
1908 Sears catalog: from house kits to velocipedes
Ian LamontI recently visited Northern New York, staying at my favorite local history-themed hotel, The Sherman Inn. When I checked into the Theodore Roosevelt suite, I was delighted to find a replica copy of the 1908 Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog on the desk. If your ancestors lived in the United States at this time, it is likely they browsed through these very same pages!
Most readers newsletter are old enough to remember the Sears catalog. I recall thumbing through my grandparents’ copies in the 1970s, marveling at the array of goods for sale, from clothing to stereos. Mail order catalogs used to be a big thing, and Sears was still king, even in the late ‘70s.
But the 1908 catalog is something else. It’s over 1,000 pages long, and has tens of thousands of distinct items for sale, all described in minuscule 4 point text.
The catalog’s heyday was in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when most Americans lived on farms or in small towns and didn’t have access to department stores or automobiles. The Sears catalog made a universe of practical, beautiful, educational, and even spiritual goods available to almost anyone. It was truly the Amazon of the age.
Unlike many local shops, prices were reasonable. The U.S. Post Office could ship directly to many addresses, or larger items could go by railroad freight, using the helpful rate table in the front of the catalog.
The company literally served its customers’ needs from cradle (cots & cribs, page 431) to grave (cemetery headstones, page 161). There was a huge selection of clothing for children and women, as well as work attire for men. High-value items such as wagons, wood stoves, and pianos were featured prominently.
Want to play a tuba? There is a special section on band instruments. Are you “inclined to baldness?” Then check out the hair tonics on page 799. The list went on.
Sears house kits: 1908 example
Perhaps the most impressive items for sale were the house kits. For $725, you could order a basic house. The plan would be mailed first, followed by the materials, from doorknobs to joists to shingles. Of course, Sears was only too happy to help with furniture, cookware, curtains, furnaces, and everything else needed for a new home! Some are still standing today:
In the postwar years, Sears was still strong, expanding into department stores and (in the 1970s) building what was once the tallest headquarters building in the world in Chicago.
However, over time Sears began to lose its edge to upstart department stores, big box stores, niche catalogs, and e-commerce. The Sears catalog was discontinued in the early 1990s, and Sears filed for bankruptcy in 2018.
Still, it’s fun to leaf through this antique catalog to see a slice of American life from 1908. The replica catalog I looked at was printed in the 1960s, but you can read the electronic version here.