What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
South-Carolina and American General Gazette (January 27, 1775).
“Not to trust or give Credit … to my Son JACOB BOMMER on my Account.”
As the imperial crisis intensified and the colonies and Parliament were increasingly at odds in 1774, a rupture occurred in the relationship that Michael Bommer had with his son, Jacob. It may or may not have been the result of politics and disagreements over the Coercive Acts and how the colonies should respond. Just as likely, it had nothing to with politics. After all, colonizers continued to lead their daily lives even as momentous events unfolded around them. Fathers and sons quarreled about a variety of personal and financial issues that had little or nothing to do with politics.
Whatever the cause of their discord, it was significant enough to cause the father to take to the pages of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette with a notice “to all Storekeepers, Shopkeepers, and Tradesmen whatsoever, not to trust or give Credit, or to pay any Sum of Money whatsoever, to my Son JACOB BOMMER, on my Account, from the Date hereof, October 29th, 1774.” Three months later, the Bommers had not reconciled. Instead, the elder Bommer felt compelled to insert his advertisement in the January 27, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina and American General Gazette.
When he did so, he followed a format familiar to readers because it was so very regularly deployed by husbands against their wives in newspapers throughout the colonies. On the same day that Bommer’s notice appeared, for instance, Richard Mills informed readers of the New-Hampshire Gazette that he “hereby forbids any person crediting his Wife ANNA, on his Account, as he will not pay any Debts by her contracted.” Such notices offered a means for husbands to attempt to assert their authority in public after their wives had disdained that authority in private. On rare occasions, men adapted those sorts of newspaper notices when their relationships with other family members deteriorated. When Bommer did so, he protected his credit and finances, but at the expense of hinting at private affairs in the public prints. Such a spectacle had the potential to fuel gossip and draw more attention to the strife he and his son experienced.
“PUBLIC AUCTION … several valuable Slaves will be sold.”
In this advertisement in Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer from January 26, 1775, T.W. Moore advertised a public auction being held “This Morning and To-Morrow Morning” to sell off the possessions of the late Alexander Colden to the highest bidder. In addition to these household items up for sale, Moore held another auction “this Day at Noon” for several enslaved people. This especially stood out to me because this shows public auctions, a competitive method, was a primary method of buying and selling goods, land, and even enslaved people in Revolutionary America. While people who were involved in the open market used auctions to sell off belongings and estates, enslavers used them as a way to reach a wider range of buyers in their efforts to make a profit off of enslaved people.
This advertisement shows that slave auctions happened even in New York. In “The Forgotten History of Slavery in New York,” Andrea C. Mosterman declares, “New York’s slavery past is still relatively unknown.” However, we can see by this advertisement, that these slaves for sale were an important part of Moore’s auctions. There was a high demand for enslaved people in New York before, during, and after the American Revolution. In 1788, Mosterman states, “Close to 75% of the free, white Kings County families enslaved people within their home.” The American Revolution did not result in freedom for everyone. Instead, some people would stand and look at other human beings being sold against their will along with everyday items like furniture and China dishes. By participating in these auctions, they treated enslaved people as property instead of as human beings.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes
In addition to selecting an advertisement to examine for the Adverts 250 Project, Jack is serving as guest curator for the Slavery Adverts 250 Project this week. Beyond this advertisement for “several valuable Slaves” up for bids at Moore’s auction on January 26, 1775, he identified eight other advertisements about enslaved people that appeared in the New-York Journal and Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer on the same day. As Jack makes clear, that auction was not an isolated incident. Instead, slavery was widely practiced in New York on the eve of the American Revolution and continued after thirteen colonies secured independence as a new nation.
Auctioneers like Moore represented part of the infrastructure for perpetuating slavery and the slave trade in New York. The printers who generated revenue by publishing these advertisements made significant contributions as well. Brokers, like William Tongue, played an important role as well. Tongue placed a lengthy advertisement enumerating “SLAVES,” “LANDS,” “HOUSES,” and “GOODS” for sale at his office “near the Exchange” in both the New-York Journal and Rivington’s New-York Gazetteer as well as the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury four days later. He listed and gave prices for ten enslaved men, women, and children, ranging in age from five to forty. They included a young woman who was “an useful domestic,” a man who was “a good farmer,” and a woman “with or without her son, 5 years old.” Tongue also noted that he “has likewise orders to purchase slaves of both sexes.”
