Pages

Saturday, July 24, 2010

RadioShackCatalogs.com offers a geeky slice of the past

Filed under: ,

Radio Shack Catalogs

I knew Radio Shack were kind of ancient, but I had no idea they've been around since 1921. That is a long time. It took them 18 years, but in 1939 they started publishing their comprehensive yearly catalogs. And they kept on going strong and steady -- except for a couple of years during WWII.

Like any old catalog, these provide an interesting portal into a different time -- a simpler time, when nerds were mainly hardware nerds, and catalogs used phrases like "high stability crystals". Radio Shack Catalogs contains a huge, carefully chronicled collection of almost all Radio Shack catalogs from 1939 all the way to 2005, with just a few missing (1946, anyone?).

You can browse each catalog in a "large" or "small" version, and flip through the pages e-book style. The "large" versions are very hi-res, as you can see in the screenshot above.

I love the Bond-esque cover for the 1965 one.

RadioShackCatalogs.com offers a geeky slice of the past originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 03 May 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No comments:

Post a Comment