December 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update, ,

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

Providence Gazette (December 17, 1774).

“The NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK … By BENJAMIN WEST.”

The December 17, 1774, edition of the Providence Gazette carried nearly two dozen advertisements, including one by the printer, John Carter, for “THE NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK, OR, Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY, For the Year of our LORD 1775. By BENJAMIN WEST.”  For a decade, West and the printers of the Providence Gazette had been collaborating on that annual publication, even as proprietorship of the newspaper and the printing office changed hands.  The Adverts 250 Project has documented that partnership, covering West’s almanac perhaps more extensively than any other almanac advertised in early American newspapers.

Some of the “most used” tags for the Adverts 250 Project.

That is a result, in part, of the project’s methodology that calls for examining an advertisement published 250 years ago that day.  Accordingly, I select advertisements from approximately two dozen newspapers that have been digitized and made more widely accessible, yet publication of those newspapers did not occur evenly throughout the week.  Throughout most of the nine years that I have produced the Adverts 250 Project, the Providence Gazette was the only newspaper published in Saturdays.  As a result, that newspaper has been disproportionately featured in the project … and the methodology has encouraged me to have a closer look at the annual publication of West’s New-England Almanack than most other almanacs.

The word cloud generated for the “most used tags” by WordPress reflects this.  “Providence Gazette” appears in a larger font and thicker bold than any other newspaper or other tag, even though it was not the most significant newspaper published in the colonies, neither for news coverage nor for advertising innovation.  Similarly, advertisements from the New-Hampshire Gazette have also been featured regularly due to the methodology because for quite some time that was only newspaper published on Fridays that had been digitized.  While the Providence Gazetteand the New-Hampshire Gazette might not be considered as significant as certain other newspapers published during the era of the American Revolution, this project’s methodology has caused me to approach the contents of those newspapers with greater attention and creativity.

These are the newspapers published 250 years ago this week that have been digitized for greater access:

Monday

  • Boston Evening-Post
  • Boston-Gazette
  • Connecticut Courant (Hartford)
  • Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (Philadelphia)
  • Maryland Journal (Baltimore)
  • Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy
  • Newport Mercury
  • New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury
  • South-Carolina Gazette

Tuesday

  • Essex Gazette (Salem)
  • South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (Charleston)

Wednesday

  • Essex Journal (Newburyport)
  • Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia)
  • Pennsylvania Journal (Philadelphia)

Thursday

  • Maryland Gazette (Annapolis)
  • Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter
  • Massachusetts Spy
  • New-York Journal
  • Norwich Packet
  • Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer
  • Virginia Gazette [Pinkney] (Williamsburg)
  • Virginia Gazette [Purdie and Dixon] (Williamsburg)

Friday

  • Connecticut Gazette (New London)
  • Connecticut Journal (New Haven)
  • New-Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth)
  • South-Carolina and American General Gazette (Charleston)

Saturday

  • Providence Gazette

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