Month: June 2020

June 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Jun 11 - 6:11:1770 New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

“With an APPENDIX, containing the Distiller’s Assistant.”

In the spring of 1770, the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury carried a series of advertisements from “I. FELL, at No. 14, in Pater-noster-Row, London.”  Two of them appeared in the June 11 edition.  The first, a subscription notice for the bible “On a PLAN never before attempted … By a SOCIETY of CLERGYMEN,” listed Fell as one of the booksellers.  This subscription notice stated that “the Printer hereof,” Hugh Gaine, acted as a local agent.  Interested parties needed to make arrangements with Gaine rather than contacting Fell.  As local agent, Gaine compiled a list of subscribers that he sent to Fell, collected payments, and distributed the book after it went to press.  The other advertisement listed eight titles that Fell sold at his shop.  It did not indicate that Gaine served as a local agent, though customers may very well have had the option of submitting orders through him.

Fell’s second advertisement differed from most others placed by booksellers.  They usually took one of two forms.  Some, like the subscription notice, promoted a single title, describing both the contents and the material qualities of the publication.  Others, like an advertisement placed by James Rivington in the same issue of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, listed books for sale but provided little elaboration beyond the titles.  Rivington’s advertisement listed dozens of books; others listed hundreds.  In contrast to either of those standard approaches, Fell’s advertisement featured eight books and provided a blurb about each to incite interest.

In general, Fell did not compose those blurbs.  Instead, he incorporated the extensive subtitles that tended to be a feature of many books published in the eighteenth century.  Thus “THE MEMOIRS OF Miss Arabella Bolton” became “THE MEMOIRS OF Miss Arabella Bolton, CONTAINING a genuine Account of her Seduction, and the barbarous Treatment she afterwards received from the Honourable Col. L—–L, the present supposed M—–r for the County of MIDDLESEX.  With Various other Misfortunes and Embarrasments, into which this unhappy young Woman has been cruelly involved, through the Vicissitudes of Life, and the Villainy of her Seducer.  The whole taken from the Original Letters of the said. Col. L—-L to Dr. KELLY, who attended her in the greatest Misfortunes and Distresses under which she labored:  And also from sever Original Letters to Dr. KELLY and Miss BOLTON, and from other authenticated Papers in the Hands of the Publisher.”  In addition, Fell listed the price.

Each book in Fell’s advertisement received the same treatment, though not all had subtitles as extensive as The Memoirs of Miss Arabella Bolton.  If prospective customers were unfamiliar with a particular volume, they could consult the blurb to get a better sense of what it contained.  The entry for The Country Brewer’s Assistant and English Vintner’s Instructor, for instance, rehearsed the table of contents and noted that it concluded with “an APPENDIX, containing the Distiller’s Assistant.”  In contrast to that practical guide, The Complete Wizzard included “a Collection of authentic and entertaining Narratives of the real Existence and Appearance of Ghosts, Demons, and Spectres:  Together with several wonderful Instances of the Effects of Witchcraft.  To which is prefixed, An Account of Haunted Houses, and subjoined a Treatise on the Effects of Magic.”  Several books in the advertisement included appendices or additional materials not evident in the main title alone.  The Imperial Spelling Dictionary also included a “Compendious English Grammar.”  Wilke’s Jests, or The Patriot Wit also gathered together a “pleasing Variety of Patriotic Toasts and Sentiments.”  But wait, there’s more!  The publisher also added “THE FREE-BORN MUSE; OR SELECT PIECES OF POETRY, by Mr. Wilkes, and other Gentlemen distinguished for their Wit and Patriotism.”

Fell likely intended that these blurbs would convince readers of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury to purchase the books he sold.  His advertisement revealed not only the contents of each volume but also the added value of supplemental materials not readily apparent in the main titles alone.  Fell did not want readers to skim a list of titles quickly or pass over the advertisement entirely; instead, he sought to arouse greater interest by providing more elaborate overviews to capture their attention and convince them to purchase his books so they could read more.

Slavery Advertisements Published June 11, 1770

Jenna Smith Guest Contribution, Slavery Adverts 250 Project

Guest Curator: Jenna Smith

The Slavery Adverts 250 Project chronicles the role of newspaper advertising in perpetuating slavery in the era of the American Revolution. The project seeks to reveal the ubiquity of slavery in eighteenth-century life from New England to Georgia by republishing advertisements for slaves – for sale, wanted to purchase, runaways, captured fugitives – in daily digests on this site as well as in real time via the @SlaveAdverts250 Twitter feed, utilizing twenty-first-century media to stand in for the print media of the eighteenth century.

