Domestic Manufactures

September 24

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (September 21, 1775).

“EARTHENWARE … equal to the best of any imported from Philadelphia, or elsewhere.”

As fall arrived in 1775, Jonathan Durell took to the pages of the New-York Journal to advertised “EARTHENWARE” that he made locally and sold “at the well-known House called Katechemet’s Mead-House” on the outskirts of the city.  The potter offered a variety of items, including, “butter, water, pickle and oyster pots, porringers, milk pans of several sizes, jugs of several sizes, chamber pots,” and “a variety of other sorts of ware, too tedious to particularize.”  Durrel promoted these items as “far superior to the generality, and equal to the best of any imported from Philadelphia, or elsewhere.”  He also reported that he had migrated to New York from Philadelphia.

Mentioning Philadelphia twice in his advertisement was intentional.  When Durell compared the quality of his earthenware to items imported into New York, he did not refer only to goods arriving from English manufactories, though looking to alternatives would have been on the minds of consumers while the Continental Association remained in effect.  Colonizers who wished to purchase “domestic manufactures” in support of their political principles knew that Philadelphia was an important center for pottery production.  Deborah Miller, an archaeologist, notes that Philadelphia Style earthenware “became recognized across the colonies for its quality and durability” by the middle of the eighteenth century.  Citing Durell’s advertisement, Edwin Atlee Barber states that “it would appear that even before the Revolution the wares made in Philadelphia had acquired a reputation abroad for excellence.”[1]  Durell’s pottery was not made in Philadelphia, but he had resided there and presumably used the same techniques to produce his earthenware.  As both consumers and “city and country store-keepers” sought goods made in the colonies, he presented an attractive option.

To increase his chances of making sales, Durell mentioned the “reasonable rates” he charged for his earthenware and provided a convenient service.  In a nota bene, he declared, “The purchaser of twenty shillings, or upwards, may depend on having it delivered in any part of this city, without charge.”  The potter hoped that free delivery would entice customers to take a chance on earthenware that he asserted matched any others, including products from Philadelphia, in its quality.

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[1] Edwin Atlee Barber, The Pottery and Porcelain of the United States: An Historical Review of American Ceramic Art from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1893).

September 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (September 18, 1775).

“AN Assortment of Homespun Manufacture.”

It was a short advertisement, just four lines in the September 18, 1775, edition of the Boston-Gazette, but it spoke volumes about the times in which the advertiser placed it and colonizers read it.  “AN Assortment of Homespun Manufacture, suitable for the season,” the notice announced, “to be sold Cheap.  Inquire of OLIVER MONROE, Taylor, near the Bridge in Watertown.”  Even before the battles at Lexington and Concord marked a new chapter in the imperial crisis, homespun cloth became a symbol of resistance to British abuses, especially duties on imported goods imposed by Parliament.  Over the past decade, colonizers had participated in a series of boycotts, first to protest the Stamp Act in 1765, then in response to the Townshend Acts in the late 1760s, and again when they learned of the Coercive Acts in 1774.  Each time, consumers opted for homespun cloth produced in the colonies as an alternative to textiles imported from England.

At the time that Monroe ran his advertisement, the Continental Association remained in place.  It had gone nine months earlier.  In addition to prohibiting merchants and shopkeepers from selling goods received after December 1, 1774, it called on colonizers to “promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country.”  That included purchasing homespun rather than the “Fine assortment” of imported textiles, ranging from corduroys to striped hollands to cambrics, listed in a longer advertisement that appeared in the same column as Monroe’s short notice.  Monroe did not need to invest much effort in marketing his “Homespun Manufacture” because the times spoke for themselves.  Prospective customers already recognized the political significance of the choices they made in the marketplace.  That they read his advertisement in the Boston-Gazette, now published in Watertown as the siege of Boston continued, only underscored the importance of practicing politics when they went shopping.

August 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette (August 22, 1775).

“BEST Scotch and Rappee Snuff … warranted good in quality and as well manufactured as any from Great Britain.”

The partnership of Cary and Somervell stocked and sold “a general Assortment of DRY GOODS” at their store in Baltimore in the summer of 1775, but that was not their primary reason for running an advertisement in the August 22 edition of Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette.  Instead, they wished to advise the public that their firm “Manufactures and Sells … BEST Scotch and Rappee Snuff, High Toast and Blackguard [snuff], Saffron and Shag Cut, Plug, Pigtail and Hogtail Tobacco.”  Cary and Somervell offered tobacco users an array of choices of familiar products.  They also paid “the highest price for empty Snuff Bottles,” encouraging prospective customers to offset the cost of their purchases by trading in bottles that they no longer needed.

