The Backstory: Shocking Items from the Sears Catalog

About this episode

This episode explores the historical significance and surprising items sold in the Sears catalog, likening it to today's Amazon.

Even if we don’t love it, most of us rely on Amazon for a lot of our basic shopping needs. But 140 years ago, the Victorian version of Amazon arrived on the scene. The Sears catalog was just as huge as Amazon, at one point reaching 2/3rds of all Americans and accounting for 1% of the entire U.S. economy. They sold and delivered everything... even heroin! Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover... on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Host: Patty Steele

Topics covered

• Sears catalog
• history of shopping
• American economy
• Victorian era
• cultural impact

Keywords

• Sears catalog
• shopping history
• Victorian Amazon
• American economy
• cultural items

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sears

Products: heroin

Places: U.S.

More episodes of The Backstory with Patty Steele

• The Backstory: Hometowns That Vanished Overnight · June 12, 2026 · 9 min
• The Backstory: Hey, What Time Is It? · June 9, 2026 · 10 min
• The Backstory: Blood, Sex, and Movies of the 1920s · June 5, 2026 · 13 min
• The Backstory: Marilyn Monroe: Genius IQ? · June 2, 2026 · 8 min
• The Backstory: Was This Royal A Nazi? · May 29, 2026 · 9 min
• The Backstory: The A.I. Bubble: We’ve Been Here Before · May 26, 2026 · 12 min