Good morning, it’s Tuesday.
When I was growing up, my paternal grandfather mailed me a weekly allowance. It started at $1 a week when I was still in elementary school and then built up to double digits by the time I hit college.
I watched the mail like a hawk, because if I didn’t intercept the cash my parents might take it upon themselves to confiscate it and hold onto it or mete it out as they deemed appropriate (like if I hadn’t done chores, or had broken curfew, etc.) My maternal grandmother also sent cash from time to time – generally in higher denominations – which she wrapped tightly in paper and many layers of tape, as she refused to believe that a check might be safer and smarter.
Needless to say, this made me a big fan of the US postal system.
Another bonus of collecting the mail was that I got first dibs on the many catalog that came to the house. My favorites were the J. Peterman Company (RIP) for its hand-drawn illustrations and storytelling properties; and Lillian Vernon, for its kitschy, quirky offerings. I was not a big fan of the Victoria’s Secret catalog, which somehow I started receiving in middle school and continued to receive well into my young professional years.
I don’t get many catalogs these days, and the ones that do find me are usually from brands I have patronized in the past. This apparently is the new, surgical approach of retailers in the digital age when catalog buying doesn’t really make any sense, since customers can buy whatever they want at any time of the day or night.
The era of mass mailing is definitely over, which isn’t necessary a bad thing. It’s certainly better for the environment, frees up space in landfills, and preserves trees (or whatever it is that they’re making paper with these days).
The nature of catalogs has changed from a “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to something more conceptual – like a high-end look book.
J Crew – another childhood favorite catalog of mine – revived its print version in 2024, responding to a mix of nostalgia and consumer demand. It positioned the comeback product as a cross between a sales vehicle and a magazine, featuring an interview with the cover model, the actress Demi Moore, in its pages, and only printed 3 times a year, as opposed to the old-school 13.
Today is National Mail Order Catalog Day, which commemorates the introduction in 1872 of the erstwhile Chicago-based department store Montgomery Ward’s first mailed catalog. Very different from today’s glossy, high-concept versions, this catalog was just a 8-by-12 single sheet, featuring 163 items, a price list and ordering instructions.
The idea was to reach a new audience – particularly those in more rural parts of the country who didn’t have the means or time to travel to shop in the big city – and cut out the cost of a traveling salesman.
But Montgomery Ward wasn’t really doing anything new or cutting edge. The truth is that catalogs had actually been around for quite some time. In 1744, for example, none other than Benjamin Franklin issued a 16-page pamphlet offering some 600 academic books for sale from his shop at the Philadelphia Post Office.
The first luxury goods catalog in the US was issued by Tiffany & Co – the iconic Blue Book, which still exists to this day – in 1845. The Blue Book brought fine jewelry to all corners of the country and arguably paved the way for online shopping in a world where distance is no object and anything can be purchased and delivered to almost anywhere – for the right price.
We’ll kick off the day with some areas of patchy fog, which will clear up as the day progresses. Otherwise, there will be periods of clouds and sun, with high temperatures peaking in the mid-80s.
In the headlines…
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior aide, met for several hours with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in Jerusalem on Monday in an effort to break a logjam over Trump’s plan for the future of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
Trump said the U.S. would “bomb the s— out of” Oman if the Gulf nation “gets in the way,” as Washington’s 60-day ceasefire with Iran expires with no official negotiations or deal in sight.
Trump last week returned a mail-in ballot ahead of Florida’s primary election on Tuesday – the second time he has done so amid his unfounded claims that mail-in voting contributes to election fraud.
Trump downplayed reports about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln to reporters in the Oval Office. The aircraft carrier has been the subject of escalating concern over mental health and supply issues for American sailors enduring nearly nine months at sea.
At the White House, the president berated a CNN reporter at a press availability, insisting that she “be quiet” about the USS Lincoln and describing the reporting as fake news.
Border security construction in Big Bend National Park has been temporarily halted, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Rodney Scott, said on Monday, pending a visit this week to West Texas to assess the project.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday released data on the vaccination rates of US kindergarteners in the 2025–2026 school year, revealing that rates have once again decreased from the previous school year.
