Bosom Boards & Buggies

Cataloguers at the Library of Congress last week recorded a new entry: a mile-long microfilm of every Sears, Roebuck catalogue, from the slim booklet of 1892 to 1956's Spring-Summer four-pounder, 1,360 pages long. The film replaced dog-eared issues frayed by generations of historians, playwrights, economists, artists and others seeking a picture of the U.S. past.

The 64-year micro-record is a reminder that Americans were offered and bought some odd artifacts--crocodile sofas, mourning handkerchiefs, dog-powered butter churns, solid gold toothpicks with ear-spoon attached, mustache cups ("appropriate gift for the man of elegance") and bosom boards (wooden stiffeners used to shape men's shirts for ironing). In 1905, Sears was offering the "Princess Bust Developer," a bell-shaped cup attached firmly to a handle, and was telling women that IF NATURE HAS NOT FAVORED YOU, the developer would.

There were 22 pages of buggies in the 1896 book, none in 1933; the famous Covered Wagon went thataway permanently after the 1923 catalogue. "Radio apparatus" made its debut in 1919 under "Telegraph instruments." Silk stockings showed up in the 1912 catalogue for the first time, with the warning: "Treat them carefully." Pajamas made a coy appearance in 1899 for men only; twin beds appeared in 1921. Women's fleece-lined bloomers and men's congress gaiters (high shoes with elastic inserts, no laces) held on as late as 1939, then followed the fur derby into history.

Said grateful Congressional Librarian L. Quincy Mumford, welcoming the gift from Sears: "One of the most useful, accurate and fascinating records of the living standards of the American people."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.