Published from 1888 to 1993, the Sears Catalog featured everything from sewing machines, clothes, and sporting goods to cars, houses, and livestock. The Sears catalog is a great chronicle of our country’s history, as told through everyday items sold to ordinary people. But, looking back, many of its pages were far from ordinary.

Here are some of the most memorable things the Sears catalog had to offer.

1. Brown’s Vegetable Cure for Female Weakness (1898)

Patent medicines were common until the early 20th century. These dubious elixirs claimed to cure whatever ailed you, when in fact most of them did nothing. Some may have “worked,” thanks to harmful ingredients like opium and arsenic. The Spring 1898 catalog shown here offers a sampling of remedies that may make you shudder — either with fear or laughter. Brown’s Vegetable Cure for Female Weakness claims to rid women of everything from ordinary menstrual cramps and back pain to bizarre symptoms such as “a dread of some impending evil” and “sparks before the eyes.” Curtis’ Consumption Cure guaranteed it could eradicate tuberculosis, a promise it almost certainly couldn’t keep.


2. The Heidelberg Electric Belt (1902)


Vegetable pills and mysterious compounds weren’t the only strange remedies making the rounds at the turn of the century. Electricity was frequently advertised a cure-all, too. This page from the Fall 1902 catalog advertises the Heidelberg Electric Belt, which sent electrical currents through men’s groin areas to cure a”weak or deranged nervous system” and double “sexual force and power.”


3. Ladies' Plush Capes (1900)


Historians and costumers use the Sears catalog to find out what the average person during an era would wear. The Fall 1900 catalog paints a lovely picture of early-20th-century women strolling through town in plush capes trimmed with bear fur and beads.


4. Maternity Outfit (1911)


In addition to impossibly small-waisted maternity dresses, the Fall 1911 catalog also offered other maternity supplies because of “the reluctance of many to consult a physician until forced to do so by approaching birth.” Rubber sheets, a breast binder, olive oil, and antiseptic soap are just a few of the items included, along with a reminder that they are not a replacement for a doctor.


5. The Sears Motor Buggy (1909)


This practical catalog wasn’t all clothes and quack medicines, however. For a long time, you could buy cars through the mail from Sears. In this Fall 1909 ad, the Sears Motor Buggy boasts speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and operation so simple even a child could do it. The price was $395, or just over $10,000 in today’s dollars.


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