Nationally, only 92.4 percent of kindergartners were vaccinated with the MMR vaccine in the 2025–2026 school year, down from 92.5 percent last year. The DTaP vaccine, covering diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough, fell from 92.1 percent to 92.0 percent.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is urging Trump’s administration to reconsider its plans to rescind temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the United States — warning that doing so will have harmful economic and human consequences.
Hochul disclosed her conversation with Trump in an Aug. 14 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that was released by the governor’s office.
Hochul’s running mate, former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was heckled by pro-Israel protesters during a Brooklyn Democratic Party forum last week.
Hochul has been aggressive in imposing a one-year moratorium on the centers. A state senator would go further.
A coalition of 400 New York nursing homes is urging the Trump administration to shelve its decision to rescind TPS for thousands of Haitians who work in the facilities, claiming it will destabilize the workforce and impact services to elderly residents.
New York State’s Rape Crisis Centers are calling on Hochul to restore millions in funding cuts they say will leave sexual assault survivors — including children — without critical services.
Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, a dyed-in-the-wool Democratic donor who previously contributed to Hochul’s campaign, is raising funds for her Republican gubernatorial opponent Bruce Blakeman.
The authority of a nonprofit to help thousands of New Yorkers with disabilities find work is set to expire in 2028, but advocates and a local assemblyman are seeking to make the corporation’s agreement with the state permanent and expand its capabilities.
Law enforcement unions are sticking by New York Rep. Mike Lawler as he faces a tough battle to retain his crucial House seat in the Hudson Valley.
The Mamdani administration is skipping a City Council hearing set for today on the pied-à-terre tax, a move coming under fire from local reps as it allows officials to dodge critical questions about the controversial surcharge.
Officials will instead submit written testimony, skirting a confrontation and avoiding further public scrutiny of a policy that has enraged some New Yorkers and turned into a politically thorny situation for the mayor.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is upping the grant funding available to local organizations that promote commerce — though it doesn’t look like much.
New York City provided four hours of free babysitting to hundreds of families. Parents used the time to reconnect with each other and to tackle chores uninterrupted.
Mamdani’s team flatly denied that artificial intelligence was used in the pair of clips he released last week to promote the city’s giveaway of 2,000 free Broadway show tickets for high school students.
The Nation is reviewing work by lefty columnist and former Mamdani campaign manager Ross Barkan after he was axed by New York Magazine on Friday for ripping off other authors’ work dozens of times.
Debbie Saslaw, a former Mamdani campaign staffer, said she was “mistaken” after initially claiming that an attack at a Manhattan synagogue was not antisemitic because the alleged assailant was Jewish.
Workers at a pair of Times Square budget hotels have secured a union contract after four years of squabbling, a push that attracted the support of Mamdani and a slew of other elected officials.
Mamdani did not attend the city’s main India Day Parade on Sunday, breaking with a long-standing tradition of mayors joining the annual Manhattan celebration of India’s independence.
Luigi Mangione’s state murder trial won’t start next month as planned — as he tries to avoid it entirely in light of his surprise guilty plea in his federal case.
A federal appeals court has ruled that a man’s 2021 lawsuit accusing a former Troy police sergeant of violating his constitutional rights should not have been dismissed. The ruling puts the case back on track for a trial in U.S. District Court.
The City of Albany is now projecting a $55.5 million budget deficit over the next 16 months as Mayor Dorcey Applyrs’ administration struggles to contain the crisis that has roiled the municipality’s finances for the last year.
An Albany police dispatcher who faces child molestation charges in Marietta, Ga., is suspended without pay from his job, the police department announced on Sunday.
Questions remain after an Albany County Sheriff’s Office K-9 was found dead Sunday morning after disappearing from her handler’s home in Ravena.
New automated license plate readers have been installed around Schenectady, prompting some residents to raise concerns about privacy and how the technology could be used.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
