[Ed Storey]

Yes, the Canadian Army Catalogue of Material was a multi-volume series of catalogues from the mid-1960s with each catalogue covering a specific NATO supply class. For instance if you wished to order a flag or pennant then 7610-21-116-3338 Canadian Army Catalogue of Materiel - Supply Class 8345 - Flags and Pennants - 1964 would be the catalgue to consult. Not every unit held a complete set of these catalgues as they would only have the volumes which applied to the material classes they held in their respective stores.

These catalogues evolved over time and it was the Canadian Army Catalgue of Ordnance stores which predated the Material Catalogue. The wartime volumes were called Vocabulary of Army Ordnance Stores and again covered a specific stock class but of course at that time the catalguing system being used was British. After the Vocabulary Catalogues and prior to the Canadian Army Catalgue of Ordnance Stores was the Canadian Ordnance Catalogue which began the change over to the NATO catalguing system.

You also have to remember that both the RCN and the RCAF also had their own catalguing systems.

Naturally there is a lot of wartime material in these catalgues as the three services began a serious post-war program of catalguing and quantifying the vast amounts of material they had languishing in their respective stores, and this became even more administratively challenging during both the change over to the NATO classification system and then unification of the Canadian military in the late 1960s.

The three service's catalgues became the Canadian Forces Catalgue of Material in the 1970s and is divided by NATO class.

This is just a quick overview of supply catalgues as there is more to the story and I have much more to learn on what is a specialized field of study.