Trade Catalogs

The Southeastern Architectural Archive preserves and collects trade catalogs associated with architecture and building professions. A phenomenon that emerged during the Industrial Revolution, trade catalogs were the means by which manufacturers and suppliers could advertise their products to a rapidly expanding market made possible by the development of national and international transportation networks.

Industrial Electric, Inc. brochure, circa late 1950s.
 

The nucleus of the SEAA's trade catalog collection came directly from architects practicing in the New Orleans metropolitan area who received them in the course of doing business.  The collection has steadily grown over the last thirty years, and the SEAA continues to acquire trade catalogs from a variety of sources.  These ephemeral publications document myriad aspects of the building trades, from drawing materials and tools to construction materials and methods, finishes, fittings, furnishings, paving, plumbing and heating equipment, mechanical and electrical systems.

The earliest catalogs were illustrated with intaglio prints, finely detailed representations of products such as ornamental ironwork and millwork.  Later catalogs were printed cheaply on wood pulp paper, illustrated with wood engravings or lithographs, and distributed inexpensively via the U.S. Postal Service. In the late nineteenth century, the advent of offset lithography, photographic half-tone printing and linotyping further reduced expenses, and the production of ephemeral trade catalogs steadily increased.  Manufacturers diversified catalog distribution beyond those working in the building trades to include commercial and residential property owners.

Although the vast majority of the SEAA's catalogs represent the American building trades, the collection includes catalogs of Spanish azulejos, British mantels, French ironwork and Italian terrazzo.  It is especially strong with respect to the Southern Pine Association, the largest timber trade organization in the South, which printed and distributed catalogs from its New Orleans headquarters.

Historic preservation researchers, property owners undertaking renovation projects, and those interested in the history of busines and advertising, will find the SEAA's trade catalog collection to be an especially important resource.