The project aims to provide modern audiences with a sense of just how often colonists encountered these advertisements in their daily lives. Enslaved men, women, and children appeared in print somewhere in the colonies almost every single day. Those advertisements served as a constant backdrop for social, cultural, economic, and political life in colonial and revolutionary America. Colonists who did not own slaves were still confronted with slavery as well as invited to maintain the system by purchasing slaves or assisting in the capture of runaways. The frequency of these newspaper advertisements suggests just how embedded slavery was in colonial and revolutionary American culture in everyday interactions beyond the printed page.

These advertisements also testify to the experiences of enslaved men, women, and children, though readers must consider that those experiences have been remediated through descriptions offered by slaveholders rather than the slaves themselves. Often unnamed in the advertisements, enslaved men, women, and children were not invisible or unimportant in early America.

From compiling an archive of digitized eighteenth-century newspapers to identifying advertisements about enslaved men, women, and children in those newspapers to preparing images of each advertisement to posting this daily digest, Jenna Smith served as guest curator for this entry. Working on this project fulfilled her senior capstone requirement for completing the major in History at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.

These advertisements appeared in colonial American newspapers 250 years ago today.

Jun 11 - Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy Slavery 1
Boston Post-Boy (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Evening-Post Slavery 1
Boston Evening-Post (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Evening-Post Slavery 2
Boston Evening-Post (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Evening-Post Slavery 3
Boston Evening-Post (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Evening-Post Slavery 4
Boston Evening-Post (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Evening-Post Slavery 5
Boston Evening-Post (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Evening-Post Slavery 6
Boston Evening-Post (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 1
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 2
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 3
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 4
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 5
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 6
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Boston Gazette and Country Journal Slavery 7
Boston Gazette and Country Journal (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Newport Mercury Slavery 1
Newport Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 1
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 2
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 3
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 4
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 5
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 6
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 7
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 8
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 9
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 10
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette and the Weekly Mercury Slavery 11
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - New-York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy Slavery 1
New-York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy (June 11, 1770).

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Jun 11 - Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser Slavery 1
Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser (June 11, 1770).

June 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Jun 10 - 6:7:1770 Pennsylvania Gazette
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

“SICKLES, ready prepared for the Harvest.”

As summer approached in 1770, James Hendricks announced to readers of the Pennsylvania Gazette that he had “ONE HUNDRED and Twenty DOZEN of SICKLES, ready prepared for the Harvest.”  Hendricks volunteered his location, “the Sign of the Sickle, the 4th Door above the Prison, in Market-street,” and made some of the standard appeals that colonial artisans incorporated into their advertisements.  He emphasized the skill that went into producing his wares, asserting that “these Sickles are carefully made.”  He made an appeal to price, declaring that the sickles “will be sold at the lowest Rates.”  He also highlighted the quality of the sickles, proclaiming that they were “ensured to be good.”  While Hendricks might have considered that a guarantee, he did not explicitly state that he would repair or replace defective items, a strategy sometimes adopted by artisans as a means of testifying to quality.

The most significant attribute, certainly the most visible, of Hendrick’s advertisement, however, may very well have been the woodcut depicting a sickle.  It accounted for half of the space that the advertisement occupied on the page.  Given that advertisers paid by the amount space rather than the number of words, including this visual image doubled the cost of the advertisement.  In addition, Hendricks commissioned the woodcut.  That expense more than doubled the cost of running his notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette.  Yet this distinguished his advertisement from others that appeared on the same page and throughout the rest of the issue.  In the June 7 edition, only one other advertisement featured a visual image.  A woodcut of a ship at sea adorned an advertisement for a vessel preparing to sail for London.  The other advertisements consisted entirely of text, most of them dense paragraphs that did not have anywhere near the amount of white space that made Hendrick’s sickle especially noticeable in contrast.  While this woodcut may not seem elaborate to modern eyes, eighteenth-century readers could not have overlooked it when perusing the pages of the Pennsylvania Gazette.  Hendricks used the visual image to draw attention to the copy of his advertisement, the brief description of his wares and recitation of some of the most common marketing appeals.

