A Shelf Full of Vintage Halloween Collectibles
THR's Archive Collection
Rarely seen content by Beistle
The Halloween Retrospect librarian doesn't have a great deal of time for photo-hyping the THR collection online - preferring instead to keep most items safely in storage until time to examine for deeper research and/or photographing for inclusion in reference guides such as recent art-book surveys So, the newest shelf display (above) full of vintage Beistle Halloween collectible envelopes is a bit of a rarity... dreamed up on a lark... as both a means to consider possible subject matter for future publications while simultaneously celebrating the existing six THR books for sale on Etsy.
See the Instagram post (below from @halloweenretrrospecs) for additional detail views of these vintage Halloween collectibles by Beistle. There are nearly 50 original envelopes (most with original content) of various products ranging from complete party outfits to individual envelopes for select items such as invitations, etc. (Note that the quite a few are vertically stacked, at top right, to fit the space - so perhaps a future photo will include the front image of all those shelved there).
By the way, many of these were saved from the moldering backing pages of a salesman sample book that THR has not previously shown in its own various printed or online materials. These items were carefully removed by a paper expert some years ago, and THR is forever grateful for their expertise.
As for current THR archive storage, someone had asked how these items were currently stored for preservation. My current favorite containers are called Crystal Clear from clearbags.com online made of BOPP/OPP which is considered an archive safe material. The company offers tons of sizes (thoough you may have to manually adjust if you have a great deal of variously sized items). For the interior, I cut pieces of 2ply museum board to support the vintage item which means (in case of these fragile envelopes) I put the envelope on one side and contents on the other - offering extra protection through separation (below). Unfortunately a bit of glare is the problem after that which can make photography a bit of a problem...
Ghoul with three pumpkins likely by Whitney.
Meanwhile, the digital records of that Beistle sampler (in addition to the actual items that were saved from the original deteriorating container) are still referenced by THR for various hints and revelations that the original layout provide. It was used a primary source with Halloween Artifacts, Volume 2: Festoons. If you are interested in an older THR publication - please check out The Halloween Retrospect on Etsy.
In other news from THR did you see a recent reminder for everyone that there are a couple of ways to find vintage Halloween collectibles without purchasing anyone's book, subscription, membership, cross-country travel tickets, etc.? And yes that means THR never requires anyone to buy a THR book to participate!
1) Some items from @bindlegrim have been posted to the Bindlegrim Etsy shoppe. This is something which has been done on occasions in past (for a limited time), and the recent selection of 13 cats (12 as of this entry) range from $25 to $125 (+ tax and shipping). See last slide (below) for all items that were listed January 2026.
2) Don't forget others have taken advantage of direct trades through the site Craw Bogle Trader. This is a means of swapping needful items without a huge bankroll involved...
Again, these are separate ventures from the research library of THR. There is no requirement to purchase any guides from the archive. However, if you love new discoveries about old things - check out THR's Etsy store link. There are now a total of books available! Four wordy digests, and 2 art picture surveys - all offering data from the archive's nearly 650 vintage catalog library.
Are you new to The Halloween Retrospect? THR, after 2+ years of publishing, now offers a six-book research library of data based on sources (such as those above) rather than second-hand guesses that have riddled the collector environment! THR books now include two art-book-style surveys Halloween Artifacts, V1: Lighting and Halloween Artifacts, V2 Festoons as well as four article-based digests The Halloween Retrospect Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4. For a small niche publisher – THR is happy to celebrate sales of 400 books – see also @halloweenretrospecs on Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: THR does NOT employ AI-generative technology. Content is created by human biological entities to ensure results engage accurate research with mindful artistry.
Your purchase supports the fevered work of THR's research books - not the fever dream of a robot.
