Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

Christmas Sample & More from THR Novelty Catalogs! To backtrack just a bit... in the early spring months of 2025 a seasonally anachronous book arrived for sale at The Halloween Respect bookstore (digest THR, Volume 4 ) featuring quite a bit of Christmas imagery. Why? Because during chilly winter months of 2024 (see THR blog " To: Halloween, From: Xmas " ) new research at THR discovers holiday ads (both Christmas and Easter) for faux stained- glass windows like the Halloween-themed versions appearing in Halloween Artifacts, Volume 1: Lighting . In fact, THR develops a rather large collection of primary sources in the form of newspaper ads from across the decade of the 1940's (example below) with one ad from Wisconsin proudly providing their vendor's name: Milton Bradley! (This is new information at a time when most guides are still recording these as circa 1920's maybe by Dennison or Gibson) Easter Cathedral Windows by Milton Bradley  as seen in  1947 advertis...

 New Guidebook for Vintage Halloween Paper! This little punny conversation between a witch and an owl is here to announce a new THR reference  Halloween Artifacts, Volume 2: Festoons which is the sixth publication in a two-year+ adventure of research published by the archive library of The Halloween Retrospect ! This reference book continues the Halloween Artifacts series which is known for large-scale full-color photographs spanning 114 pages. This bigger 8-1/2 x 11 format offers multiple views of familiar and unfamiliar antique and vintage collectibles, together with data from past makers, vendors, and advertisers (aka 630+ primary sources) accompanying content as illustrative samples and THR’s thorough timelines. See sample previews below: New 2025 - Guidebook Halloween Artifacts  V2 - Festoons New - Sampler Halloween Artifacts  V2 - Festoons New - Sample page Halloween Artifacts  V2 - Festoons Speaking of tissue-paper, and in particular honeycomb - THR on IG...

NEW! Vintage Halloween Collectibles Guide: The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 Returning now this March 2025 with a new book for sale ---  The Halloween Retrospect  ( see THR's bookstore on etsy ) announces the latest edition released in a series of vintage Halloween collectibles guidebooks now with  The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4 . THR's archive librarian picking  up the digest series once again with a new book that not only continues solving old market mysteries (via 625+ catalogs 1900-01979) but has the honor of including a one-of-a-kind nowhere-else-available freebie vintage-style paper decoration by Bindlegrim  with an homage piece to faux stained glass educational items from the 1940’s. Also, as good measure for its puzzling audience, THR has created another new Halloween-themed crossword with its Frolic Flier series. Set of items with THR,V4 features book, puzzle, & decor.   The   Halloween Retrospect, Volume 4   (2025) $25.00 + tax...

Vintage Halloween Collectible Guide: THR's New Visual Survey of Lanterns The Halloween Retrospect  ( see THR's bookstore on etsy here ) is pleased to announce that as of the end of September 2024 nearly 200 books by THR have sold since the first research digests arrived for sale in June 2023. Perhaps that is relatively a small number, but the archive librarian feels this ain't too shabby give the niche subject matter, and that THR (publications) is a small do-it-yourself enterprise available only via the etsy bookstore .  And, at that, most of those books were wordy research digests based on data from THR's archive library (!!!) but now, just over a year later, THR begins a splashy new series of visual survey books that are more like art-books in their presentation of vintage Halloween collectibles. That said, the content remains focused on using that archive library of catalogs, newspapers, etc., to show the market availability of the items' as seen from the vinta...

Halloween Artifacts, Volume 1: Lighting: Halloween Artifacts, Volume 1: Lighting is the latest book to be released for sale from THR's bookstore . With a different approach from the more in-depth research digests that preceded, this book features vintage Halloween collectibles displayed in vibrant full-color on 8-1/2" x 11" pages - and will offer collectors some unusual views and/or previously unseen objects across 114 pages. That said, the driving force behind this book, as with all from THR, continues to rely on primary sources (of the original vintage marketplace) via newspapers, 550+ vendor catalogs, etc).. Those sources are used together with photography to provide catalog clippings and to develop individual timelines for past appearances of the object.  Below is the cover shown with some sample pages... Cover and page samples of  Halloween Artifacts, V1: Lighting    Halloween Artifacts, Volume 1: Lighting    is expected to have a sales release date o...

Vision-wary Architects freebie mailer: By way of quick introduction, the photo above is a visual celebration that shows all the postcards that went out in a batch mailer the week of July 21, 2024 - to all who previously purchased any volume of The Halloween Retrospect guidebook reference . Thank you!!!  Sending out a mailer in such numbers really proved to this author how much support has found its way to The Halloween Retrospect archive library . A head-spinning number of crossword cards going out to those who in past purchased any volume of The Halloween Retrospect. The story behind the postcard is this.... Since the release June 2024 of new reference  THR,  Vol 3  ( link here to THR book store ) the author has been continuing in background with the creation of brain-teasers for autumn fans. You might recall that Volume 3 is the first in the THR series to contain a "Puzzle Bulletin" with a vintage-Halloween themed crossword "Afterworld Lodger" inspired by th...

Halloween Collector Guides THR - a year in review As of late June 2024 (almost a year since the first book) there will be  three volumes  of The Halloween Retrospect  ( and a new art survey book added below as of September ) for the Halloween collector to add to their shelf of vintage references supporting that collection of visual survey books. THR is full of informative research articles that focus on certain market items as seen in the pages of various primary sources (mainly ~550 catalogs of consumer/vendor materials 1900-1979) and other archive materials across the United States (such as Framingham History Center for THR, V2 or Hallmark Archives for THR, V3 ).

The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 3: An expected release of June 2024 is slated for Volume 3, The Halloween Retrospect reference series ( link here to THR blog ) and it sits in waiting with new content in an edition mostly about haunted houses, mostly! It is hoped that vintage Halloween collectors will appreciate a deeper review at ephemera collectible (of the haunted house) by such companies as Beistle, Dennison, Hallmark (featured in book with poster), Gibson (on the cover), Norcross, Whitney, and more. Book availability will be announced on the  THR website  in the near future.  This third time around, the library’s archivist at THR has opportunity to create a double-feature article on the transformation of haunted house imagery in early 20th-century times - and such a survey is not complete without considering the amazing mid-century paper engineering (in Part 2) from the past creative team of Hallmark Cards, Inc. for which help from Hallmark Archive  is include...