Having spent more hours than I care to admit on the "collectors of Schrades" site, I can't help but wonder what the difference is between a "short line" catalog and a ... well ... a catalog that is not a "short line?"
Thanks to those responsible for putting that site together, by the way.
Prior to the "Short Line" catalogs there was the "Line."
The last "Line" was in 1982, with 1983 marking the introduction of the "Short Line" Catalog.
Rusty is right, the Line was usually one page, both sides. The Short Line catalog was usually 4 or more pages, a "short" representation of the Schrade line.
I am not sure where they got the "Line" term, except perhaps from the "Line Card" term used by many independent sales reps of that time frame. A Line Card was generally a 1 page, often both sides, mini representation of the lines of merchandise that an independent sales rep sold. An "Independent Rep." represented several companies, where as a "Factory Rep" or Company Man generally represented only a single manufacturer.
This is the most logical explanation I can think of for the terms Line & Short Line.
HISTORICAL NOTE:
Schrade had an annual sales meeting before the end of the year. At this meeting they handed out a book for the coming year. Larry has many of these books. I have one and 2 others that Tom Williams has graciously loaned me.
These books start out with a letter written by Albert Baer, usually assessing the previous years sales & looking forward to the new products for the coming year. Often these letters were a pep talk to pump up the sales force.
These were usually in a 3-ring binder with index tabs separation the products. They would include Imperial products, pocketknives, fixed blades and kitchen cutlery. Remember that Imperial Schrade was a huge manufacturer of kitchen cutlery & culinary gadgets. The binders would have the Line or Short Line catalogs as well as full catalogs, flyers, and price lists; Retail Price lists, Wholesale Price lists & Distributor Price lists.
In essence this notebook was the Schrade salesmens bible for the coming year.
These notebooks make for some interesting reading and offer an insight into the management style of Albert Baer (Top Down Management) and perhaps a glimpse at the corporate culture of ISC.
Dale
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