Yet auctioneers and brokers were not alone in enlisting the services of printers in publishing advertisements for the purpose of buying and selling enslaved people. An anonymous advertiser offered a “LIKELY and handy Mulatto Boy” for sale in the New-York Journal. That youth had experience “waiting at Table” and could “attend a Gentleman on traveling.” The advertisement instructed reader to “Inquire of the Printer” for more details. Another advertisement featured an enslaved woman, “twenty-six Years of Age,” and an enslaved boy, “of twelve Years of Age,” for sale, again with directions to “Enquire of the Printer.” Still another described a “HEALTHY young Negro Girl … that can do all Kinds of House Work.” While auctioneers and brokers earned their livelihoods through buying and selling enslaved people, other colonizers made purchases and sales of one or two enslaved people at a time. Collectively, they made slavery a prevalent aspect of life in New York during the era of the American Revolution.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Pennsylvania Ledger (January 25, 1775).
“PROPOSALS For Printing by Subscription, a FREE and IMPARTIAL WEEKLY NEWS-PAPER.”
As the imperial crisis intensified, the number of newspapers published in Philadelphia, the largest city in the colonies, grew significantly. Throughout the early 1770s, readers had access to Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, the Pennsylvania Gazette, and the Pennsylvania Journal. Until February 1774, the Pennsylvania Chronicle had also circulated in Philadelphia. Less than a year after that newspaper folded, Benjamin Towne commenced publication of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first tri-weekly newspaper attempted in that city, on January 24, 1775, and James Humphrey, Jr., distributed the first issue of the Pennsylvania Ledger four days later. Enoch Story and Daniel Humphreys also advertised plans for another newspaper, the Pennsylvania Mercury. They published their inaugural issue in April 1775, two weeks before the battles at Lexington and Concord.
On January 25, the Pennsylvania Journal carried the proposals for both the Pennsylvania Ledger and the Pennsylvania Mercury, placing them side by side on the final page. As was customary, the printers gave an overview of why they wished to publish their newspapers, explained what subscribers could expect among the contents, and listed the conditions for subscribing. Among the various purposes the Pennsylvania Mercury would serve, Story and Humphreys included, “To communicate advertisements of every kind.” The printers of both proposed newspapers sought advertisements, an essential revenue stream for any printer publishing a newspaper. After noting the prices for subscriptions to the Pennsylvania Ledger, Humphreys indicated, “Advertisements to be inserted on the same terms as is usual with the other papers in this city.” For the Pennsylvania Mercury, Story and Humphreys declared, “The Rates of the Paper and Advertisements will be the same with those now printed in this City.” Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet and the Pennsylvania Journal both gave the price for subscriptions – “Ten Shillings per Annum” – in their colophons, but none of the newspapers then printed in Philadelphia regularly published what they charged for advertising. Apparently, according to the proposals for the Pennsylvania Ledger and the Pennsylvania Mercury, none offered better deals than others.
Story and Humphreys did give a bit more attention to advertising in their proposals. “All Advertisements,” they promised, “shall be inserted in order as they come in, and shall appear in a fair and conspicuous manner.” They did not mean that paid notices would literally appear one after the other in the order received at the printing office but rather that a compositor would set type in that order and integrate them into the layout of the newspaper without privileging any later arrivals over those submitted sooner. After all, newspaper printers sometimes inserted notes that advertisements had been omitted due to lack of space. Story and Humphreys signaled that they would not take anything into consideration beyond the order that advertisers delivered their notices when delaying publication of some. They also acknowledged that compositors arranged content to make pieces of different lengths complete columns and fill pages. During that process, they would not privilege any advertisements over others, displaying each “in a fair and conspicuous manner.” With such appeals, Story and Humphreys solicited the trust of prospective advertisers who wanted a good return on the money they invested in disseminating information in the Pennsylvania Mercury.
Neither of these proposals for new newspapers discussed advertising extensively, but each did seek advertisers along with subscribers. Whatever goals they expressed for circulating news as the political situation deteriorated, the viability of pursuing their ideals of publishing “improving, instructive and entertaining” information depended in large part on recruiting advertisers as well as enlisting subscribers.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Pennsylvania Evening Post (January 24, 1775).
“THE first Number of the PENNSYLVANIA EVENING POST is now laid before the respectable Public.”