June 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Jun 9 - 6:9:1770 Providence Gazette
Providence Gazette (June 9, 1770).

“Having engaged two Workmen … he proposes shortly to manufacture all Kinds of Stone Ware.”

When Joseph Wilson, a potter, moved to a new location late in the spring of 1770, he placed an advertisement “to inform the Public, particularly his old Customers,” where they could find him.  He also reminded readers of the Providence Gazette that “he continues to sell all Kinds of Earthen Ware,” inviting both new and returning customers to visit his shop.

At the conclusion of his advertisement, Wilson included a nota bene to request that prospective customers take note of the employees he recently hired.  “Having engaged two Workmen from New-York and Philadelphia,” Wilson declared, “he proposes shortly to manufacture all Kinds of Stone Ware, in the neatest and best Manner.”  Although artisans occasionally mentioned others who worked in their shops, they did so relatively rarely in their newspaper advertisements.  They usually assumed sole responsibility and took sole credit for the items they produced and sold.

Wilson likely expected to derive certain benefits from mentioning the “two Workmen” that he now employed.  Doing so suggested that his business was expanding, indicative of his own skill and careful management as well as demand for his wares.  Noting that his new employees came from New York and Philadelphia, two of the largest cities in the colonies, also implied that he cast his net widely to enlist the most skilled assistants who would indeed produce pottery “in the neatest and best manner.”

Most advertisements for consumer goods and services concealed the contributions of the various people who worked in colonial shops and workshops, whether wives and other family members who waited on customers or assistants, apprentices, and enslaved artisans who performed much of the labor.  “JOSEPH WILSON, POTTER,” offered a rare acknowledgment that he did not operate the business alone, that others supplied their own skill and expertise in producing the merchandise that he offered for sale.

June 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Jun 8 - 7:8:1770 New-Hampshire Gazette
New-Hampshire Gazette (June 8, 1770).

“He is as great a Watch-Maker as he is a Mountebank.”

The feud between watchmakers Nathaniel Sheaff Griffith and John Simnet had been playing out in the New-Hampshire Gazette for more than a year when Griffith published a new advertisement in the June 8, 1770, edition.  That advertisement further escalated the conflict, though Griffith reacted to a particularly antagonistic advertisement that Simnet first published three weeks earlier.  Throughout most of their bickering in the public prints, the watchmakers engaged in innuendo but usually did not name each other.  On May 18, however, Simnet asserted that “All who please to apply, may depend on being faithfully served, with such Watches as Mr. Nathaniel Sheaffe Griffith can make, and mending in general as perform’d by that Genius, without any Charge.”  In other words, Simnet would fix for free any watches that his competitor further damaged in the process of attempting to repair them.  That advertisement ran in the New-Hampshire Gazette for several weeks.

In response, Simnet no longer felt compelled not to name his rival.  In his next advertisement he informed readers that he provided his services “at a much cheaper rate than the original Simnet, altho’ he has taken such repeated pains to inform the publick of his great skill and accuracy.”  Griffith alluded to the series of advertisements Simnet published since arriving in the colony, but then he continued with a description that drew on encounters with Simnet beyond the pages of the New-Hampshire Gazette.  Griffith asserted that Simnet went about “vainly flattering himself that the variety of his dress may induce people to believe he is as great a Watch-Maker as he is a Mountebank.”  Yet Simnet was a charlatan in all things, according to Griffith, “inimitable in a Branch” of watchmaking “that he is a Novice and a Stranger to,” despite his pretensions.

As a further insult, Griffith copies the format of Simnet’s most recent advertisement, appending a nota bene in which he delivered another scalding critique in the form of a spurious compliment.  “I desire to return my thanks to Simnet, Watch Maker, from London,” Griffith proclaimed, “for his good custom for the many Watches I mend and repair after they have been cruely butchered by him.”  Griffith reversed the accusation Simnet made in his advertisement, suggesting that he actually had to repair those watches that Simnet damaged through his incompetence.  Griffith likely intended that claim to further enrage his rival.  He added a parting blow: “For after he is paid his price, I have mine paid the more generous.”  Simnet’s customers, Griffith contended, were so frustrated that they gratefully paid Griffith to undo the damage done by the “Watch Maker, from London.”

Once again, the compositor recognized a good story, conveniently placing the two advertisements one after the other.  Readers perused Griffith’s advertisements first and then immediately saw Griffith’s rejoinder.  Even for those who did not require the services of either watchmaker, this spectacle likely provided entertainment as the war of words continued to escalate in the public prints.

