Slavery Advertisements Published June 14, 1773

June 14, 2023March 14, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Slavery Adverts 250 Project

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 about enslaved people – for sale as individuals or in groups, wanted to purchase or for hire for short periods, runaways who liberated themselves, and those who were subsequently captured and confined in jails and workhouses – 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 colonizers 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. Colonizers who did not purport to own enslaved people were still confronted with slavery as well as invited to maintain the system by purchasing enslaved men, women, and children or assisting in the capture of so-called “runaways” who sought to free themselves from bondage. 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 enslavers rather than enslaved people themselves. Often unnamed in the advertisements, enslaved men, women, and children were not invisible or unimportant in early America.

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

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*New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury* (June 14, 1773).

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New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (June 14, 1773).

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*Pennsylvania Chronicle* (June 14, 1773).

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*Supplement to the Pennsylvania Packet* (June 14, 1773).

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*South-Carolina Gazette* (June 14, 1773).

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*Supplement to the South-Carolina Gazette* (June 14, 1773).

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June 13

June 13, 2023April 14, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update Auctioneer, Massachusetts Spy, Next Issue, William Greenleaf

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

“(The particulars in Monday’s papers.)”

After opening the “New Auction-Room” in Boston in 1773, auctioneer William Greenleaf sometimes deployed a two-step strategy for promoting upcoming sales in the public prints. Consider the notice that he placed in the Massachusetts Spyon Thursday, June 10. Greenleaf advised readers that a “great variety of English GOODS” “Will be sold by PUBLIC VENDUE” on the following Tuesday. Rather than publish a roster of those items, he encouraged colonizers to look for subsequent advertisements with “The particulars in Monday’s papers.” That meant that readers had to consult newspapers other than the Massachusetts Spy. All five newspapers published in Boston in 1773 were weeklies, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter and the Massachusetts Spy appearing on Thursdays and the Boston Evening-Post, the Boston-Gazette, and the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy on Mondays. The auction would be over by the time the printer published the next edition of the Massachusetts Spy.

Readers who turned to the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy for “The particulars” on the following Monday did not encounter any additional information, but those who perused the Boston Evening-Post and the Boston-Gazette did indeed discover a more complete preview of Greenleaf’s next auction. In nearly identical advertisements, the auctioneer listed dozens of items, including “a fine Assortment of Chints, Callicoes and Printed Linens,” “a Number of Silver Watches,” and “a suit of Green Bed Curtains.” The sale would begin “precisely at Ten o’clock” the next morning, so readers interested in bidding on any of the items needed to arrive in time that they did not miss that part of the sale. Those advertisements likely contained information that had not yet been finalized the previous Thursday, yet given that Greenleaf competed with several other auctioneers in Boston he wished to generate some level of visibility for his next vendue, especially since those other auctioneers regularly advertised in multiple newspapers as well. As advertisements placed by merchants and shopkeepers came and went in the public prints, notices from auctioneers, updated weekly, remained a constant feature in the city’s many newspapers. In this instance, Greenleaf oversaw an advertising campaign that he updated more than once a week, coordinating with multiple printing offices.

June 12

June 12, 2023April 14, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update Current Fashion, From London, John Sebring, Lowest Price, Mononym, Providence Gazette, Quality, Saddler, Sebring, Sign of the White Horse, Skill

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

“MAKES in the newest Fashion, and in the neatest Manner, all Sorts of Men and Womens Saddles.”

In the summer of 1773, John Sebring, a “Saddler, Chaise and Harness-Maker, from London,” once again took to the pages of the Providence Gazette to promote his services. As he had done in previous advertisements, he used only his last name as a headline for his notice, implying that readers should have been so familiar with his reputation that he did not need to give his full name. In addition, he asserted that he already established a clientele in the city, expressing “his Thanks to all those who have obliged him with their Custom.” Anyone in need of saddles and accessories who was not already familiar with the remarkable Sebring, the advertisement suggested, needed to learn more about the saddler from London and his wares.

