The evolution of gadgets as seen in the Sears, Roebuck & Company catalogs

If you’re a gadget fanatic that also loves history, you’re going to love this… Ancestry.com, the website that has helped scores of people trace their family roots, is making available the complete collection of the Sears, Roebuck & Company spring and fall catalogs, spanning 1896 through 1993. You’ll be able to check out the evolution of some of our favorite gadgets like phones, music players and more. You can also browse through the original catalogs to see all sorts of crazy tools and products. Full press release after the jump.

$2,000 for a Home, 75 cents for Parcheesi: You’ll Find it All in a Century
Of Vintage Sears Catalogs, Now Available Online on Ancestry.com

This Holiday Season, Relive America’s Yesteryear and Peer into
the Historic Catalogs of Sears, Roebuck and Company

PROVO, Utah, December 1, 2010—Ancestry.com today announced that it is making available the complete collection of Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogs from the spring and fall seasons, spanning 1896 to 1993.

Comprising more than 250,000 pages, the collection is available online for the first time ever, providing a unique glimpse into how Americans lived beginning in the late nineteenth century and beyond—from how they dressed and decorated their homes to how they worked and played.

“One of the most exciting elements of family history is discovering what life was like for our ancestors,” said Quinton Atkinson, director of content acquisition for Ancestry.com. “These catalogs represent a glimpse into the lives of our family members—from the toys they played with to what they wore on their wedding day. We hope our users have fun browsing these nostalgic catalogs and learning more about the different eras in which our ancestors lived.”

Whether interested in browsing nearly 100 years of American fashion and beauty trends, learning about the common tools of our formerly agricultural economy, seeing the progress and adoption of consumer technologies, or reading how the company addressed major historical moments like the Great Depression, users will find a century of America captured in the Sears catalogs.

Within their pages are a myriad of popular retail products through the years—many that may sound strangely unique to us today. Examples include:

· Boss Pig Extractor Forceps (1901)—this handy tool was premiered at the Iowa State Fair and considered the “newest invention of its time.” ($1)

· Profile Chin Strap (1930)—a truly unique beauty product, the profile chin strap was a throat treatment set meant to “keep your throat fresh and smooth—free from surface wrinkles.” ($1.98)

· Houses (1910)—that’s right. For $2,000 and for a limited time, one could purchase an entire home-building kit directly from the Sears catalog. ($2,000)

· Parcheesi (1900)—this popular board game has been around for much longer than it might seem. One could order it from the Sears catalog beginning in 1900. (75 cents)

· The Laughing Camera (1901)—these toy lenses boasted a “whole passing show” that provided more amusement than a circus, with “friends grotesquely photographed.” (15 cents)

In addition to the sheer variety of products offered in the Sears catalogs, they also demonstrate how product selection and pricing has shifted throughout the years.

For example, the 1901 catalog offered 67 different pairs of women’s shoes, and one could purchase a pair for about $2.95. By the 1950 edition, one could choose from 179 pairs of women’s shoes and expect to pay around $7. Today, Sears sells thousands of pairs of women’s shoes, for which one could easily spend a few hundred if not more than a thousand dollars.

“In many ways, the Sears catalogs are iconic in that they represent a changing, evolving America,” said Atkinson. “From erector sets to video games, pocket watches to digital watches, and telegraphs to cell phones, these catalogs illustrate the unfolding and evolution of the American Dream.”

To search the Sears catalog collection, visit www.ancestry.com/sears.

About Ancestry.com Inc.
Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) is the world’s largest online family history resource, with nearly 1.4 million paying subscribers. More than 6 billion records have been added to the site in the past 14 years. Ancestry users have created more than 20 million family trees containing over 2 billion profiles. Ancestry.com has local Web sites directed at nine countries that help people discover, preserve and share their family history, including its flagship Web site at www.ancestry.com.

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