On January 24, 1775, Benjamin Towne launched a new newspaper, the Pennsylvania Evening Post. The printer distinguished this publication with a publication schedule that differed from all other newspapers in Philadelphia and throughout the colonies, distributing three issues a week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings rather than a single weekly issue. In an address to “the respectable Public” that opened the inaugural edition, Towne asserted that this publication schedule “will … give particular Satisfaction to all Persons anxious for early Intelligence at this important Crisis.” To that end, he explained that he timed his issues according to the arrival of the “Eastern Post” that carried newspapers and letters from New York and New England.
The first issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post did not feature any advertisements, unlike other newspapers founded in the early 1770s, yet Towne sought to attract advertisers to defray the expenses of printing the newspaper. Although he could not yet promote widespread circulation to entice advertisers, he did note that because “no Paper is published between Wednesday and Saturday, that on Thursday will be very convenient for Advertisements, which shall be punctually and conspicuously inserted.” Readers in Philadelphia were accustomed to new editions of the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal on Mondays and Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet on Wednesdays. Towne anticipated publication of the Pennsylvania Ledger on Saturdays, realizing that James Humphreys, Jr., would soon print yet another newspaper in Philadelphia. Humphreys distributed the first issue on January 28. Still, Towne attempted to seize an advantage, advising advertisers that they could disseminate notices in the Pennsylvania Evening Post during a portion of the week without other publications in Philadelphia.
Towne charged the “usual Rates” for advertisements, though “All Advertisements of useful and ingenious Inventions in Manufactures and Agriculture shall be inserted gratis.” Savvy readers knew that meant that Towne did his part to support the eighth article of the Continental Association. It called on all colonizers, “in our several Stations, [to] encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country.” In his “Station” as a printer, Towne could play an important role in delivering information about the “Manufactures of this Country” to the public, provided that advertisers supported his newspaper by supplying him with that information.
Pennsylvania Evening Post (January 24, 1775).
Not long after Towne published the first issue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, he distributed a broadside that declared, “The first ATTEMPT in AMERICA. On TUESDAY, the 24th of JANUARY, 1775, was published … An UNINFLUENCED and IMPARTIAL NEWSPAPER, ENTITLED THE Pennsylvania Evening Post, Which will be regularly PUBLISHED every TUESDAY, THURSDAY, and SATURDAY EVENINGS.” The printer certainly sought to capitalize on the frequency of publication in promoting his newspaper. Yet he was not entirely correct that his tri-weekly was the “first ATTEMPT” by an American printer. The American Antiquarian Society’s copy of this broadside, previously bound in a volume with issues of the newspaper from 1775, includes a manuscript notation by Isaiah Thomas: “This is a mistake: a small newspaper, The Spy, was published 3 times weekly, in Boston in 1770.” Towne may have been unaware that the Massachusetts Spy had been published three times a week in August, September, and October 1770 adjusting its schedule to twice a week in November 1770 and once a week in March 1771. The Massachusetts Spy had been a tri-weekly just briefly, but Thomas remembered because he and Zechariah Fowle had been partners in the endeavor. Although Towne was mistaken about the Pennsylvania Evening Post being the “first ATTEMPT” at a tri-weekly, he offered access to the news on a schedule not previously available to subscribers in Philadelphia.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (January 23, 1775).
“This Paper, has been printed with ink manufactured by said Geyer, for several Months past.”
When the Continental Association went into effect, colonizers looked to “domestic manufactures” or goods produced in the colonies as alternatives to imports. The eighth article of that nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement even stated that “we will, on our several Stations, encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts and the Manufactures of this Country.” Henry Christian Geyer did just that in an advertisement that appeared in the January 23, 1775, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy. He announced that he “manufactured” printing ink “in large or small Quantities, at his Shop near Liberty-Tree South-End of Boston.” Devoting such “Industry” to the “Manufactures of this Country” testified to Geyer’s support of the American cause; noting the proximity of his shop and such an important symbol underscored his patriotism.
Yet Geyer had more to say about the matter. He proclaimed to “the Public” that “the Royal American Magazine, was not printed with his Ink.” His advertisement gave no indication why he singled out the Royal American Magazine and not any of the newspapers published in Boston or any of the city’s printing offices. After all, if he had captured the entire market (except for the Royal American Magazine) then he had less need to place an advertisement. He chose to shame Joseph Greenleaf, the publisher of the Royal American Magazine, for not purchasing his product, perhaps intending to bully him into buying Geyer’s printing ink or perhaps settling some score by embarrassing him in a public forum.
