I’ve been on a hunt for these elusive critters. Yes, you can buy facsimiles, as with Sears Roebuck 1897 but I’m cheap. I had to keep hunting, looking for an online public domain copy. Have I found one? No. And I am tempted to buy some of the new reproductions.

But old newspapers are freely available online and give you that same sense of daily life and consumer aspirations. If you trundle across to Trove, there is a wealth of old Australiana. I’m intrigued that for the Swan River Colony in 1895, where I’ve set my Steampunk story, “Support Your Local Suffragette”, I can read the newspapers of that time and place. Here’s Monday June 3 1895 from The West Australian.

I remember scrolling through old microfiche copies and getting seasick. The online versions are much much better to use, and searchable!

Do you have any favourite archival sites?

My fascination with catalogues means I had to mention them in my novella. You should see some of the weird stuff advertised for sale. I’m not a fan of The Daily Mail, but they do have a cool collection of old gadgets in an article from a few years ago.

I had fun adding even weirder steampunk inventions to my catalogues…but you’ll have to wait for December to hear about those 😉

Catalogues were part of the shrinking of the world (along with telegraphs, trains, faster transport of all kinds)–even if people couldn’t afford to buy from catalogues, they could read and aspire. Shared aspirations shrink the world–you only have to look at launches of things like iPads to see that.