A history of visual merchandising and American firearms

Purpose This article presents a history of the visual merchandising of American firearms from the mid-19th century until the present day. Although the scholarly literature has investigated visual representations of guns in advertising and popular media, it has paid far less attention to how sellers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of historical research in marketing Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 416 - 444
Main Author Witkowski, Terrence H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bingley Emerald Publishing Limited 15.11.2024
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Subjects
19th century
Firearms
Glass
Libraries
Merchandising
Retail stores
New York
United States > US
Italy
Winchester Repeating Arms Company
Storefront displays
Firearms
Samuel Colt
Visual merchandising
Online AccessGet full text
ISSN1755-750X
1755-7518
DOI10.1108/JHRM-05-2024-0029

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Summary:Purpose This article presents a history of the visual merchandising of American firearms from the mid-19th century until the present day. Although the scholarly literature has investigated visual representations of guns in advertising and popular media, it has paid far less attention to how sellers have displayed these objects at or near the point of purchase. Design/methodology/approach Primary sources include frescoes, engravings and photographs, plus papers, advertising and illustrations in popular newspapers and trade magazines. These and other period visual data are supplemented by secondary sources from a variety of fields, especially retailing and firearms history. Findings Evidence shows that American firearms were merchandised visually by Samuel Colt at three world expositions in the 1850s, by gunmakers and retailers in the latter 19th century, by Winchester and Remington dealers in the 1920s and 1930s, by high- and low-end retailers in New York in the first half of the 20th century and by gun stores, auctions and shows up to the present day. Originality/value The history of visual merchandising generally has focused upon major department stores, their alluring street-front windows and their fancy interior displays. This research explores past and present visual merchandising of firearms by manufacturers and smaller retailers. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first such history of the subject.
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ISSN:1755-750X
1755-7518
DOI:10.1108/JHRM-05-2024-0029