Silent Photoplay Forum

haha I wonder how they did ship that last one? Must have taken months to get there.
I have never seen a new Sears catalogue, let alone an old one. That would be a cool thing to see!

It would have been shipped by freight. Now how you got it off the train once it arrived at the station...I guess that would be your problem. Seriously, it makes you wonder how they did what they did back in that era. I mean, bells weighing many tons were lifted up and installed in steeples, courthouses, etc. How did they do that? Think about those 15 or 20 story skyscrapers that were erected in NY City by 1905 or so. They would have had to dig foundations down to bedrock for those things. Was that done with men using shovels?? I'm sure they had some steam-powered equipment, but it seems a lot of things would have had to be done by hand--with a lot of labor. And think about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge...that was way back in the 1800's. I digress...

Below is the 1897 repro I have. I also have a 1901 and a 1927. One thing that makes these fascinating to me is that they show a complete cross-section of life at that time, because Sears sold everything—clothing, tools, musical instruments, furniture, appliances, jewelry, carriages, tombstones, medicine, groceries...bells....

(Mine has a little different cover.)
https://www.amazon.com/1897-Sears-Roebu ... +catalogue

Here is a page from the ladies' shoes section of the 1897 Sears. Look at the bizarrely long points they came to. All of them were like this—the men's, too.

Awesome! They must have really had to pick up their feet when they walked with those! Hmm I wonder if heels were easier to wear back then because of the long toe?

What a beautiful Kodak advertisement! Do you ever wonder who the people in these ads were?

I've never been on a cruise.... Maybe I'll book soon!

I've never been on one either—that one does look delightful!

Did you notice how long the cruises are for? Those are definitely for rich people, being gone from work for so long. I bet it wasn't super crowded for this reason.

Wow, no I didn't notice that. Definitely upper strata only. This makes me wonder if cruises for middle class people are a modern phenomenon.

Look at those gelatin molds!