Cash but Don’t Carry

A weighty 1950s-era cash register was used at a Northern store.
Written by Amelia Fay — Posted December 19, 2024
ARTIFACT FROM THE MANITOBA MUSEUM (HBC 99-8) / PHOTO BY ANDREW WORKMAN

The Hudson’s Bay Company’s business operations changed greatly over the centuries. The shift to a cash economy in the late nineteenth century meant incorporating new technologies to assist with its retail operations.

The National Cash Register Company of Canada Ltd. supplied HBC with cash registers for its stores, including this very heavy Class 6000 electronic register from the 1950s. The cash register came into the HBC Collection via a transfer from another museum, but details regarding where it was used are vague. The record simply states, “used at a Northern store.”

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Amelia Fay is the curator of the HBC Collection at the Manitoba Museum

This article originally appeared in the February-March 2025 issue of Canada’s History.

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