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- ORIGINS OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION
- Prohibition and the Crazy 1920a
- MIDTERM EXAM STUDY GUIDE:
- ESSAY ASSIGNMENT
- WWI AND WOMAN SUFFRAGE OUTLINES
- Sears and Roebuck and the Development of Middle Cl...
- READING FOR MONDAY: U.S. ENTRANCE INTO THE GREAT WAR
- Studs Terkel Reading Guide
- Excerpt from Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
- PROGRESSIVISM
- EXCERPT FROM THE JUNGLE, UPTON SINCLAIR
- MORE ISSUES OF RACE IN THE POST WAR U.S.
- Industrialism Gone Mad
- RECONSTRUCTING A BROKEN UNION
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April
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By closely analyzing the 1902 Sears & Roebuck catalogs one can argue that the people at that time were materialistic and concerned with their social status. By purchasing these unnecessary, immensely detailed, & intricate products one can assume that the people who obtained these items wanted it, opposed to actually needing it. By no means they also emphasized their social status through these purchases.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Tolosa
Olusayo Osibodu
Daniel Hanna
Elizabeth Nash
Patricia Acosta
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ReplyDeleteMerissa Escamilla
ReplyDeleteTerry McIrvin
Karyn Smith
Cassey Bailey
Joshua Sibert
A person’s ability to engage in leisure time activities was strongly related to their social class. Members of the working class had very little, if any, time for anything but work. This was the only way they could make enough money to provide for their families. The higher classes though, as evidenced by the advertising in the catalogue, had a great deal of time to devote to personal interests and hobbies.
The catalogue had a large selection of books. There were fictional works such as plays, poetry and novels. There were almost two pages of different Bibles. By far, though, the greatest number were books that were meant to teach. These ranged in topic from mystical disciplines such as palmistry and hypnotism, to trade skills and etiquette.
There was also an amazing selection of musical instruments. The ability to play an instrument must have been much more highly valued during this time. It probably suggested an air of refinement and culture that only those in the upper and middle classes could afford to cultivate.
Another leisure time activity seems to have been riding bicycles. The most surprising thing to us in this section was the Josephine bicycle sold for $15.75 on page 281. It was specifically designed to be a woman’s bike. This means not only that women had some freedom to get outside the home (granted probably only when accompanied by a man) but that they were able to dress in clothes that would not get caught in the bicycle’s works. These would have been somewhat different than what was normally worn on an everyday basis.
The catalogue also showcased children’s toys, something that members of the lower classes could not have afforded even if their children did have time to play. The toys were very clearly divided into boys and girls categories and many of them seemed to be tools to help the children learn their proper gender roles. For instance, boys played with wagons, rocking horses and trains. Girls had blackboards, dolls and tea sets.
Craftsmanship was obviously prized during this period. Almost everything was hand-made and ornately decorated. Also, the pictures in the catalogue were all drawn by hand so there must have been some demand for professional artists in the business world. This differs from today’s world in several ways. Most of our goods are mass-produced as cheaply as possible with only minimal regard for aesthetics. Ads are far more often photographed than drawn, for a truly realistic depiction of the product. Even our clothes, in most cases, are simple and cheap compared with the dress of the early 1900s.
Merissa Escamilla
ReplyDeleteTerry McIrvin
Karyn Smith
Cassey Bailey
Joshua Sibert
It seems that society in general was very preoccupied with an almost impossible notion of perfection. Page 999 showcased shoulder braces and posture correcting straps for men. Women cinched their waists with devices such as the Straight Font Fine Batiste Corset (p. 944, $0.50) to obtain the “perfect” figure and accentuate their female attributes. Even children were not exempt, as demonstrated by the ad for Ball’s Celebrated Waist for Children on page 944. It was basically a training corset to accustom girls to what they would later be expected to endure.
On page 441 was an obesity powder that sold for $4.20, a not insubstantial sum. This product was very handy because “too much fat is a disease and a great annoyance.” There was even a Bust Developer that women could use with an optional Bust Cream to enhance the female figure. It appeared to be a suction device that would manually pull on the flesh in order to try to stretch it. This is yet one more example of the painful lengths to which people would go in order to achieve that elusive perfection.