Slavery Advertisements Published June 8, 1770

Jenna Smith Guest Contribution, Slavery Adverts 250 Project

Guest Curator: Jenna Smith

The Slavery Adverts 250 Project chronicles the role of newspaper advertising in perpetuating slavery in the era of the American Revolution. The project seeks to reveal the ubiquity of slavery in eighteenth-century life from New England to Georgia by republishing advertisements for slaves – for sale, wanted to purchase, runaways, captured fugitives – in daily digests on this site as well as in real time via the @SlaveAdverts250 Twitter feed, utilizing twenty-first-century media to stand in for the print media of the eighteenth century.

The project aims to provide modern audiences with a sense of just how often colonists encountered these advertisements in their daily lives. Enslaved men, women, and children appeared in print somewhere in the colonies almost every single day. Those advertisements served as a constant backdrop for social, cultural, economic, and political life in colonial and revolutionary America. Colonists who did not own slaves were still confronted with slavery as well as invited to maintain the system by purchasing slaves or assisting in the capture of runaways. The frequency of these newspaper advertisements suggests just how embedded slavery was in colonial and revolutionary American culture in everyday interactions beyond the printed page.

These advertisements also testify to the experiences of enslaved men, women, and children, though readers must consider that those experiences have been remediated through descriptions offered by slaveholders rather than the slaves themselves. Often unnamed in the advertisements, enslaved men, women, and children were not invisible or unimportant in early America.

From compiling an archive of digitized eighteenth-century newspapers to identifying advertisements about enslaved men, women, and children in those newspapers to preparing images of each advertisement to posting this daily digest, Jenna Smith served as guest curator for this entry. Working on this project fulfilled her senior capstone requirement for completing the major in History at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.

These advertisements appeared in colonial American newspapers 250 years ago today.

Jun 8 - New-Hampshire Gazette Slavery 1
New-Hampshire Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - New-London Gazette Slavery 1
New-London Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 1
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 2
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 3
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 4
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 5
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 6
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770). 

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 7
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 8
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 9
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 10
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

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Jun 8 - South-Carolina and American General Gazette Slavery 11
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (June 8, 1770).

June 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Jun 7 - 6:7:1770 South-Carolina Gazette
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

“American manufactured, BROWN and mixed coloured THREAD STOCKINGS.”

Advertisers considered “Buy American” a powerful appeal that would resonate with consumers even before the American Revolution.  The number and frequency of newspaper advertisements encouraging readers to “Buy American” increased during the decade of the imperial crisis, especially at times when colonists subscribed to nonimportation agreements as a means of exerting economic leverage to achieve political goals.  Goods produced in the colonies offered an attractive alternative to those made elsewhere and imported.

William Hales apparently considered “Buy American” such a compelling appeal that he made it the centerpiece of the brief advertisement he inserted in the June 7, 1770, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette.  In its entirety, his advertisement announced, “American manufactured, BROWN and mixed coloured THREAD STOCKINGS, very good.  A few Dozen Pair, to be SOLD, by WILLIAM HALES.”  The phrase “American manufactured” served as both headline and the most important descriptor of the stockings, as though Hales expected making such an appeal by itself might be enough to convince prospective customers to make a purchase.  For those anxious that domestic manufactures might be inferior in quality to imported goods, he asserted that the stockings were indeed “very good,” but did not provide further elaboration.  Bales attempted to keep attention focused primarily on the fact that the stockings were “American manufactured.”  The compositor also did Hales a favor by positioning his advertisement at the top of the column, making the “American manufactured” headline all the more visible to readers and perhaps even implicitly suggesting that the advertisement took precedence over any that appeared below it in the same column or elsewhere on the page.

Hales certainly wished to sell the stockings that he advertised, but it is possible that he had additional motivations for inserting his notice in the South-Carolina Gazette.  He announced to the entire community his interest in producing goods in the colonies, enhancing his own standing and reputation.  His advertisement also served as encouragement for readers to make other purchases of “American manufactured” goods.  Readers could not have missed the political implications of his appeal, especially since the same notice concerning violations of the nonimportation agreement that appeared in the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal two days earlier also ran in this issue of the South-Carolina Gazette.  Perhaps the political statement inherent in announcing “American manufactured” stockings for sale was just as important to Bales as selling those stockings.