Geyer’s advertisement concluded with a nota bene that clarified that “This Paper, has been printed with Ink manufactured by said Geyer, for several Months past.” Geyer may have written the nota bene himself, presenting a testimonial of the quality of the ink that readers could assess for themselves as they held the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy in their hands. Alternately, Nathaniel Mills and John Hicks, the printers of the newspaper, could have added the nota beneon their own as a means of demonstrating that they supported domestic manufactures even before the Continental Association went into effect.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago this week?
Massachusetts Spy (January 19, 1775).
“No ADVERTISEMENTS … can be inserted for the future without the Cash accompanies them.”
In a notice in the January 19, 1775, edition of the Massachusetts Spy, Isaiah Thomas, the printer, provided several important details about the practices he enacted for publishing his newspaper. He opened by noting that “the Hartford Post will be dispatched every Thursday Morning at nine o’Clock.” In order that that the Massachusetts Spy “may be forwarded by said Post,” Thomas “shall be obliged to put his paper to the press on Thursday Mornings at three o’Clock.” Calling attention to such early mornings not only testified to the industriousness of the printer but also alerted the public that he could publish updates that arrived at his printing office merely hours before he distributed the new issue of his weekly newspaper.
Thomas also advised “[t]hose who incline to ADVERTISE in the MASSACHUSETTS SPY … to send their ADVERTISEMENTS before two o”Clock on Wednesday Afternoons, otherwise they must be omitted until another week.” To convince them to advertise in in his newspaper, he proclaimed that it “has the greatest Circulation of any News-Paper in New-England.” That meant that advertisers were likely to experience the greatest return on their investment by placing notices in the pages of the Massachusetts Spy. Although compositors worked quickly, they did need some time to set type for individual advertisements and lay out all the news, editorials, advertisements, and other content for each issue. While Thomas might welcome “Articles of Intelligence” that arrived very shortly before taking his newspaper to press, he insisted that advertisements required more time to prepare for publication. Advertisers needed to plan accordingly.
In addition, Thomas declared, “No ADVERTISEMENTS, unless from persons with whom the Publisher may have accounts open, can be inserted for the future without the Cash accompanies them.” He also asserted that subscriptions for the newspaper required “one half [of the annual fee] to be paid time of subscribing” and “no Subscriptions can be received without.” Historians of the early American press often make general statements about printers extending generous credit to subscribers, expecting that some would never pay, because they understood that newspaper advertisements were a much more most significant revenue. According to such accounts, printers supposedly insisted on receiving payment for advertisements in advance of publishing them. While that may have been the case in some printing offices, several printers published notices indicating that they departed from such practices. That Thomas put in place such a policy “for the future” suggests that it may have been a new policy or one that he had not previously enforced. Similarly, Thomas joined other printers who extended credit yet also demanded that subscribers submit half of the annual fee in advance, updating the terms that he published in the colophon that appeared in each issue of the Massachusetts Spy.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Providence Gazette (January 21, 1775).
“TO be Sold, by Order of the Committee of Inspection … sundry Merchandize.”
In December 1774 and January 1775, newspaper advertisements became records of compliance with the provisions of the Continental Association, a nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement adopted by the First Continental Congress when it met in Philadelphia in September and October 1774. The tenth article of the Continental Association made provisions for goods that arrived during the months December 1774 and January 1775, items that likely had been shipped before American merchants and shopkeepers could cancel orders previously dispatched across the Atlantic. The importers could return those goods, turn them over to the local Committee of Inspection to store until the boycott ended, or have the committee sell them, reimburse the importer for costs, and designate any profits for relief of residents of Boston. For the sake of both transparency and compliance, the tenth article also specified that “a particular Account [be] inserted in the publick Papers.”
Such was the case when James Angell, “Clerk of the Committee,” inserted an advertisement in the January 21, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette. That notice announced the upcoming sale of “sundry Merchandize, imported from Great Britain, via New-York.” That included “6 Tierces [large barrels], 3 Barrels, 5 Bales, 2 Boxes, 1 Hamper, [and] 24 Crates” of unspecified goods as well as “1 Bundle, containing 2 Dozen of Frying Pans” and “8 Bundles, containing 4 Dozen of Iron Shovels.” As was the case in similar advertisements in other newspapers, the Committee of Inspection did not provide the same extensive catalog of merchandise that merchants and shopkeepers often did to attract the attention of prospective customers when they composed their own newspaper notices. The committee merely made clear that a notable quantity of items would go up for sale. The goods “were shipped at Liverpool on board the Ship Daniel, Capt. Casey, the 15th of September, and arrived at New-York since the first Day of December last.” That accounting made clear that the items had been ordered and shipped before the First Continental Congress agreed on the details of the Continental Association, yet since they arrived after that pact went into effect they fell under its jurisdiction. On behalf of the Committee of Inspection, Angell decreed that the sale would occur “agreeable to the Association of the Continental Congress.”
