Sears and Roebuck pt. 1 

 The audio version of this Pinch of the Past was first shared in Episode 35: Guest Elizabeth Musser & a Review of  Lost in Darkness by Michelle Griep

“Sears, Roebuck and Company is a retail giant with 19th-century roots as a mail-order business operating in rural America. Sears grew into one of the nation’s largest corporations, redefining the American shopping experience in the process. Its 130-year history embodies the rise and fall of American consumer culture” from the History Channel article SEARS

 The information below is from an 1897 Sear and Roebuck Catalogue. They sold medicines, groceries, hardware, building material, and appliances like refrigerators. They also supplied clothes, carpets, curtains, and books. Pretty much anything you needed for your house. In addition to house hold items, Sears and Roebuck sold sporting goods, saddlery items surveyor instruments, and electrical goods. They shipped over land and sea, and offered the option to return and insure goods. 

Groceries

Coffee. The promise: “All our roast coffees are choice. We avoid complaints by giving in all cases and at all prices, coffee that looks good, taste good, saves money and presets your temper. A trial order will temp you to order again. Give this department an early trial.”

Kinds of coffee:

Arabian Mocha

Peaberry Mocha

Mandehing Java

Old Gov’t Java

Ceylon Java

African Java

Mocha and Java blend

Golden Santos peaberry

Choice Santos

Golden Rio

Select Rio

Good roast santos and Rio mixed

You could order your coffee crushed, ground, or whole bean they also sold green coffee, cocoa, and teas.

Tea: India—in 1 lb. packages.

“The worlds Fair created a widespread demand for these  very choicest grades of teas. We offer the best known and by all odds, the most select and delightful of the scores of attractively named teas on the market. The lover of a drink—the finish that can be brewed—will be charmed by its delightful flavor.”

            Light of Asia

            Star of India

            Lalla Rookh

Monsoon White

Monsoon Yellow

Nabob or Naban

Other beverages include lemonade mix, lime juice, grape, Thompson’s Hygeia Wild Cherry Phosphate, Ginger ale, wild cherry phosphate (mix with water).  

For baking they had a huge variety of extracts.  Raspberry, strawberry, pineapple, rose, celery, almond, cloves, orange, peach, banana, peppermint, winter green cinnamon, lemon, gooseberry, plum, blackberry, coffee, chocolate, sherbet, quince, pistachio, nutmeg, sarsaparilla, mead, current, tropical melon, ginger, walnut mandarin, tutti frutti, orgeat, allspice, coriander, curry, lavender, lime fruit. These were all packed in glass bottles with corks and paper labels.

Jellies and Jams were shipped in pails. “Prepared from ripe fruit, currents, strawberry, raspberry, quince or grape. Jellies were also shipped in 20 and 30 lb. kits.

Fruit butter  was put up in hermetically sealed cans containing 5 lb. each. “Will keep for years in any climate. Clean and wholesome.” Flavors: apple, peach, plum, quince, and pear.

Celatine boxes of gelatin for making jellies.

For table sauces they offered Worcestershire, Indian soy, Tabasco, catsup, and horse radish.

I love reading through old newspapers, magazines and catalogues. It gives me such a unique glimpse into the every day lives of the people at that time. For the 1897 Sears and Roebuck customer, it seems they had a plethora of items available to them, some very much like our own today and others, thankfully, different. I hope you’ve enjoyed this peak at the goods provided to Aermicans in the 1897. We will continue in the next episode looking at interesting house hold items of that era.