In promoting the tobacco products that they made in Baltimore, Cary and Somervell published promises about their wares: “warranted good in quality and as well manufactured as any from Great Britain.”  That was a familiar aspect of “Buy American” advertisements prior to the American Revolution, yet it had greater resonance once the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774, and, especially, following the battles at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775.  The Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts, called for “encourag[ing] Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promot[ing] Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country” as alternatives to imported goods.  Thus, the nonimportation agreement also outlined the responsibilities of both producers and consumers in the colonies.  Such civic duties gained even greater urgency in the wake of battles fought in Massachusetts.

Even without taking current events into consideration, Cary and Somervell issued a familiar challenge when they asserted that their tobacco products were as “good in quality and as well manufactured as any from Great Britain.”  How would consumers know unless they tested Cary and Somervell’s snuff and tobacco for themselves?  The partners used a bold assertion to entice prospective customers to sample their products and become the final arbiters of whether they, the consumers, agreed with the claims made in the newspaper advertisement.

August 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (August 10, 1775).

“Stockings made in the best manner, for those that bring their own stuff.”

In an advertisement that first ran in the August 10, 1775, edition of the New-York Journal, James Wallace informed the “Ladies and Gentry” of the city that he “makes and sells, black and white silk patent lace for ladies aprons, handkerchiefs, &c.” and “hoods, aprons and tippets, and several other things in that way.”  In addition, he made and sold “silk and thread gloves and mitts, the silk of which is American produce.”  On that point, Wallace made an additional pitch: “He therefore hopes to be honoured with the commands of those who wish to encourage their own manufacture.”  It was not clear whether the silk for his lace to adorn aprons, handkerchiefs and other items was produced in the colonies or just the lace for his gloves and mitts.

Either way, Wallace expected his marketing would resonate with prospective customers who certainly knew about the provisions of the Continental Association without him explicitly invoking it.  That nonimportation agreement also called on American producers to supply alternatives and American consumers to support their endeavors.  The eighth article stated, “That we will, in our several Stations, encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country.”  Wallace made it easy for the “Ladies and Gentry” of New York to do so.

Wallace also noted that he made stockings “in the best manner, for those that bring their own stuff.”  In other words, customers could reduce the prices they paid for stocking by supplying their own materials, paying only for the labor.  Once again, consumers had an opportunity to put their political principles into practice in the choices they made in the marketplace.  In supplying their “own stuff,” the “Ladies and Gentry” could opt for thread spun in their own homes, either by themselves or by servants, or for thread that they knew for certain had been produced in the colonies.  Wallace did not merely offer a chance to save money for customers who provided their own materials; he also signaled that they could support the American cause through their own industry in producing those materials.

August 7

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (August 7, 1775).

“To the SPINNERS in this CITY and the SUBURBS, YOUR services are now wanted to promote the American Manufactory.”

The proprietors of the American Manufactory in Philadelphia published a recruiting notice that first appeared in Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet on August 7, 1775, and then in other newspapers printed in the city for several weeks.  They had previously advertised an organizing meeting to gain subscribers (or investors) in the enterprise in March.  A month later, the same day as the battles at Lexington and Concord, they ran a notice seeking a “Quantity of WOOL, COTTON, FLAX, and HEMP.”  That advertisement also advised that “a number of spinners and flax dressers may meet with employment.”  Their latest advertisement devoted significantly more effort to recruiting the “SPINNERS in this CITY and theSUBURBS” to work at the American Manufactory.

“YOUR services are now wanted to promote” the enterprise, the proprietors proclaimed, though they did not plan to hire everyone who presented themselves.  Instead, they followed the eighteenth-century version of letters of recommendation and checking references, instructing that “strangers who apply are desired to bring a few lines by way of recommendation from some respectable person in their neighborbood.”  Working at the American Manufactory offered women “an opportunity not only to help to sustain your families, but likewise to cast your mite into the treasure of the public good” during a “time of public distress.”  They expected that readers would recognize the reference to a story that Jesus told in Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4 about a poor widow who donated two coins, called mites, to the temple.  Her small donation, being all she had, far overshadowed much larger donations by the wealthy who could have given much more.  “The most feeble effort to help to save the state from ruin, when it is all you can do,” the proprietors of the American Manufactory explained, “is as the Widow’s mite, entitled to the same reward as they who of their abundant abilities have cast in much.”  Working as a spinner at the American Manufactory, therefore, amounted to service to the American cause by “excellent wom[e]n,” service just as important as that undertaken by the men who participated in local meetings, provincial congresses, and the Second Continental Congress or mustered to defend their liberties.  Women’s work had political meaning during the era of the American Revolution.

July 31

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (July 31, 1775).

“… that we may not now, nor hereafter, have any occasion to import from our ministerial enemies in Great-Britain.”