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Connecticut Gazette (January 20, 1775).
“To be sold … agreeable to the tenth Article of the Association … Apothecaries Drugs.”
On January 12, 1775, the Committee of Inspection for Norwich, Connecticut, placed an advertisement for an upcoming sale of “three Chests and six Casks of Apothecary’s Drugs” that would be held on January 20 in the Norwich Packet. They ran the notice again a week later, this time stating that the sale would take place on January 24. That allowed four more days for word of the sale to circulate and attract prospective customers. It also made possible advertising in the January 20 edition of the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London.
The advertisement specified that the local Committee of Inspection would oversee that sale “at the Town-House in Norwich … agreeable to the tenth Article of the Association of the American Continental Congress.” That nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement had been disseminated far wide in the months since the meetings of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia concluded at the end of October 1774. The tenth article made provisions for imported goods that arrived in the colonies between December 1, 1774, and February 1, 1775. The importers had three options. They could either return the goods, surrender them to the local Committee of Inspection to store until the boycott ended, or entrust them to the committee to sell. After the sale, the committee reimbursed the importer what they paid for the goods, but applied any profits to relief of Boston where the harbor had been closed to commerce since the Boston Port Act went into effect on June 1, 1774.
The tenth article of the Continental Association also called for “a particular Account [to be] inserted in the publick Papers.” When the Committee of Inspection for Norwich advertised the sale of “Apothecaries Drugs, Imported in the ship Lady Gage, from London, via New-York, since the first of December last” in both the Norwich Packet and the Connecticut Gazette, they did more than address prospective customers. They also kept the public throughout the region that the two newspapers circulated updated on compliance with the Continental Association, encouraging others to abide by it as well.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Norwich Packet (January 19, 1775).
“A fresh ASSORTMENT of DRUGS, and GENUINE PATENT MEDICINES.”
Benjamin Dyer Published this advertisement in the Norwich Packet on January 19, 1775. The advertisement says that he was selling many items, including “GENUINE PATENT MEDICINES,” at his shop in Norwich-Landing. Patent medicines were available to anyone without needing a prescription. According to the American Antiquarian Society’s Past Is Present blog, “Usually patent medicines were made of relatively inexpensive ingredients sold at high prices. It is important to know that because many patent medicines did not explicitly list their ingredients.” Due to this the people selling the items can make claims about what was in the medicine without being fact checked. It is also important to realize that Dyer referred to all the medicines as “GENUINE,” meaning that whatever was supposed to be in each medicine was in that medicine. Another interesting thing about this advertisement was how it listed each type of medicine that he sold instead of just saying that medicines were available. I believe that this is because he wanted to show that he had a large number of medicines available. Shopkeepers like Dyer tried to convince people that their “ASSORTMENT” of medicines were truly genuine and not fakes.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes
When Braydon and I met to discuss the advertisement that he selected to examine for the Adverts 250 Project, we talked about patent medicines as the over-the-counter medications of the eighteenth century. They were so familiar to consumers that they did not need descriptions of what each did. Readers of the Norwich Packet recognized, for instance, Turlington’s Balsam of Life and knew which illnesses, complaints, or discomforts that nostrum treated. Stoughton’s Elixir, Godfrey’s Cordial, and Bateman’s Drops were the name brands of the period. When consumers had access to multiple remedies that purported to treat the same symptoms, many had favorites based on experience and reputation. Reading the list of “GENUINE PATENT MEDICINES” in Dyer’s advertisement in 1775 would have been similar to browsing the aisles of a pharmacy in 2025.
