{"id":89237,"date":"2023-01-30T13:18:54","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T18:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=89237"},"modified":"2024-01-30T13:24:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T18:24:40","slug":"a-glimpse-into-our-ancestors-lives-the-sears-catalog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/a-glimpse-into-our-ancestors-lives-the-sears-catalog.html","title":{"rendered":"A Glimpse into Our Ancestors\u2019 Lives: The Sears Catalog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega gives a fascinating glimpse into our ancestors\u2019 lives by examining the goods available to them in the Sears catalog. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When you make purchases from a mail-order catalog, you are taking part in a tradition started by our late 19th<\/sup> century ancestors. What catalog did they buy from? They had a number of choices, including the first mail-order catalog: Montgomery Ward (1872). When we think of the catalog our American ancestors shopped, we mostly think of Sears, Roebuck, and Co.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Richard Warren Sears (1863-1914). Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Sears Catalog<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sears didn\u2019t begin as a mail-order catalog. In 1886 Richard Sears supplemented his income as a station agent by selling watches. His first catalog, featuring only watches and jewelry, was released in 1888. By 1896, Sears had a new name (Sears, Roebuck, and Company) and a new larger catalog. (1) \u201cRichard Sears added a spring and fall catalog and enlarged the size. Specialty catalogs now appeared covering such items as bicycles, books, clothing, groceries, pianos and organs, and sewing machines.\u201d (2)<\/p>\n

It seems like a catalog could result in a financial windfall for a company that offered a wide variety of goods to customers who couldn\u2019t easily travel to a store. But it took time for the catalog to become lucrative.<\/p>\n

In 1897, some 318,000 [Sears catalogs] were sent across the Midwest. They represented a substantial financial burden for the company. So a charge was levied for the purchase of the catalog. By making a customer pay for the privilege of receiving the catalog, the company attempted to weed out those who wanted the fantasy without making any purchases. The price varied from year to year and in the early years of the twentieth century reached the substantial sum of fifty cents. Yet Sears wanted to get the book into as many hands as possible and realized the charge discouraged some potential customers. In 1904\u2026 Sears, Roebuck announced that, in the future, no charge would be made\u2026 By 1908, some 3.6 million catalogs were begin sent. Those later catalogs were offered to anyone who wanted one. Sears newspaper advertisements included coupons to send for the catalog, increasing the number of consumers having access to it. (3)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What did those early catalogs offer? The website Sears Archive lists these catalog changes:<\/p>\n