Like many folks I’ve been cleaning out stuff. I came across an old shoebox from Dayton’s Department Store which naturally led to remembering what it used to be like shopping in a big downtown Department Store. The shoebox is old &  it’s battered.  I think I’ll keep it.

Target Corporation paid tribute to the downtown Minneapolis Dayton’s with a slide show of window displays depicting designer fashion from the early 1900′s until  the 60′s. It’s a fun resource for the ever-popular decades projects.  From the Vault: A Window into Dayton’s Displays

The American Memory Collections have an abundance of  catalogs, advertisements and documents.  Enter “department stores” in the search box; you’ll discover thousands of treasures including  photos of department stories in many cities.  The first document on the list is a facsimile of  Edward Filene’s  prediction in 1927 about the decline of individual department stores and the rise of chains.
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The present status and future prospects of chains of department stores, by Edward A. Filene ... an address delivered before the American economic association, Wash. D.C., Dec.27, 1927.