As absurd as some of their attempts seemed, however, we are not much different. Plastic surgery, the latest fad diet and grueling daily exercise routines may not sound nearly as strange but they are just our age’s version of the same thing.
Another thing they shared with us was that they wanted everything to be cured right now. Unfortunately, they did not yet have any kind of government regulation or laws about truth in advertising so the Cure-All pill was sold under a hundred different names. For example, the “Nerve and Brain” pills on page 411 were actually supposed to make the user smarter and “Little Liver Pills” were good for just about anything that happened to be wrong with you. The selection of medical supplies on display makes it seem that many people of the time were doing their own doctoring at home whenever possible. This could have been because the doctor was not close or because his services were too expensive.
Overall, theirs was a society much more focused on the home and the family. They had a much higher expectation of beauty and good craftsmanship. They had very strict standards of dress and behavior. But in the most important ways they were a lot like we still are today.
Tomas Lopez
ReplyDeleteNatalie Vigil
Rebecca Ramos
Christopher Fernandez
Juvy Edra
Living essentials in the present time period would be considered advanced back in that time period.
Such as the upper class, well made products
What do the people in that world value?
• Basic essentials-tools
• valued basic living essentials-
• tools-blacksmiths, farming, sewing machines, plumbing
• kitchen equipment
• transportation-wagons
• comfort-furniture, fancy bedroom sets, dinner sets, lamps, baby carriages, tombstones
What do the products suggest about how those people lived?
• It seems they were transforming their lifestyle by using tools and what we would consider basic were rather advanced and more importantly essential for their advancement to a more comfortable living.
How do these products signify a historical definition of the good life?
• They made life more simple and comfortable.
Thinking more broadly, what do we still value that the 1902 people values? Is it all so foreign?
• It’s not foreign, we still value these tools but we over look these tools and necessities of life compared to the more advanced complex tools of living we turn to now.
Yahaira Valadez
ReplyDeleteMarcos Quintana
Gracie Savedra
Alafiyah Tayabali
Yuri Solorio
After having examined and questioning the Sears and Roebuck catalogs our group can argue that the people from 1900’s were really into beauty/appearance. For example, there were a lot of nice fancy dresses that women would wear. They had dresses for different occasions. For example, they had dresses just to walk on the streets; they even had dress to wash cloths. Our group mentioned that today women just need a t-shirt and some sweats to wash cloths. We also notice that they would wear corsets to make the shape of the body more visible, pads for the hips and the breast to make them look bigger. We can also argue that even though women were well cover they still wanted to exaggerate their appearance by wearing these corsets and pads.
Jose Tinoco
ReplyDeleteDustin Powell
Matt pernado
Ana sianez
Shane Bryan
In our group our argument was that during the period of time a lot of people cared about the stuff being very detail and big to show off, that was connected to the social class like rich having the biggest and most detail stuff than any other class
Christopher Jestice
ReplyDeleteJeff Siner
Justin Durham
Max Gradowitz
Ahnika Ast
Based on the sheer quantity of items that promote ease of life and comfort, the people of 1902 equated the ease of life and comfort with the good life.
They had good quality at lower prices. Everything tended to be for leisure time. They valued entertainment and communication. The people started caring more about children having free time and not just working. they focused more on behavior. They really valued beauty in these times. They had alot of reliogious views. They started realizing the importance of education.
ReplyDeleteLasheree Walton
Jeunessa del Rosario
Mari Gonzales
Shannan Smith
Amber Trammell
If one was simply to use the Sears catalogs of the 1900s to judge what the people of the time valued, it would be easy to see that they strove to create and enjoy leisure time. Many of the products in the catalog were time saving devices. One item was a butter churner that was faster and easier to use. This would not only make a tedious job easier to accomplish, but it would also make it faster. The catalog also featured many things such as hunting and fishing equipment and hammocks. This shows a growth in the availability of leisure time and a desire to spend it relaxing.
ReplyDeleteKaren Martinez, Vivana Velasco, Olimpia Aguilera, Katherine Nagel, Eric Osborne.