Slavery Advertisements Published June 7, 1770

Jenna Smith Guest Contribution, Slavery Adverts 250 Project

Guest Curator: Jenna Smith

The Slavery Adverts 250 Project chronicles the role of newspaper advertising in perpetuating slavery in the era of the American Revolution. The project seeks to reveal the ubiquity of slavery in eighteenth-century life from New England to Georgia by republishing advertisements for slaves – for sale, wanted to purchase, runaways, captured fugitives – in daily digests on this site as well as in real time via the @SlaveAdverts250 Twitter feed, utilizing twenty-first-century media to stand in for the print media of the eighteenth century.

The project aims to provide modern audiences with a sense of just how often colonists encountered these advertisements in their daily lives. Enslaved men, women, and children appeared in print somewhere in the colonies almost every single day. Those advertisements served as a constant backdrop for social, cultural, economic, and political life in colonial and revolutionary America. Colonists who did not own slaves were still confronted with slavery as well as invited to maintain the system by purchasing slaves or assisting in the capture of runaways. The frequency of these newspaper advertisements suggests just how embedded slavery was in colonial and revolutionary American culture in everyday interactions beyond the printed page.

These advertisements also testify to the experiences of enslaved men, women, and children, though readers must consider that those experiences have been remediated through descriptions offered by slaveholders rather than the slaves themselves. Often unnamed in the advertisements, enslaved men, women, and children were not invisible or unimportant in early America.

From compiling an archive of digitized eighteenth-century newspapers to identifying advertisements about enslaved men, women, and children in those newspapers to preparing images of each advertisement to posting this daily digest, Jenna Smith served as guest curator for this entry. Working on this project fulfilled her senior capstone requirement for completing the major in History at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts.

These advertisements appeared in colonial American newspapers 250 years ago.

Jun 7 - Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter Slavery 1
Boston Weekly News-Letter (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter Slavery 2
Boston Weekly News-Letter (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter Slavery 3
Boston Weekly News-Letter (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 1770 - Maryland Gazette Slavery 1
Maryland Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 1770 - Maryland Gazette Slavery 2
Maryland Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 1770 - Maryland Gazette Slavery 3
Maryland Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - New-York Journal Slavery 1
New-York Journal (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - New-York Journal Slavery 2
New-York Journal (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Gazette Slavery 1
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Gazette Slavery 2
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Gazette Supplement Slavery 1
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Gazette Supplement Slavery 2
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Gazette Supplement Slavery 3
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Gazette Supplement Slavery 4
Pennsylvania Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Pennsylvania Journal Slavery 1
Pennsylvania Journal (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 1
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 2
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 3
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 4
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 5
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 6
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - South Carolina Gazette Slavery 7
South-Carolina Gazette (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 1
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 2
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 3
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 4
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 5
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 6
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 7
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Purdie and Dixon Slavery 8
Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 1
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 2
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 3
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 4
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 5
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 6
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 7
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 8
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

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Jun 7 - Virginia Gazette Rind Slavery 9
Virginia Gazette [Rind] (June 7, 1770).

June 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?

Jun 6 - 6:4:1770 New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury
New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 4, 1770).

“The public Prints taken in for Gentlemen’s Amusement.”

Edward Bardin operated taverns in both Boston and New York in the late 1760s and early 1770s.  In advance of opening “a compleat Victualing-House, [at] the Sign of the Golden Ton, in Chapel-Street” in New York he placed an advertisement detailing its many amenities in the June 4, 1770, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  Bardin focused primarily on the food prepared and served at his establishment, proclaiming that “Gentlemen may Breakfast, Dine and Sup, any Day in the Week.”  He also catered “Dinners or Suppers for large or small set Companies.”  For those who did not wish to dine at the Sign of the Golden Tun, Bardin also prepared takeout food; his services included “Victuals ready dressed, sold out in any Quantity, to such Persons who may find it convenient to send for it.”  Bardin pledged that his customers would experience “the most civil Treatment, and the very best Accommodations.”  He asserted that he served meals “in the most genteel Manner.”