To underscore that point, Sebring proclaimed that he “MAKES in the newest Fashion, and in the neatest Manner, all Sorts of Men and Womens Saddles … with every other Article in the Saddlery Way.” In so doing, he deployed common marketing strategies. He made an appeal to fashion, asserting his familiarity with the latest styles, as well as an appeal to quality and his own skill in producing “Saddles, Portmanteaus, Saddle Bags, Holsters, Half Covers, Velvet Jockey Caps, Leather Caps, Bridles,” and other accessories. In a nota bene, he reiterated his knowledge of the current trends: “Ladies Hunting Side Saddles made in the newest Fashion.” In each instance, his London origins bolstered those appeals, suggesting that he had access to the “newest Fashion” in the most cosmopolitan city in the empire and that he received superior training in his trade in that metropolis compared to local competitors. His clients, however, did not have to pay a premium for those benefits. Sebring declared that he set prices “on as low Terms as are sold in any Shop in Providence.”

Appropriately, the saddler ran his workshop “at the White Horse.” He invited current and prospective customers to visit him there to take advantage of the many benefits he outlined in his advertisement, seeking to convince genteel gentlemen and ladies that he was in the best position of any saddlers in Providence to serve their needs.

June 11

June 11, 2023April 14, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update Consumer Choice, George Bell and Company, Lowest Price in the Colony, New-Hampshire Gazette, Newmarket

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

*New-Hampshire Gazette* (June 11, 1773).

“They are determined to sell as low for Cash as can be bought in any Part of the Province.”

George Bell and Company sold a variety of goods at their shop in Newmarket. In an advertisement in the June 11, 1773, edition of the New-Hampshire Gazette, Bell and Company promoted a “large and general Assortment of English, India and Scotch Goods” recently imported into the colony. To entice prospective customers, they listed some of those items, including textiles (“Calicoes, Crapes, Taffity’s, Cambricks, and Lawns, flower’d and plain”), “a fine Assortment of Ribbons of the newest Patterns,” and a “fine Assortment of crockery and hard Ware.” Bell and Company could have published an even more extensive catalog of their inventory, but they instead confided that they stocked “many other Articles, too tedious to mention” … but not too tedious for consumers to browse in their shop.

In addition to emphasizing such an array of choices, Bell and Company made an appeal to price, asserting that they “are determined to sell as low for Cash as can be bought in any Part of the Province.” Located in Newmarket, a bit to the west of Portsmouth, they sought to assure prospective customers, especially those in the countryside, that they did not need to visit the colony’s primary port to get the best bargains. Although Bell and Company may have assumed some additional expenses in transporting the imported goods to Newmarket compared to their competitors in Portsmouth, they aimed to convince consumers that they absorbed those costs rather than passing them along to their customers. Their proclamation also served as an invitation to haggle over the prices to give Bell and Company opportunities to match the deals offered at shops in Portsmouth and elsewhere in the colony. They did not explicitly state that they matched prices, but declaring that they “are determined to sell as low … as can be bought in any Part of Province” suggested that they would at least consider adjusting their prices if customers alerted them to better deals.

As was often the case in newspaper advertisements placed by colonial merchants and shopkeepers, appeals to low prices and consumer choice appeared in combination in Bell and Company’s advertisement. They gave prospective customers multiple reasons to visit their shop as part of their shopping experience.

Slavery Advertisements Published June 11, 1773

June 11, 2023March 14, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Slavery Adverts 250 Project

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

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June 10

June 10, 2023April 13, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update Alexander Purdie, Alexander Purdie and John Dixon, Book Catalogs, Full-Page Advertisement, John Dixon, Purdie and Dixon, Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon]

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

*Virginia Gazette* [Purdie and Dixon] (June 10, 1773).

“A CATALOGUE of BOOKS, STATIONARY, &c.”

Alexander Purdie and John Dixon, the printers of the Virginia Gazette, placed a full-page advertisement in the June 10, 1773, edition of their newspaper. Their “CATALOGUE of BOOKS, STATIONARY, &c. To be SOLD at the PRINTING OFFICE, WILLIAMSBURG,” occupied the entire third page. While rare, full-page advertisements were not unknown in eighteenth-century newspapers. Printers and booksellers, especially newspaper printers who also sold books, most frequently adopted this format, but merchants and shopkeepers sometimes utilized it as well.

