Home Planetarium
1969 Sears Christmas Wish Book

I bought a 1969 edition of the Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s Christmas Wish Book on eBay. It was the year I turned 11 years old, and was also the year of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Remembering how I eagerly awaited those pages filled with advertisements for model airplanes, boats, guns, Erector sets, and countless other things, I figured it might be nice to look through one again. Here is the 1967 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog, the 1969 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog and the 1969 Sears Christmas Wish Book. Enjoy!

Here on page 544 of the Sears 1969 Christmas Wish Book is a home planetarium setup. The 7" diameter star projector had over 60 constellations. For an extra $19.99 you could buy a plastic hemispherical dome that would actually make the star projector useful.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator, the total cost of the star projector and dome ($35.98 in 1969) would equal $224.61  in 2012 money.

Home Planetarium from the 1969 Sears Christmas Wish Book

Posted September 9, 2012