Sears, Roebuck & Co. Catalog, 1897 Paper, 786 pages, 10.8 x 8.5 x 1.4 inches, 3.4 pounds ! In the 1880s, Richard Warren Sears, a railroad station agent from Minnesota, started a booming business with Alvah C. Roebuck selling a wide selection of priced products through mail order catalogues. However, as the catalogue became more popular and common in every household, Americans soon found another use for it, as daily news journals, book pages, and personal letters were now widespread alternatives to older wiping technologies. Championed by rural dwellers, the Sears and Roebuck catalogue quickly became America’s favorite outhouse attendant and euphemism for toilet paper, even earning the humorous nickname, “Rears and Sorebutt catalogue.”