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Lillian Vernon Collection

National Museum of American History

Bound Catalogs Vol. 702-712
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
Finding aid
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

Object Details

sova.nmah.ac.1495
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b38cef11-ceea-4f69-b3d7-dad9c94b334b
Creator
Vernon, Lillian, 1927-2015
Topic
American woman entrepreneur
Business -- History
Direct marketing
Mail-order business
Provenance
Collection donated by Fred P. Hochberg and David Hochberg, 2019.
Creator
Vernon, Lillian, 1927-2015
See more items in
Lillian Vernon Collection
Summary
Collection documents Lillian Vernon, entrepreneur who started a catalog business on her kitchen table. Materials include video and audio cassettes, awards, certificates, clippings, and sales catalogs.
Biographical / Historical
Lillian Vernon, born Lilli Menasche (1927-2015), immigrated with her family to the United States from Germany after escaping the Nazi regime of the 1930s. Vernon inherited her family's entrepreneurial spirit and in 1951 when pregnant with her first child, she searched for a way to stay home and yet augment the family budget. Using her combined wedding gifts, Vernon invested $2,000 in the business and placed her first advertisement in Seventeen for monogrammed accessories for teenagers. She received an overwhelming response and her business was launched. In the early years, the size of the business was limited to Vernon and her kitchen table, where she sorted and filled orders. Vernon grew her enterprise into one of the nation's most successful mail-order catalogs and a major corporation. The Lillian Vernon Catalog, which the company launched in 1956, became an iconic shopping resource for American women. Produced monthly, the catalog was typically 120 pages and usually featured 750 items. In response to a catalog and shopping mall boom in the United States in the 1980s, the company produced a number of specialty catalogs in order to broaden its market, including ones targeted for children and homemakers. In 1987, Vernon's company became the first business founded by a woman to be publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Responding to the increasingly important online market in the early 1990s, the Lillian Vernon Corporation opened a storefront on AOL in 1995 and followed with an online catalog and website. However, by the end of the 1990s, the company began to struggle to meet online needs, especially after the collapse of the dot-com bubble. Vernon sold the company to Zelnick Media in 2003, but retained the symbolic title of non-executive chairman.
Extent
12 Cubic feet (37 boxes)
Date
1974-2008
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.1495
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Audio cassettes
Cd-roms
Dvds
Sales catalogs
Videotapes
Citation
Lillian Vernon Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged in three series. Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs, 1987-2007 Series 2: Biographical Material, 1989-2004 Series 3: Audio Visual Materials, undated
Processing Information
Collection processed by Patti Williams, archivist, 2022. Select catalog covers digitized by Isaac Meth, intern, 2022.
Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form
Audio cassettes
CD-ROMs
DVDs
Sales catalogs
Videotapes
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of 12 cubic feet of material relating to Lillian Vernon, entrepreneur, who started her catalog business at her kitchen table. Materials include video and audio cassettes, awards, certificates, clippings, and sales catalogs, 1987-2008.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Related Materials
Materials at the National Museum of American History The Division of Work and Industry holds related objects: engravo-graph machine, engraving blocks, kitchen table, wood sign, purse, and belt. See accession 2019.0306.
NMAH.AC.1495
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b38cef11-ceea-4f69-b3d7-dad9c94b334b
NMAH.AC.1495
ACAH
Record ID
ebl-1670520901520-1670520902217-0

  • Images 66 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Archival materials 385 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Moving Images 245 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Videocassettes (vhs) 239 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Audio 48 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Cassette tapes 40 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Books 4 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Videocassettes (betacam) 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Videocassettes (u-matic) 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Sound cassettes 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Videocassettes (dvcpro) 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1970s 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1980s 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1990s 9 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 2000s 10 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection 385 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 3: Audio Visual Materials / 3.2: Videocassettes 245 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 3: Audio Visual Materials / 3.1: Cassette tapes 40 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Core 19 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs 10 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 2: Biographical Material 10 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Favorites 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Lilly's Kids 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 3: Audio Visual Materials / 3.3: Miscellaneous 8 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Mixed Bound Catalogs 7 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Sale 7 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Christmas Memories 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Personalized Gifts 5 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Garden 4 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 3: Audio Visual Materials 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Neat Ideas 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Lillian Vernon Collection / Series 1: Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs / Personal Style 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • CC0 385 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • No 308 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Yes 77 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • ead_component 385 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Garden

  • Lilly's Kids

  • Mixed Bound Catalogs

  • Christmas Memories

  • Lillian Vernon Bound Catalogs

  • The American Stock Exchange, Bell Ringing: Lillian Vernon Corporation

  • Lillian Vernon Costume, Today Show, NBC

  • Lillian Vernon Rye Headquarters: Kevin Green B-Roll, Kevin Green Interview, Tape 2 of 5

  • 1992 Women Owned Businesses Video News Release

  • Christmas Gift Segment, Good Morning America, ABC Television

  • Police Distribute Toys, excerpts: WAVY 6 p.m.

  • Northwood University. Outstanding Business Leaders

  • Segment on Mail Order, KTVU Television, San Francisco, California

  • Miscellaneous certificates

  • Sissy Segment, CBS Television, Living It Up

  • "Junk Drawer" Segment, Jennifer Humes, Clutter Queen, WFAA Channel 8 Good Morning Texas

  • Lillian Vernon Promo (May '89) and Lillian Vernon Hour (5/1/89)

  • Selling Video

  • Ms. Vernon's Things from VB

  • The Today Show, NBC-TV, "Countdown to Christmas," Product Segment

  • Lillian Vernon Corporation Product Publicity, On NBC's Later Today

  • Sky Television: The Inflight Broadcasting Network

  • Sissy Segment, Channel 12 News

  • The Direct Marketing Association Incorporated, Interview with Amy Blankenship, Minneapolis-St. Paul Market (#14), Dallas-Fort Worth Market (#7), edited master


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