Sears (former Gimbels); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Sears (former Gimbels); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Sears (former Gimbels); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Sears (former Gimbels); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Sears (former Gimbels); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Sears (former Gimbels); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Upper level mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Saks Fifth Avenue; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Saks Fifth Avenue; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Saks Fifth Avenue; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Lower level mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Upper level mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's; Stamford Town Center, Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Interior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior sign. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Stamford Town Center; Stamford, Connecticut. Interior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Holidays on Display

The main aisle of Marshall Field & Co., Chicago, circa 1955. (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)

Holidays on Display examines the art, industry, and history of holiday display across the United States. Focusing on parading culture and department store retail display, primarily between the 1920s and 1960s, when holiday displays were considered commercial endeavors equally rewarding for the American public, the exhibition showcases numerous photographs, postcards and rendering illustration of parade floats and window displays—including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and Marshall Field & Company Christmas windows—as well as objects relating to the early creation of these displays.

“Holidays on Display” will be on view at the National Museum of American History through November 2010

Link to Smithsonian Institution
Online Exhibition
Press Realease
Asked and Answered | Holidays on Display

Belk (former Parks-Belk); Bristol Mall, Bristol, Virginia. Lower level exterior entrance. Photographed December 1, 2009.

Belk (former Parks-Belk); Bristol Mall, Bristol, Virginia. Mall entrance. Photographed December 1, 2009.

Belk Men, Kids & Home (former Miller's, Hess's and Proffitt's); Bristol Mall, Bristol, Virginia. Lower level mall entrance. Photographed December 1, 2009.

Belk Men, Kids & Home (former Miller's, Hess's and Proffitt's); Bristol Mall, Bristol, Virginia. Exterior entrance. Photographed December 1, 2009.

The main Belk store at Bristol Mall opened in 1978 as Parks-Belk, once the Belk operating group responsible for stores in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. It was a relocation from a store in downtown Bristol.

When Parks-Belk sold out to Proffitt's in 1995, Belk retained this location, along with another in Wise. Those two stores were the only remaining Virginia locations of Parks-Belk, which once boasted stores in Galax, Marion and Pulaski, among other cities, that were closed when Belk shifted away from downtown locations.

in 2005, Belk bought Proffitt's, returning the East Tennessee Parks-Belk stores to their original owner, linking again this store to its former sister stores in Johnson City and Kingsport. The Kingsport store sports a nearly identical exterior.

Though it has had routine remodels and updates, the basic store remains a classic Seventies Belk design.

Belk Men, Kids & Home opened in 1978 as a branch of Miller's of Tennessee, which was a division of retail conglomerate Garfinckel, Brooks Brothers, Miller & Rhoads, Inc.

In 1981, with the acquisition of its parent conglomerate, Miller's became a part of Allied Stores. In 1986, Miller's was acquired in a hostile takeover by Hess's. Hess's sold this location, among others, to Proffitt's in 1992.

On March 8, 2006, Proffitt's stores were converted into Belk stores. Belk acquired the chains in July 2005 from Saks Incorporated (formerly Proffitt's Incorporated).

JCPenney; Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

JCPenney; Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Upper level mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Vintage view of mall entrance as Bamberger's. (photo courtesy Bamberger's Tribute Page)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Upper level mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

former John Wanamaker, Hecht's, strawbridge's and Boscov's; Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

former John Wanamaker, Hecht's, strawbridge's and Boscov's; Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

former John Wanamaker, Hecht's, strawbridge's and Boscov's; Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

former John Wanamaker, Hecht's, strawbridge's and Boscov's; Oxford Valley Mall, Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Upper level mall entrance. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Nordstrom; The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Mall entrance. (photo by Todd)

Nordstrom; The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Exterior entrance. (photo by Todd)

Neiman Marcus; The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Exterior view. (photo by Todd)

Neiman Marcus; The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Exterior entrance. (photo by Todd)

Neiman Marcus; The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Mall entrance. (photo by Todd)

The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Exterior view of Barnes & Noble Booksellers. (photo by Todd)

The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Lighted tree. (photo by Todd)

The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Exterior view. (photo by Todd)

Macy's (former Foley's); The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, Texas. Mall entrance. (photo by Todd)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Menlo Park Mall, Edison, New Jersey. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Menlo Park Mall, Edison, New Jersey. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)

Macy's (former Bamberger's); Menlo Park Mall, Edison, New Jersey. Exterior view. (photo by Pat Richardson)