Early-1970s Knick-Knacks & Tchotchkes: Mail Order Catalog from October 1970

Here, from a picture set on Flickr (which you can view in the slideshow above or click to directly), is a great relic from the early-1970s: a mail-order catalog from an outfit called Foster House. This thing is filled with all kinds of mainly worthless but absolutely compelling little things such as knick-knacks, personal hygienic items, and household objects. Totally mundane 38 years ago, the stuff that populates these pages is now totally fascinating. Just browsing the pages causes flashbacks of the '70s. Some of mine are:

• wicker paper plate holders (p. 4 of the catalog), of the kind that my family used for decades (and I think may still use) at our annual family reunion;

• calendars printed on towels (p. 5...and 13...and 18...and 23; what was up with these?)--I remember a variety of great-grandparents and older folks having these hung in their homes;

• crayons for coloring on yourself in the bathtub (p. 7); I actually have a picture of myself and my sister (at ages approximately 4 and 2) in the bathtub with these;

• expanding peg racks for coffee cups (p. 13); I think most of my relatives had one of these hung right next to their towel calendars;

• goofy decorative light switch plates (p. 13...and 18...and 22; almost as popular as the towel calendars, but not quite); while I don't actually have specific memories of these, they are characteristic of the kind of baroque interior decor that prevailed in the '70s (macrame anyone?);

• and, finally, speaking of baroque: "Victorian filigree frames" (p. 23); I had no idea that this is what these were called (nor, probably, did most of the people who had them back then), but I think many of my relatives and friends' families had these (hung, that's right, near their towel calendars)--for all of my childhood my parents' had their wedding portrait in one of these (color of baby blue, if you must know).

This catalog is packed with curiosities, completely apart from my memories (or yours). Check out the old credit card logos on p. 3 (Bank Americard, now Visa, and Master Charge, now Master Card). Among the things in the catalog I wish I'd had in the '70s is the magnetic wrist tic-tac-toe (p. 9). I could go on, but won't, except to recommend the Flickr user who posted this catalog, who goes by the handle of Wishbook. In addition to this kind of catalog, he also posts old Sears and Penney's Christmas catalogs--in their entirety! I've noticed that he's got a 1971 Sears catalog--hmmm, perhaps a future "D:71" posting?