The 1983 Apple Gift Catalog: A Special Kind Of History

This brings back so many memories for me. I remember the first time I ever saw an Apple computer. It was in the early ’90s. My uncle bought a Power Macintosh desktop computer, and everyone in my family thought he was nuts, except me. I was intrigued by how it looked, and I always wanted to visit him so I could play around with it. Of course, back then, the screen was tiny, and the overall experience can’t really even be compared with anything we know today.

It just goes to show how fast technology changes. Twenty years in the technology industry is probably like fifty years or more in any other industry. It just never stops, and that’s the way we like it. We’ve even come to expect it, and more of us are becoming early technology adopters as we wait impatiently for the next gadget to be released.

One thing that Steve Jobs was quick to start working on when he returned to Apple in the ’90s was branding and image. Currently, the Apple Company Store sells mugs and t-shirts (and other things like that), but you can only get them by visiting the actual company store in San Francisco. However, waaaaay back in the old days, believe it or not, Apple had mail order gift catalogs where you could just call up and place an order for Apple merchandise. These are some pictures from the official Apple 1983 gift catalog. That brass belt buckle is super sweet! I wish I could order that right now.