirt, ruffles that started at the waist and arched down around the hem." This Eaton Beauty Doll must be similar to the one so admired by the girl in this memory. The lavish clothing, jointed bodies, and detailed faces are some of the features that made Eaton Beauty Dolls so desirable.

"My first Grade four homework was an assignment to complete an order form to Eaton's. It was to be correctly filled out with name and address, item number, colour, size and page etc. then the total expenditure calculated without mistakes. I ordered everything I ever wanted and could never hope to own." Eaton's Spring and Summer 1936 Catalogue (Toronto edition).

"Our longest held-over mail order was for a gas-powered washing machine ordered in the fall of 1941. Unknown to us, the company kept our name on their list and in 1947 delivered the Maytag machine. It served for many years in Sayward and elsewhere, thanks to Mail Order." Two models of electric and gas-powered washing machines were available in the 1948-49 catalogue, one of which was Eaton's own Acme brand. The Maytag described in this memory was not offered in the Eaton's catalogue and may have been ordered through the Simpson's catalogue.

"One year, I won first prize in the July 1st parade for a little lamb decorated with ribbons and bows that I entered. I was about 8 years old, and when I came home, the first thing I did was to look in Eaton's Catalogue. I found a picture of a little red dress, so off went my money order of $2 along with the order form. How pleased I was when the package arrived in the mail, and it was everything I had hoped for." This page shows several dresses that could have been purchased for less than $2 in 1926, including a red one.

"When I was 10 years old and my sister was almost 12, we were looking in the new Spring catalogue and wishing for the two-piece suits for young girls. Actually, the ladies' fashion pages had their version too, which was a three-quarter-length coat and matching skirt. My brother who was a young school teacher, overheard us and asked how much they cost. "Eight dollars a suit," we said. Now I know, he wasn't making a lot of money then, teaching in a one-room country school, but he told us to order them, and he would pay for them. We felt like the two best dressed young girls in our town that year." In 1936, these all-wool "swagger suits" were fashionable for women and girls in 1936 and cost $7.95 each.

"For many years Eaton's Catalogue was a very important book in Canadian families. My most memorable years are during the 1920s and 1930s. What excitement there was in the spring and again in the fall when the new ones arrived! Each member of the family had favourite pages to turn to first. The boys usually turned to the building toys or special wearing apparel." The Tinkertoy building set, cowboy play suit, wagons, balls, and games would have made these pages popular with boys in 1936.

"For many years Eaton's Catalogue was a very important book in Canadian families. My most memorable years are during the 1920s and 1930s. What excitement there was in the spring and again in the fall when the new ones arrived! Each member of the family had favourite pages to turn to first. The boys usually turned to the building toys or special wearing apparel." The Tinkertoy building set, cowboy play suit, wagons, balls, and games would have made these pages popular with boys in 1936.

"For many years Eaton's Catalogue was a very important book in Canadian families. My most memorable years are during the 1920s and 1930s. What excitement there was in the spring and again in the fall when the new ones arrived! Each member of the family had favourite pages to turn to first. The boys usually turned to the building toys or special wearing apparel." The Tinkertoy building set, cowboy play suit, wagons, balls, and games would have made these pages popular with boys in 1936.