Children's Toys and Fashions From Long Ago Mail order Catalogs-In the 19th century, with the advent of factories and advance in printing methods, mail-order catalogs began to appear. For the first time in American history, people from anywhere in the United States could order items from a printed catalog and have them delivered. The amount of space devoted to children's toys and fashions in these catalogs expanded as more and more emphasis was placed on the development of children in general.