When it came to amenities beyond the food and service, he mentioned one in particular, noting that the “public Prints [were] taken in for Gentlemen’s Amusement.”  In other words, Bardin subscribed to newspapers that his clients could read while they dined at the Sign of the Golden Ton.  He likely received copies of all three newspapers published in New York at the time, the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (in which his advertisement appeared), the New-York Gazette or Weekly Post-Boy, and the New-York Journal.  He may have also subscribed to newspapers from the largest ports in the colonies and even London, all part of the service he provided at his establishment.  In addition to “Gentlemen’s Amusement,” these newspapers offered an overview of current events that would have contributed to shaping both the politics and the business ventures of Bardin’s patrons.  A single copy could have been perused by dozens of readers who dined at the victualing house.  The proprietors of coffeehouses and similar establishments aided in the dissemination of the news in eighteenth-century America by making newspapers available for their customers to read at their leisure.

June 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Jun 5 - 6:5:1770 South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal
South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (June 5, 1770).

“ANN & BENJAMIN MATHEWES … VIOLATORS OF THE RESOLUTIONS.”

The “GENERAL COMMITTEE” responsible for overseeing adherence to the nonimportation agreement adopted in Charleston in July 1769 ran an advertisement in the June 5, 1770, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal to inform the community of two violations.  The story of the first had unfolded over several months.  Benjamin Mathewes, a merchant and “Subscriber to the Resolutions,” had imported “sundry Goods from London” in January, but upon being detected had “voluntarily agreed to store” them until nonimportation came to an end and “a general Importation should take Place.”  The committee published the new agreement that Mathewes signed to that effect.

For many colonists caught in such circumstances that was the end of the story.  Newspaper notices published in several colonies documented violators attempting to rehabilitate their reputations and relationships with the community by making special effort to abide by the terms of the nonimportation agreed after they had been discovered deviating from it.  Such was the case for William Glen and Son, “having also been guilty of a Breach of the Resolutions.”  Glen and Son acknowledged that they had imported some textiles “contrary to the Resolutions” and then agreed to store them for the duration of the boycott.  However, “through Mistake” they “disposed of a few Pieces.”  For that error, they “declare our Sorrow” and promised to “adhere strictly to the Resolutions” in the future.  Glen and Son also agreed to deposit the remainder of the textiles and other goods “in the public Stores” where they would not have access to them, thus offering reassurance that the mistake would not happen again.  The committee stated that Glen and Son depicted the incident as “an Act of Inadvertence, rather than Design” and recommended that their pledge to turn over the remaining textiles “will be received as a sufficient Atonement for their Fault, and restore them to the Public’s Favour and Confidence.”

Mathewes, on the other hand, did not make the same effort to demonstrate his recalcitrance, prompting the committee to take a different approach to his case.  Although he affixed his signature to an apology and claimed that he would turn over the goods, the Committee of Inspection discovered that “many of the said Goods … had been opened” and sold.  Mathewes claimed that his mother, Ann, also a subscriber to the nonimportation agreement, had been responsible for their sale while he was away from town.  Neither mother nor son “ma[d]e proper Satisfaction to the Public for such shameful Breach of their sacred Contracts.”  Indeed, the elder Mathewes continued to sell the goods “in manifest Violation of the said Resolutions.”

This resulted in consequences.  Although the General Committee had shown “all possible Lenity and Forbearance” in attempting to resolve the situation, they came to the point that they deemed it necessary to advertise “ANN & BENJAMIN MATHEWES, as VIOLATORS OF THE RESOLUTIONS.”  The committee asserted that these violators were guilty of “counteracting the united Sentiments of the whole Body of the People, not only in this, but all the Northern Provinces; and prefering their own little private Advantage to the general Good of AMERICA.”  The Mathewes had betrayed both consumers and their country.  The Committee even more stridently made that point, proclaiming that “every such Violator should be treated with the utmost Contempt.”  Furthermore, the committee instructed those who supported the nonimportation agreement “against having any commercial Dealings whatever with the said ANN & BENJAMIN MATHEWES.”  Until they took the necessary actions to redeem themselves, “their Actions must declare them to be obstinate and inveterate Enemies to their Country, and unworthy of the least Confidence or Esteem.”

The General Committee told two stories of violations of the nonimportation agreement, one about the contrite Glen and Son and the other about two generations of the Mathewes family who refused to abide by the resolutions they had signed.  In each instance, the committee made recommendations for how members of the community should interpret these actions and react to the perpetrators.  By publishing this advertisement, the committee used the power of the press in their efforts to achieve compliance with the agreement and shape the narrative of resistance to the duties on certain imported goods that Parliament imposed in the Townshend Acts.