Mail-order catalog (Sears / Montgomery Ward)
PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record
Object biography (11 documented links). Full chain in object-biographies.json.
Notes
Merged into canonical KG 2026-10-03 from LIFE-001; source entity IDs: CTL-DR-LIFE-001:CTL-LIFE-E-078; source research type(s): object. Era not present in source research record(s); marked unspecified pending human review.
Sources
- https://www.si.edu/object/trade-catalogs-sears-roebuck-and-co-inc%3ASILNMAHTL_18420 (primary source)
- http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/2017/08/august-27-1872-montgomery-wards-first.html
- https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/zlup/Historic_Preservation/Publications/Sears_Roebuck_and_Co_District.pdf
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/before-folding-30-years-ago-the-sears-catalog-sold-some-surprising-products-180981504/
- https://finance-commerce.com/2018/11/how-sears-helped-more-people-feel-like-americans/
Record CTL-E-1338 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 5 sources (1 primary) · CTL research: LIFE-001.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph
Cite this record
Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Mail-order catalog (Sears / Montgomery Ward) (CTL-E-1338).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1338/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Mail-order catalog (Sears / Montgomery Ward) (CTL-E-1338) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1338/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Mail-order catalog (Sears / Montgomery Ward) (CTL-E-1338).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-1338/
Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.
From the Archive
The archive in pictures
The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.



Trust & evidence
Evidence before authority. CultureTechLens publishes its methods, its limits, and its corrections alongside its findings. Claims carry grades — VERIFIED, SUPPORTED, PROVISIONAL, DISPUTED, UNRESOLVED — and unknowns are never reported as zero.
Every claim graded. Every source named. Every correction public — none to date.