Charles Maise, a “MUSTARD and CHOCOLATE MAKER” in Philadelphia, took to the pages of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet to promote his business at the end of July 1775.  First, he needed supplies, offering “Forty shillings per bushel for any quantity of good clean Mustard-seed.”  Yet Maise wanted readers to think bigger about his business and their role as both suppliers and consumers given the imperial crisis experienced in the colonies over the last decade.  He expressed his hope that “farmers and others will use their best endeavours to encourage this valuable manufactory, by cultivating and improving the growth of so valuable an article, that we may not now, nor hereafter, have any occasion to import from our ministerial enemies in Great-Britain.”  Such sentiments certainly resonated with the Continental Association, a nonimportant agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774 in response to the Coercive Acts. The eight article called on colonizers “in our several Stations,” including mustard and chocolate makers, to “encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country.”

Producers had a part to play in making available alternatives to imported goods, but the Continental Association did not depend on their efforts alone.  Consumers also had to make choices aligned with their political principles.  That meant purchasing “domestic manufactures,” goods produced in the colonies.  Maise stood ready to partner with consumers in pursuing their common cause.  In a nota bene, he announced that he “stands in the market on market days, opposite the London Coffee-house.”  Customers could find him there.  He extended “thanks to his former customers,” stating that he “hopes for a continuance of their favours, and doubts not but to merit their esteem.”  Of course, Maise also intended for his advertisement to reach new customers and wanted them to join existing customers in supporting both his business and the American cause by purchasing mustard produced locally from mustard seeds grown in the colonies.  Mustard gained political significance when taking into consideration “our ministerial enemies in Great-Britain,” especially in the wake of recent news of hostilities commencing at Lexington and Concord, the siege of Boston, and the Battle of Bunker Hill.

July 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (July 28, 1775).

“Encourage their children and servants to save the old Rags … and send them to the Printing-office.”

John Mycall and Henry-Walter Tinges, the printers of the Essex Journal in Newburyport, Massachusetts, concluded the July 28, 1775, edition of their newspaper with an advertisement that presented colonizers an opportunity to aid the American cause.  “We hope our kind Readers and others, who desire to encourage American Manufacture,” Mycall and Tinges declared, “will please to encourage their children and servants to save the old Rags that are often swept out of doors, and send them to the Printing-office.”  The printers offered cash for the rags, explaining that without them “we cannot long be supplied with that necessary article, Paper.”  Mycall and Tinges oversaw a recycling venture imperative in producing an essential article for continuing to publish their newspaper and anything else.  They were not the only printers in the region who experienced a disruption in acquiring paper in the months after the battles at Lexington and Concord.  Daniel Fowle, the printer of the New-Hampshire Gazette, had a similar experience.

Throughout the imperial crisis, collecting rags to recycle into paper had been imbued with political significance.  Producing paper in the colonies meant that printers did not need to import as much paper from England.  As nonimportation agreements went into effect in 1768, Christopher Leffingwell of Norwich, Connecticut, described collecting rags as “an entire Saving to the COUNTRY” and encouraged “every Friend and lover thereof [to] save every Scrap” of discarded linen.  For years, John Keating regularly promoted his “Paper Manufactory” in New York’s newspapers, arguing that economic resistance during the “present alarming situation of the colonies” was the “safest and most efficacious method of convincing the Ministry of Great-Britain of their error.”  He suggested that each household designate a “certain place” for collecting rags and cultivate a habit that would “establish this valuable manufactory upon a permanent foundation.”  Who undertook such work?  John Dunlap, the printer of the Pennsylvania Packet, hoped “to prevail upon our LADIES to grant us a little of their industry and assistance,” believing that “the welfare of their country will influence them” to do their part in collecting rags to recycle into paper.  Mycall and Tinges extended the call to include “children and servants.”  As men mustered to defend their liberties, women, children, and servants had their own role to play.  They could contribute to the American cause by supporting “American Manufacture,” including collecting rags to transform into the newspapers and pamphlets that disseminated the rhetoric of the Revolution.

July 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 21, 1775).

“He hopes to meet with due encouragement, especially as it is the first of its kind attempted in America.”

John Melchior Naff, a “MANUFACTORER of WIRE,” used an advertisement in the July 21, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post to inform “the public in general, and his friends in particular,” about the business he planned to establish in Philadelphia.  He declared that he “proposes to manufacture and sell all kinds of WIRE, BRASS and IRON, and draw it to any size, fit for any use whatsoever.”  He also stated that he “can make all kinds of COMMON PINS, HAIR PINS, COTTON CARDS, and HOOKS and EYES, as good and as cheap as can be imported from Europe.”

