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

“THE Manufacturing Society in Williamsburg are in want of a person to superintend the works.”

As the imperial crisis intensified and then became a war for independence, many Americans advocated for producing and consuming “domestic manufactures,” goods made locally rather than imported from Great Britain.  Some entrepreneurs ran newspaper advertisements that promoted “domestic manufactures” that they made or sold, while others worked together in pooling their resources and establishing “manufactories,” such as the “AMERICAN MANUFACTORY, of LINEN, WOOLLEN, &c.” in Philadelphia, that employed local workers and produced goods for local consumers.

In Williamsburg, a “Manufacturing Society” pursued a similar purpose.  In late August 1776, the managers ran advertisements in both newspapers printed there, Alexander Purdie’s Virginia Gazette and John Dixon and William Hunter’s Virginia Gazette.  They announced that they “are in want of a person to superintend the works, purchase materials, &c. and to keep the necessary accounts,” promising “good wages” to a candidate “qualified to undertake that business,” provided that he came “well recommended.”  The Manufacturing Society offered other opportunities for employment.  “As the making of SAIL CLOTH is one of their objects,” the managers explained, “the Society will give good encouragement to spinners and weavers acquainted with that branch.”  In other words, they sought those with experience making that item.  In addition, the Manufacturing Society planned “taking a number of boys and girls as apprentices to SPINNING [and] WEAVING” once “the works are erected.”  Before consumers could demonstrate their political principles by purchasing domestic manufactures, local workers had to produce them.  The Manufacturing Society created jobs for those workers and provided training for the apprentices who would labor alongside them.  This endeavor allowed women, boys, and girls to contribute to the American cause.  Although they did not vote, hold office, or serve in the military, their work for the Manufacturing Society had political implications.  As both producers and consumers, they participated in politics in the marketplace.