The archive
Antique lighting catalogs, with dates
Dating an old fixture is far easier when you can put it next to the page it came from. This is a growing reference library of manufacturer and mail-order lighting catalogs, each tied to a known year. Browse a catalog to see its pages, the styles it represents, and the fixtures you can still find today.
Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Electric & Gas Lighting Fixtures
Sears' 1920 fixture pages — the mail-order baseline for what an ordinary American home hung from its ceilings as electricity reached Main Street.
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Sears, Roebuck & Co.
Lightmaster Lighting Fixtures
The Depression-era 'Lightmaster' line — slip-shade pan fixtures and early Deco geometry at prices a 1934 household could justify.
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General Electric — Edison Mazda
Edison Mazda Lamps & Fixtures
GE's Edison Mazda pages, where the modern incandescent lamp was marketed alongside the fixtures built to show it off.
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The Virden Company
Virden Lighting Fixtures
A mid-decade manufacturer's catalog showing the polished-brass revival and pan fixtures that defined the 1920s ceiling.
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Pyle-National Company
Pyle-National Lighting Catalog
Pyle-National's fixtures span the line between rugged industrial lighting and the heavier residential forms that crossed over into homes.
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Gordon-Van Tine Co.
Gordon-Van Tine Homes & Fixtures
A mail-order home company's lighting pages, showing the fixtures that shipped with kit houses across America.
View 2 pages →Have a dated catalog to contribute, or a question about rights to a specific scan? Get in touch — we credit every source and handle licensing carefully.