‘Enlightenment on all subjects under the sun’: department store information bureaux in Britain and the United States in the first half of the twentieth century

Abstract

Information bureaux, both physical and in printed form, offered people opportunities to have queries on a variety of subjects answered free of charge in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite this being a popular way for people to seek information in the period, some of these organisations remain under-studied in information history. This article explores information bureaux in department stores, particularly the Selfridges Bureau of Information, and investigates what types of information the department store bureaux provided, what questions they answered, and who staffed and used the bureaux. The article begins the analysis of these bureaux using available archival material, contemporary newspaper advertisements and articles, retail publications, and other relevant sources. It concludes that while department stores offered these services to entice people into their stores, the enterprise at Selfridges reflected people's expanded desire for information and the store's acknowledgement that customers could not be sated by material goods alone.