Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

Thank you for supporting THR's research series on Etsy Well, here we are (not too far way from a 2nd Anniversary review of stock in August  and a new tissue-paper honeycomb art book in October ) to find ourselves at the beginnings of winter holiday season 2025. And, given the theme of the most recent holiday, it would seem a great time to express THR's gratitude for keeping operations running, most notably the  Etsy bookstore . Thank you to the archives and libraries assisting in early stages of research. Thank you to the various businesses that help produce these publications. And, of course, thank you the readers for purchasing one (or more) of THR’s vintage Halloween collectibles guidebooks which currently number six publications... shown below.   Six new best-selling guidebooks getting five-star reviews  from  vintage Halloween collector seeking  market research. The last two-plus years of publishing have been great fun, yet it obviously takes time...

 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 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...

UPDATE: October 17, 2025 As of Oct today THR publications have tripled since this post. The digest series (seen below) reaches 4 volumes and a new survey series Halloween Artifacts is on its second release. See current vintage Halloween collectible reference books at  Etsy THR Bookstore . Thank you! 

The Halloween Retrospect: Looking for a way to show this poster insert, a 1926 advertisement, that comes with The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 , a remnant from the interior of a vintage weather forecaster came to mind. Yes, the poster is real, it's just the interior here that is conjured - a tongue-in-cheek take on websites with those oh-so modern interiors advertising fine art.  March's Halloween Page (1926) as a poster in a haunted house. There is more to read about such things in a blog entry titled 1926 Halloween Poster  on The Halloween Retrospect website, that includes a bit of information on the tools that were used to re-create this advertisement as a poster print, as well some more images of those fun weather forecasters. Vintage remnant of The Weatherman Jr. And for those interested in purchasing a copy of The Halloween Retrospect, Volume 1 , the listing is currently active on Etsy . I thank you too for buying on that platform, as this allows me to inspect eac...

Sane Halloween Observer: If the date on the back-end of this editor is believed, this draft began in the first half of the year 2021. At that time, it didn’t seem too distant from the previous entry of May 2020 yet this publishes nearly three years later! While conspicuously quiet on the front-end of the blog, it is not due this author’s decreased attention concerning vintage Halloween collectibles. In fact, I have been busy developing a different approach on the topic, directed less on updates/entries via the internet but to instead pursue a more traditional and satisfying reunion with the tactile world.  2019-2022 Beginning in autumn 2018, I returned to university studies, coinciding with dwindling entries in 2019, for who could possibly write one additional word between the constant discourse and papers required from a degree. In those educational pursuits, (cued from my multi-mixed media background in art, design, web development and database interactivity), I delved into a con...