It’s been about 10 years since the last printed and snail mailed edition of The i love barbra Catalog was sent out to Barbra Streisand fans around the world! Can you believe it? Where did the time go? The last issue was #55 and focused on magazines for sale. It was filled with Streisand cover stories, magazines with articles and photos about Barbra, foreign issues, oldies and current fan periodicals as well.
Why did the catalog stop? Well, for one, the internet happened. And then eBay, and then Amazon. Barbra fans could buy their Barbra books and CDs elsewhere and so the catalog took a hiatus. In its heyday there were 200-400 printed catalogs mailed out each month. The first subscribers were readers of the original Barbra Magazine by James Spada, Chris Nickens and Karen Swenson where Anne Zarraonandia (long time BJS fan and owner of the i love barbra catalog) took a classified ad out about having extra Barbra stills for sale. Knock, knock, knock….a fan named Denise showed up at Anne’s San Rafael doorstep and asked to see what was available. That was the beginning of a great friendship. We met up at future Barbra concerts, conventions and for plain coffee talk!
More fans & catalog subscribers came from the other Barbra publications of the day: Just Like Buttah by Tom Galyean, The Barbra File by the late Allison J. Waldman, and All About Barbra by Lynne Pounder (still going strong after 30 years!) To put this into context, email was not really happening in earnest yet. Anne received handwritten letters from Barbra fans all over the world who ordered collectibles from the catalog and send checks and money orders as payment. Many became pen-pal friends with Anne and some are currently connected with her on Facebook and Twitter! The biggest boost in subscribers came when Anne signed up with a catalog company who sold Anne the names of thousands of people who ordered a sample of the i love barbra catalog.
Then there was the original webpage for the i love barbra catalog. Anne produced in using pre-historic AOL hosting, then Earthlink.net hosting and there it sits. Take a look at the old page and you can see a time machine version still today. I will give credit to Barbra Streisand herself for getting me excited about building a new website and blog and social media campaign for the NEW i love barbra catalog. With the release of Streisand Partners album, its time to get back to listing all the thousands of Barbra items Anne has stored away. If not now, when? Keep checking back to the i love barbra catalog site and see what memorabilia Anne has listed. There will be records, CDs, books, magazines, posters, clothing and all sort of collectibles to enjoy. It’s good to be back! And please drop Anne a note to say HI!
Why did the catalog stop? Well, for one, the internet happened. And then eBay, and then Amazon. Barbra fans could buy their Barbra books and CDs elsewhere and so the catalog took a hiatus. In its heyday there were 200-400 printed catalogs mailed out each month. The first subscribers were readers of the original Barbra Magazine by James Spada, Chris Nickens and Karen Swenson where Anne Zarraonandia (long time BJS fan and owner of the i love barbra catalog) took a classified ad out about having extra Barbra stills for sale. Knock, knock, knock….a fan named Denise showed up at Anne’s San Rafael doorstep and asked to see what was available. That was the beginning of a great friendship. We met up at future Barbra concerts, conventions and for plain coffee talk!
More fans & catalog subscribers came from the other Barbra publications of the day: Just Like Buttah by Tom Galyean, The Barbra File by the late Allison J. Waldman, and All About Barbra by Lynne Pounder (still going strong after 30 years!) To put this into context, email was not really happening in earnest yet. Anne received handwritten letters from Barbra fans all over the world who ordered collectibles from the catalog and send checks and money orders as payment. Many became pen-pal friends with Anne and some are currently connected with her on Facebook and Twitter! The biggest boost in subscribers came when Anne signed up with a catalog company who sold Anne the names of thousands of people who ordered a sample of the i love barbra catalog.
Then there was the original webpage for the i love barbra catalog. Anne produced in using pre-historic AOL hosting, then Earthlink.net hosting and there it sits. Take a look at the old page and you can see a time machine version still today. I will give credit to Barbra Streisand herself for getting me excited about building a new website and blog and social media campaign for the NEW i love barbra catalog. With the release of Streisand Partners album, its time to get back to listing all the thousands of Barbra items Anne has stored away. If not now, when? Keep checking back to the i love barbra catalog site and see what memorabilia Anne has listed. There will be records, CDs, books, magazines, posters, clothing and all sort of collectibles to enjoy. It’s good to be back! And please drop Anne a note to say HI!