Monster in the Room

The most astonishing innovation in selling products on a grand scale is the mail-order catalog. Specifically, the Sears Roebuck catalog. Dwarfing all others, it's like a combination of Amazon and Home Depot.

Everything conceivable that anyone might want, in a home or on the farm, can be delivered to the nearest railroad station, anywhere in America. This means that farm families can live like urban dwellers, in theory at least.

The 1902 Sears catalog has 1,100 pages. Separate catalogs are added later just for electrical and plumbing hardware, and another for factory-made kits allowing customers to build complete houses or barns, all delivered by rail.
Sears women's clothing, 1920s

  Inexhaustible Choices
The 1920 Sears catalog opens with women's wear, covering the full range from infants to matrons. This goes on for 250 pages. Some illustrations are in color (enhanced here). Following this are 50 pages of similar items for men and boys. Then comes page after page of shoes, handbags, watches, jewelry, cosmetics, tonics, health aids and on and on ... 

Sears home goods, 1920s

  And Everything Else
The catalog features all manner of household items, from cameras and fabrics, to kitchen items and furniture. Among the more surprising items are musical instruments (including pianos and organs), encyclopedias, firearms and even farm egg incubators. Items for farmers are sprinkled generously throughout.  Sears also publishes separate catalogs just for plumbing and electrical equipment, which display everything you might need to modernize a bathroom, or install a home heating system. 


Sears home kits and barn kits, 1920s

  Even Homes and Barns
Catalogs devoted exclusively to kits for building homes, barns, cabins, garages and sheds are nearly as impressive. These kits contain full plans, plus all materials required to finish the job, including nails and paint. Framing lumber is pre-cut and numbered, allowing rapid construction methods that reduce total construction costs by 40%, according to Sears. Altogether, the Sears catalog is a staggering achievement.