Call to Meeting

June 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (June 4, 1776).

“Impowering the Directors to remove the books and effects of the said company.”

Andrew Robeson had an urgent message for members of the Library Company of Philadelphia.  In an advertisement in the June 4, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, he informed them that a “General Meeting” held on May 30 lacked a quorum for undertaking the important business of “impowering the Directors to remove the books and effects of the said company” if circumstances warranted.  The directors apparently anticipated a possible attack on Philadelphia and occupation of the city by British forces.  If such an event did occur, they wanted to see to the safety of the Library Company’s books.  As Robeson explained in the call to the meeting that ran in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on May 28, the directors sought the advice of the members to “determine on the place where the [books and effects of the Library Company] shall be deposited in case any future event should render that measure necessary.”

Robeson, the secretary of the Library Company, lamented “the number of members met not being competent to the passing of a law” or a motion giving the directors the authority to make such decisions.  Instead, those present “agreed to adjourn until Thursday the sixth day of June … when the members are requested to attend either in person or by proxy, to the consider of the propriety” of the matter.  He hoped that a new round of advertisements and the increasing urgency of the situation would convince members to attend or arrange for others to cast votes on their behalf.  To improve the chances of achieving a quorum at the next meeting, Robeson also inserted the notice in the June 1 edition of thePennsylvania Ledger, the June 3 edition of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, and the June 5 editions of the Pennsylvania Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal.  He did not run the notice in Henrich Millers Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote, but it did appear in every other newspaper printed in Philadelphia at the time.  Robeson hoped that such a proliferation of notices would bring the meeting to the attention of members and convince them to attend.  The directors exercised good foresight in making contingency plans.  The following year, British forces began an occupation of the city on September 26, 1777, and remained until the spring of 1778.

March 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (March 14, 1775).

“A FUND for establishing and carrying on an AMERICAN MANUFACTORY.”

The organizers of a “FUND for establishing and carrying on an AMERICAN MANUFACTORY, of LINEN, WOOLLEN,” and other textiles in Philadelphia and its hinterland called a meeting to rally support.  In an advertisement that first appeared in the March 11, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, they announced that all “Subscribers” to that enterprise should meet “at the CARPENTERS HALL” on March 16 “to consider of a Plan for carrying the same into Execution.”  It was an especially appropriate place to meet considering that the organizers sought to put into effect one of the provisions of the Continental Association that the First Continental Congress had devised when the delegates held their meetings at Carpenters’ Hall in September and October 1774.  In addition to boycotting goods imported from Britain, the eighth article specified that colonizers should “encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country, especially that of Wool.”

Apparently, “general Proposals” had been printed and disseminated ahead of the meeting, perhaps by Benjamin Towne, the printer of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, or perhaps in the printing office operated by William Bradford and Thomas Bradford.  The notice stated that “one of the Subscription Papers [had been] left with WILLIAM BRADFORD, at the London Coffee-House.”  In addition, the Pennsylvania Journal, the newspaper printed by the Bradfords also carried the notice on the eve of the meeting.  No matter which printer produced the “Subscription Papers,” it was not too late for colonizers to sign their names and show their support for “this important and very interesting Undertaking” by becoming “Subscribers.”  They could visit the London Coffee House to add their names, but those who “may not have an Opportunity of Subscribing before the Day of meeting” could arrive early at Carpenters’ Hall to add their names.  For two hours before the meeting was scheduled to begin at three o’clock, some of the organizers would be present “for that Purpose.”  With subscription papers circulating, prospective supporters could examine who had already committed to the project.  That had the potential to inspire others to do so, provided colonizers actively engaged with printed materials that circulated in Philadelphia as the imperial crisis intensified.  Newspaper advertisements and subscription papers delivered news about the proposed “AMERICAN MANUFACTORY” that encouraged colonizers who encountered them to get involved by signing their names, attending meetings, and making donations.

June 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Maryland Gazette (June 2, 1774).

“Meet … to consult on the most effectual means to preserve the liberty of America.”

Advertisements in eighteenth-century newspapers served a variety of purposes.  Sometimes they carried news.  During the imperial crisis, colonizers used advertisements to help them organize.  Consider a notice that ran in the June 2, 1774, edition of the Maryland Gazette.  It advised, “ALL the inhabitants of Anne-Arundel county, are earnestly requested to meet at the city of Annapolis, on Saturday the 4th day of June next, to take into consideration sundry letters and papers from the town of Boston, and the city of Philadelphia.”  The organizers also planned for the participants to “consult on the most effectual means to preserve the liberty of America.”  Those “sundry letters and papers” referred to news of the Boston Port Act.  As punishment for the Boston Tea Party, Parliament closed and blockaded Boston Harbor, starting June 1 and continuing until the residents of that town paid for the tea destroyed the previous December.

More details from some of those “sundry letters and papers” appeared elsewhere in that issue of the Maryland Gazette, including “Extracts of private letters from London, dated April 7 and 8, to private persons in New-York and Philadelphia” on the front page, yet the call to meeting was not among the news items.  It appeared among the advertisements, though it received a privileged place as the first advertisement.  It ran immediately after the list of vessels that entered and cleared the customs house in Annapolis, traditionally the final news item.  The printers, Anne Catherine Green and Son, also ran a note that the “conclusion of the essay on the advantages of a classical education, is postponed for want of room” and “Advertisements omitted will be inserted next week.”  Yet they not only made certain to include the advertisement about the meeting to discuss news related to the Boston Port Act and how to respond but also placed it where readers who might not read the advertisements as closely as the news and editorials would be more likely to see it.  John Holt had done the same with a call to meeting that ran in the May 19 edition of the New-York Journal.  The press played an important role in “preserv[ing] the liberty of America” during the era of the American Revolution, but not solely in the sections of newspapers that carried coverage of current events.  Advertisements also contributed to keeping readers informed and mobilizing colonizers to resist legislation passed by Parliament.