As I worked on other aspects of producing the Adverts 250 Project and Slavery Adverts 250 Project beyond working with Braydon on developing his entry, I noticed another interesting aspect of Dyer’s advertisement. In addition to running it in the Norwich Packet, he also inserted it in the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London, on January 20. That increased the circulation of his advertisement, placing it before the eyes of many more prospective customers. This aspect of Dyer’s marketing campaign resonates with the analysis of yesterday’s advertisement, also selected by a student in my Revolutionary America course, that ran in the Connecticut Journal, published in New Haven. Connecticut had four newspapers, printed in four towns, yet each circulated widely throughout the colony and beyond. Many advertisers dispatched advertising copy to printing offices in more than one town. In addition to Dyer’s advertisement, the January 19, 1775, edition of the Norwich Packet featured a notice from clock- and watchmaker Thomas Harland. He simultaneously ran an advertisement in the Connecticut Courant, published in Hartford. In his case, he ran two different advertisements rather than submitting identical copy. Though both advertised in more than one publication, Dyer and Harland made decisions that suited their needs when it came to which messages for consumers they wished to disseminate in which newspapers.
What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
Connecticut Journal (January 18, 1775).
“HENRY DAGGETT TAKES this method to acquaint his customers and others …”
The advertisement from the Connecticut Journal that I have selected was published by Henry Daggett. He created it with three different purposes. First, Daggett mentions that he has stopped accepting lines of credit as payments from customers: he “renounced the practice of trusting out his goods; and, for the future, purposes to sell only for pay in hand.” He wanted customers to pay the same day as their purchases. Next, Daggett moves into stating that he has an assortment of goods to sell in his store “on the lowest terms” or for the lowest prices. Finally, Daggett aggressively mentions that anyone who is in debt to him “either by note or book” must settle with him immediately or he will take them to court, what he called “the expence and trouble of the law.”
In addition to figuring out why Daggett placed this advertisement, I wanted to know more about how it was distributed to the public. I read about “Printing Presses and Distribution” on the webpage about “Connecticut’s Newspaper History” created by the Connecticut State Library.” Once newspapers were printed, “[d]istribution of the final product was usually by the carrier, often the printer’s apprentice. Subscribers who had the paper delivered to their homes were charged a fee. … Outside of town, the post rider was the main distributor of newspapers. The post, or mail, came in once a week in the early days. Often the printer was also postmaster and would see that newspapers were carried free of charge from office to office.” I imagine that Henry Daggett got his point across to the public because of wide distribution of newspapers in Connecticut during the era of the American Revolution. They were delivered not only in the town of publication but also to many other towns as well.
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ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY: Carl Robert Keyes
When Dominic and I met to discuss this advertisement, I asked him why he chose Henry Daggett’s notice in the Connecticut Journal. He was especially interested in the circulation of newspapers and the advertisements they contained. As Dominic outlines, Daggett had several reasons for running his advertisement. He wanted to know more about how confident Daggett would have been that others, especially prospective customers and former customers who still owed him for previous purchases, would see the advertisement. That gave us a chance to talk about readership and distribution throughout the colonies and then look for secondary sources about newspapers published in Connecticut in the eighteenth century.
This also gave me an opportunity to share with Dominic that the production of newspapers in Connecticut differed from other many other colonies in early 1775. The sites of publication were more centralized in other colonies. For instance, three newspapers were published in South Carolina, all of them in Charleston, and disseminated throughout the colony from there. Similarly, two newspapers were published in Virginia (with a third established only a few weeks after Daggett’s advertisement ran on January 18, 1775). Printers in Williamsburg published those newspapers. In Pennsylvania, three English-language newspapers were published in Philadelphia (with two more established by the end of the month) and two German-language newspapers were published in Germantown. Three newspapers were published in New York, all of them in New York City.
The situation was a little different in most colonies in New England. While the New-Hampshire Gazette, published in Portsmouth, was the only newspaper in that colony, Rhode Island has two newspapers, the Newport Mercury and the Providence Gazette, and Massachusetts had five newspapers printed in Boston as well as Essex Gazette, published in Salem, and the Essex Journal, published in Newburyport. In early 1775, Connecticut was the only colony with newspapers published in four towns: the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer, the Connecticut Gazette (published in New London), the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, and the Norwich Packet and the Connecticut, Massachusetts, New-Hampshire, and Rhode-Island Weekly Advertiser. As the full title of the Norwich Packet suggests, colonial newspapers circulated widely beyond their sites of publication.
Advertisers in Boston, Charleston, New York, Philadelphia, and Williamsburg could easily visit or send messages to multiple printing offices when they wished for their notices to appear in more than one newspaper. In contrast, advertisers in Connecticut had ready access to one printing office, if they happened to live in one of the four towns with a newspaper, yet had to devote more effort in submitting their notices to other printing offices when they wished to disseminate them in multiple newspapers.