Although Naff did not invoke the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement in protest of the Coercive Acts that had been in effect since the previous December, he almost certainly expected that readers would take it into consideration when they perused his advertisement.  In addition to boycotting goods imported from Britain, the Continental Association called for consumers and producers alike to encourage “domestic manufactures.”  Naff answered that call with pins and other items of the same quality and low prices as imported ones.  He made an investment in the enterprise, reporting that he “hath, at his own expence, already furnished himself with the proper tools and implements to carry on the said business.”  The entrepreneur felt he deserved “due encouragement” from consumers, “especially as it is the first of its kind attempted in America.”  That claim echoed the one that Richard Lightfoot recently made about his “PIN MANUFACTORY” in New York, asserting that “he is the first that ever attempted” to produce several kinds of wirework “on this continent.”  Similarly, Ryves and Fletcher, paper stainers in Philadelphia, advertised that “they are the first who have ever attempted” to make paper hangings (or wallpaper) “on this continent.”

A few months before Naff, Lightfoot, and Ryes and Fletcher ran their advertisements, the imperial crisis boiled over.  Word about the battles at Lexington and Concord and the siege of Boston spread quickly.  More recently, colonizers learned about the Battle of Bunker Hill.  As they prepared for the possibility of more military encounters, perhaps even in or near their own towns, they also continued to use the marketplace as a venue to engage in resistance.  When Naff requested “due encouragement” for establishing a new industry in America, he reminded prospective customers of their duty to fight against Parliament in the decisions they made about the goods they purchased.

July 18

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (July 18, 1775).

“JACKET PATTERNS … printed near this city, quite superior to those imported from England.”

Public discourse about the American Revolution resonated not only in the news and editorials that appeared in newspapers but also in the advertisements that ran in them.  In the July 18, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal, for instance, John Dean, a bookbinder, once again advertised the Philadelphia edition of A Self Defensive War Lawful, a sermon recently “preached at Lancaster, before Captain Ross’s company of militia” by John Carmichael.  The updated version of this advertisement indicated that four local printers and booksellers now stocked the sermon.  It also listed prices for single copies, a dozen, or a hundred, suggesting that Dean anticipated that retailers would purchase copies to sell or other customers would buy the sermon to distribute in their communities.

The advertisement immediately above the one for the sermon was also tied to the events of the American Revolution.  Moses Young announced that he sold “JACKET PATTERNS.”  He had an “elegant assortment of the new fashioned JACKET PATTERNS, fit for summer wear, and printed near this city.”  Young did not have to invoke the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts, for readers to understand the implications of his assertion that the patterns were produced near Philadelphia.  In addition to prohibiting imported goods, the Continental Association called on colonizers to “encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country.”  Moses Young did just that … and he gave consumers a chance to do their part.  They could keep up with current trends and they could do so without sacrificing quality.  After all, Young described the patterns as both “new fashioned” and “quite superior to those imported from England.”  In addition, he sold them for a “reasonable” price.  As the siege of Boston continued in Massachusetts and the Second Continental Congress continued meeting in Philadelphia, Young’s marketing presented an opportunity for consumers to offer their support for the American cause through one of the decisions they made in the marketplace.

July 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (July 10, 1775).

“He therefore hopes for the countenance of those who wish to encourage their own manufactures.”

In the summer of 1775, Richard Lightfoot placed a newspaper advertisement to promote his “PIN MANUFACTORY at the Crown and Cushion” in New York.  In addition to “all sorts of pins,” he also produced a variety of other wirework, including “harpsichord, spinnet, fortepiano, dolsemor, and all other kinds of music wire,” “brass and iron knitting needles,” “pins for linen printers and paper stampers,” and “laying and sewing wire for paper makers.”

Lightfoot addressed “the Ladies,” who presumably constituted a significant portion of his customers, yet also directed his advertisement to “the Public in general.”  After all, he had an interest in the entire community knowing about the work undertaken at his “PIN MANUFACTORY” and his contributions to the American cause through his participation in the marketplace.  Lightfoot proclaimed that “he is the first that ever attempted any of said branches,” the production of the various kinds of wirework, “on this continent.”  He did so at a time that colonizers observed the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts.  That pact called for encouraging “Industry” and “the Manufactures of this Country” as alternatives to imported goods.  Under those circumstances, Lightfoot hoped “for the countenance of those who wish to encourage their own manufactures.”  That meant that “the Public in general” should support his enterprise by recommending it to “the Ladies” who purchased and used the pins and other items he made.

When they did so, they could depend on the quality of those products.  Lightfoot asserted that his pins were “equal to any made in London or Dublin, and superior to any manufactured elsewhere.”  He was qualified to make that claim, indicating that he was “From DUBLIN” and likely learned and practiced his trade there before migrating to New York.  Claiming that authority, Lightfoot assured prospective customers that they did not sacrifice quality when they applied their political principles to their decisions about which pins to purchase.  It did not matter that the Continental Association prohibited buying imported pins because Lightfoot made and sold pins that were just as good as (or even better than) pins produced elsewhere!