"Proof of good intention": modernization at James T. Mullin and Sons, Wilmington, Delaware, 1900-1930

Abstract

This thesis is a case study of consumer responses to the advertising and merchandise of a specialty store in a small city. My assumption is that to understand consumer response to Mullin's, both the store's ads and its goods, together with the consumer's choices must be considered. James T. Mullin and Sons, a menswear store in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, provides an opportunity to study the kind of store often neglected in department store scholarship. From its opening in West Chester, Pennsylvania in 1865 until 1930, the store was actively involved in the production and sales of men's and boy's clothing. When Mullin's moved to Wilmington in 1878, the store benefited from quicker access to its wares, a larger potential market, and Wilmington's diverse and growing economy. Mullin's gradual modernization of its advertising and merchandise by the 1920s, however, was not paralleled by any corresponding change in the purchases of its clientele.