Purdie and Dixon’s catalog consisted of four columns with one title per line throughout most of it. They organized the entries first by size, with headings for “FOLIOS,” “QUARTOS,” “OCTAVOS,” and “DUODECIMOS.” Within each category, the printers arranged the entries roughly in alphabetical order according to the author’s name or the title of the book. They also had auxiliary categories for “FRENCH SCHOOL BOOKS,” “GREEK SCHOOL BOOKS,” and “LATIN SCHOOL BOOKS,” in the fourth column. To conserve space, titles of school books, many of them familiar to prospective customers, appeared in paragraphs rather than each receiving its own line. Rather than a header for “STATIONERY” (or “STATIONARY” as it was most commonly spelled in the eighteenth century), a line indicated where the list of writing supplies and other items began. There, once again, Purdie and Dixon listed only one item per line to help prospective customers navigate their catalog.

In addition to inserting their catalog in their newspaper, Purdie and Dixon may have published it separately and distributed it via other means, as they seemingly had done on at least one previous occasion. They could have passed it out to customers who visited their printing office. Treating it as a broadside, the printers could have posted it around town or made arrangements for associates in other towns to hang it in their stores and shops. They may even have folded it over, sealed and addressed it, and had it delivered to prospective customers, though printers and others experimented with circular letters less often than they distributed broadsides, handbills, and catalogs in the eighteenth century. The catalog might have appeared solely in the Virginia Gazette, but given the printers’ access to the press and their other efforts to distribute book catalogs it seems more likely that they published and disseminated this catalog separately as well.

Slavery Advertisements Published June 10, 1773

June 10, 2023April 13, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Slavery Adverts 250 Project

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

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Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter (June 10, 1773).

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*Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer* (June 10, 1773).

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*Supplement to Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer* (June 10, 1773).

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*Virginia Gazette* [Rind] (June 10, 1773).

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*Supplement to the Virginia Gazette* [Rind] (June 10, 1773).

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June 9

June 9, 2023April 13, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update Bolting Cloths, Discount for Volume, Isaac Melcher, Pennsylvania Gazette, Trial and Exchange

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

“If any on Trial should not answer the Purpose intended, he engages to take them back, and to supply the Parties with others.”

In the summer of 1773, Isaac Melcher sold a “compleat and warranted Assortment of BOULTING-CLOTHS, Suitable to every Branch of that Business” to millers in and near Philadelphia. In an advertisement in the June 9 edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette, he announced that he had “lately imported” those items and sold them “on the lowest Terms for Cash.” In an effort to generate demand, Melcher pledged that “Considerable Allowance will be made to those that take a Quantity.” In other words, he offered discounts for purchasing in volume.

Melcher deployed another marketing strategy to entice prospective customers, offering to replace the “warranted” bolting cloths with other items if buyers tried them and were not satisfied. “If any on Trial should not answer the Purpose intended,” Melcher pledged, “he engages to take them back, and to supply the Parties with others in their Room.” The option of exchanging merchandise, however, came with a condition. Buyers had to return bolting cloths that did not meet their needs “without Damage” to qualify for that provision.

At a glance, Melcher’s advertisement may not appear very flashy to modern eyes. Like almost every other advertisement that appeared in that issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette, it consisted entirely of text without any images. (One advertisement seeking freight and passengers included a stock image of a ship at sea.) Yet Melcher did not merely announce that he had bolting cloths for sale and then hope that prospective customers would do business with him. Instead, he incorporated two marketing strategies intended to motivate millers not only to purchase bolting cloths but to acquire them from him rather than any of his competitors. He promised discounts for large orders while also allowing for exchanges after customers tried his bolting cloths. That attention to customer satisfaction made purchases more than perfunctory transactions. While not as sophisticated as modern marketing practices, advertisements like those placed by Melcher should not be dismissed as mere announcements of goods for sale. After all, Melcher devised strategies to engage prospective customers.

Slavery Advertisements Published June 9, 1773

June 9, 2023March 7, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Slavery Adverts 250 Project

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

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June 8

June 8, 2023April 13, 2023 Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update Advertisements Omitted, Business of Printing, Charles Crouch, Printer, South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal

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

*South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal* (June 8, 1773).

