The “Wish Book” was also known as the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. Besides shopping, the catalog had other uses. It was so large you could use it as a doorstop or booster seat for small children.

Roebuck, a watchmaker. The Sears Archive website states that its earliest catalog, from 1888, only featured watches and jewelry. The corporate name became Sears, Roebuck, and Co. in 1893.

Between 1908 and 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold nearly 75,000 kit ... we ordered it from the Sears catalog,’” Chabot said. “I was intrigued by the concept of people picking out a house ...

Roebuck into the business ... greatly underserved by traditional retailers. The Sears catalog ultimately grew to over 500 pages by the late 1800s, allowing rural communities access to hundreds ...