The History of Ordinary Things
Doris Montag
The Legacy of Sears, Roebuck & Company Catalogs
In 1887, Richard W. Sears hired stubble plows (the 12-inch model for Alvah C. Roebuck to repair watches $8.50), egg incubators, blacksmith tools, while he established a mail-order and windmills. business to sell the watches using a free catalog. Two years later, R.W. Sears sold • Appliances in this era meant the watch business. iceboxes, coal and wood stoves, and In 1893, Sears, along with Roebuck, treadle sewing machines ($10.45). founded another mail-order operation Sears sold silverware, dishes, linens, known as Sears, Roebuck & Company. iron beds ($2.45 to $14.90), paint, Two years later, Julius Rosenwald and wallpaper. bought out Roebuck’s interest, but the company retained his name. Richard • Domestic wares included stockings Sears, meanwhile, wrote the company’s in cotton and wool, hats, corsets, soon-to-be-famous catalogs. suspenders, shoes, fabric (percale 10 The advent of Rural Free Postal cents per yard), and patterns. The 1897 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Richard Warren Sears Service Delivery in 1896 and Parcel catalog. (1863–1914), founder of Post in 1913 made distribution of the Sears also had a range of interesting Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogs economical. The postal system pseudo-medical and related products: classified mail-order publications as “aids in the dissemination of • Dr. Worden’s Female Pills (35 knowledge,” qualifying the catalogs for cents per box) are described as the postage rate of 1 cent per pound. “a great blood purifier and nerve Sears was able to send its catalogs tonic; cures all diseases arising and merchandise across the country to from a poor and wasted condition even the most isolated customers, selling of the blood when worn down by a wide range of goods at low prices to overwork, worry, excesses, and people without access to retail outlets. indiscretions of living.” The 1902 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalogue had 1,162 pages printed • Dr. Rose’s Arsenic Complexion in font size eight. Customers were Wafers (50 treatments for 35 cents) encouraged to “read the policies” and are described as “perfectly harmless to forgo sending nuisance letters when when used in accordance with our the information was provided in the directions.” The wafers reportedly Jiffy Way egg scale (weight determined assigned size of an catalog. “produced a transparency and egg). Farm Master by Sears, Roebuck & Co., circa 1950s. Sears accepted “cash only — remit by pellucid clearness of complexion” post office money order, express money (while slowly poisoning the user). order, bank draft, cash, or stamps.” At the time, a white complexion There were no installment payments. was a symbol of status. Shipping was by post office mail — registered recommended — or by freight. A few of the products sold in 1902 are named below. As a reference, $1 in • “If Nature has not favored you with that greatest charm, a symmetrically 1902 was equivalent to $30 in today’s money. rounded bosom, full and perfect,” then for only $1.50, you could get either Bust Cream and Food, or the Princess Bust Developer. Looking • A new price list for groceries came out every 60 days. They even sold much like a toilet plunger, the Developer was available in 3.5- and 5-inch Cracker Jacks at 82 cents for 24 packages! Groceries were discontinued in diameters and was guaranteed to get results. 1941. • Sears manufactured guns and sold cartridges, automatic revolvers ($2.95), air shot rifles, derringers, shotguns, and more. • There was a large section dedicated to horse supplies, harnesses, and saddles ($3.75 to $22.85), along with buggies and wagons. • Farm goods ranged from cast iron pig troughs ($4.85) to horse-drawn
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September 2021
50plus LIFE
Sears, Roebuck & Co. mail-order business was vital to meeting the needs of town and country folks for over a century, and many of us have fond catalog memories to be recalled with this history. Doris Montag is a homespun historian and an exhibit curator who researches and displays historical collections of ordinary things, such as can openers, crochet, toy sewing machines, hand corn planters, powder compacts, egg cartons, and more. Contact or follow her on Facebook, HistoryofOrdinaryThings.
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