“THE Printer of this Paper … will undertake any Kind of Printing-Work.”

Charles Crouch, the printer of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal, included a brief note in the June 8, 1773, to alert readers and, especially, advertisers that “Advertisements omitted this Week, for want of Room, shall be in our next.” Despite that “want of Room,” Crouch found space to run six of his own notices. Some of them concerned the business of running the newspaper, while others advertised goods and services available at the printing office.

In tending to the operations of the newspaper, Crouch requested that “ALL Persons who may favour the Printer of this Gazette with their Advertisements … send the CASH with them, except where he owes Money, or has a running Account.” Crouch suggested that “will prevent disagreeable Circumstances, as well as Trouble.” He also prepared to address some of those “disagreeable Circumstances” with recalcitrant subscribers. In another notice, he informed “ALL Persons in Charles-Town, who are in Arrears for this GAZETTE, to the first of January last, HAVE THIS PUBLIC NOTICE given them, that in the Course of this Month, they will be waited upon by my Apprentice, for Payment.” Printers throughout the colonies often ran notices calling on delinquent subscribers to settle accounts, sometimes threatening legal action. Few mentioned having their apprentices attempt to collect payment, but many likely tried that strategy as well.

In other advertisements, Crouch attempted to generate business at the printing office. He advised that the “Printer of this Paper, being supplied with plenty of Hands, will undertake any Kind of Printing-Work, let it be ever so large.” Prospective customers could depend on job printing orders “be[ing] correctly and expeditiously executed, and on reasonable terms.” In another advertisement, the printer hawked “Shop and Waste PAPER, to be sold at Crouch’s Printing-Office, in Elliott-street.” He also tried to generate interest in surplus copies of “THOMAS MORE’s ALMANACK, for the Year 1773.” Though nearly half the year had passed, Crouch emphasized contents that readers could reference throughout the year, including “a List of Public Officers in this Province; a List of Justices for Charles-Town District; excellent Notes of Husbandry and Gardening, for each Month in the Year; [and] Descriptions of Roads throughout the Continent.” At the end of that advertisement, Crouch appended a note that he also stocked copies of “BUCHAN’s Family Physician.” In a final advertisement, the printer tended to the health of readers with products unrelated to the printing trade. He announced that he just imported a variety of popular patent medicines, including a “Fresh Parcel of Dr. KEYSER’s genuine Pills,” “Dr. RYAN’s Incomparable Worm Destroying Sugar Plumbs,” and “Dr. JAMES’s Fever Powders.” Like many other printers, Crouch sold patent medicines as an additional revenue stream.

An item that could be considered a seventh advertisement from the printer even found its way into the local news. Immediately above the entries of vessels arriving and departing the busy port provided by the customs house, a short note stated, “Those GENTLEMEN who subscribed with the Printer hereof, for the AMERICAN EDITION of BLACKSTONE’s COMMENTARIES on the LAWS of ENGLAND, are requested to apply for the Fourth Volume, and the Appendix.” Crouch served as a local agent on behalf of the publisher, Robert Bell in Philadelphia.

Crouch claimed that a “want of Room” prevented him from publishing all of the advertisements received in his printing office, yet he managed to include many of his own notices in the June 8, 1773, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal. He exercised his prerogative as printer in shaping the contents of that issue, an act that potentially frustrated some advertisers who expected to see their notices in the public prints. Given that just a few months earlier Crouch emphasized his “REAL Want of his Money,” he may have considered that a necessary gamble in his efforts to continue operations at his printing office on Elliott Street in Charleston.

	June 13 \| The Advert… on June 6
	June 12 \| The Advert… on May 11
	Saira Holmes on March 21
	June 10 \| The Advert… on June 9
	June 9 \| The Adverts… on May 5

The Adverts 250 Project

An Exploration of Advertising During the Era of the American Revolution, 250 Years Ago This Week

Month: June 2023

Slavery Advertisements Published June 14, 1773

Slavery Advertisements Published June 11, 1773

Slavery Advertisements Published June 10, 1773

Slavery Advertisements Published June 9, 1773