Headline

March 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Essex Journal (March 22, 1776).

“STOP THIEF.”

The advertisement had a bold headline: “STOP THIEF.”  Those two words likely attracted the attention of many readers of the March 22, 1776, edition of the Essex Journal.  After all, the headlines for most other advertisements gave the name of the advertiser in a large font, such as “Nicholas Pike,” “Abel Morse,” and “John Sawyer,” or named a product being sold, such as “Garden-Seeds” and “Lemmons by the Box.”  This advertisement reported on a recent burglary: “STOLEN out of the House of the subscriber living in Seabrook last Sunday night the following Articles … A dark brown Coat, a brown Kersey Great Coat, a black velvet J[ac]ket, a striped cotton and linnen Gown with chintz cuffs; two quilted Petticoats, and one single d[itt]o. and a linnen Shift, with sundry other Articles.”

That was quite the haul.  Whoever stole the black velvet jacket and the striped cotton and linen gown was unlikely to wear both items.  They might have kept some of the stolen goods for personal use, but they likely sold or fenced most of them. Burglars, thieves, and shoplifters devised alternate means of participating in consumer culture during the era of the American Revolution.  Reports of their activities frequently appeared as newspaper advertisements alongside other notices that presented all sorts of clothing, textiles, and housewares imported and sold by merchants and shopkeepers.  Another advertisement in the same issue of the Essex Journal had a headline that proclaimed, “Four Dollars Reward.”  In it, Israel Adams described the theft of “Four pair of men’s SHOES; two pair men’s Pumps; six pair women’s Pumps, and two pair boy’s Shoes.”  Both advertisements offered a reward for capturing the culprits and bringing them to justice … and both offered a reward for the return of the stolen goods.  The anonymous advertiser from Seabrook seemingly understood that the goods may have been fenced by the time anyone could “take up said Thief and confine him in any [Jail], so that he may be brought to Justice,” but just in case it was not too late “the subscriber” would double the reward for delivering “the Thief and Goods.”

July 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (June 29, 1775).

“Artillery Company.”

One advertisement in the June 29, 1775, edition of the New-York Journal seems to stand out from the others, at least to this reader perusing that issue 250 years later.  The colonizers who placed the advertisement no doubt hoped that readers would take note and heed its call, intending that the headline, “Artillery Company,” would resonate differently with readers than the headlines for other notices that promoted goods and services, such as “FURRS,” “CLOCKS,” “WATCHES,” and “PUBLIC AUCTION.”  This advertisement certainly served a different purpose once the imperial crisis boiled over into the battles at Lexington and Concord and the siege of Boston that followed.  It may have seemed even more urgent and imperative appearing in the same issue as an “account of the engagement between the Provincials and Regulars on Saturday the 17th,” now known as the Battle of Bunker Hill.

That issue also featured an “Address of the Provincial Congress of the Colony of New-York. To his Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Generalissimo of all the Forces raised, and to be raised, in the Confederated Colonies of America.”  The advertisers sought to do their part in raising forces to defend against British troops.  “[A]n atmosphere of patriotic fervor,” Alan C. Aimone and Eric I. Manders argue, “brought forth a spate of volunteer companies” in the spring and early summer of 1775, companies that “were to be the city’s independent militia.”  Some volunteers had previous experience serving in the colonial militia.  “A Considerable number of inhabitants have proposed to form a Company of Artillery, under the command of Captain Anthony Rutgers,” the advertisement reported.  Aimone and Manders note, “Membership in the independent companies was restricted.  All new volunteers were prosperous city men.”[1]  The advertisement stated other qualifications.  The ranks of this company would be limited to “only … such persons who have steadfastly shewn their attachment to the cause of American Liberty.”  Accordingly, “Such of our fellow citizens as incline to serve in this company, are invited to attend at a general meeting … to determine upon such articles as may be judged necessary for the regulation and discipline of the company.”  Several other independent companies had formed in the city by the time this advertisement appeared in the New-York Journal, yet updates about events unfolding in New England underscored the need to continue recruiting “fellow citizens” devoted “to the cause of American Liberty.”

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[1] Alan C. Aimone and Eric I. Manders, “A Note on New York City’s Independent Companies, 1775-1776,” New York History 63, no. 1 (January 1982): 59, 61.

June 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (June 9, 1775).

“SEIZE the ROGUE!”

Most articles in eighteenth-century newspapers did not have headlines.  Considering that most issues consisted of only four pages and most newspapers were published just once a week, printers did not have the space to include short summaries of the content.  They expected subscribers and others would engage in practices of intensive reading, working their way through the articles, letters, and other “intelligence” that appeared in their newspapers.  Some regular features did have headlines, such as “THOMAS ALLEN’s Marine List” and the “POET’S CORNER” in the Connecticut Gazette, but most articles did not.

Advertisers, on the other hand, sometimes devised headlines for the notices they paid to insert in early American newspapers.  Quite often their names served as the headline.  Such as the case for an advertisement placed by Nathan Bushnell, Jr., in the June 9, 1775, edition of the Connecticut Gazette.  He ran the same advertisement in the New-England Chronicle, deploying the name of the service he provided, “CONSTITUTIONAL POST,” as a secondary headline.  Elsewhere in the Connecticut Gazette, an advertisement intended to raise funds for “Building a Meeting-House, for Public Worship” in Stonington deployed a headline to inform readers that it contained the “Scheme of a LOTTERY” that listed the number of tickets and the available prizes.

John Holbrook of Pomfret intended to attract attention with the headline for his advertisement: “SEIZE the ROGUE!”  Holbrook explained that a “noted thief” had stolen various items from his house during the night of April 28, 1775.  He described “a large silver WATCH with a silver-twist chain, a clarat colour’d coat lately let out at the sides and at the outsides of the sleeves, a jacket near the same colour, both of them lined, … [and] a psalm book with the names of Asa Sharper and Caleb Sharpe in it,” along with other pilfered items.  Holbrook offered a reward to “Whoever brings said villain … with the above articles” or a smaller reward for just “the said thief without the articles.”  Given the amount of time that had passed, there was a good chance that the thief had fenced or sold the stolen items, giving some colonizers greater access to consumer culture through what Serena Zabin has termed an informal economy.  Whatever the fate of the watch, coat, and psalm book, Holbrook used a lively headline to increase the chances that readers would take note of his advertisement.  He did so at a time that editors and others employed in printing offices did not yet craft headlines for most of the news they published.

May 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Connecticut Courant (May 8, 1775).

“To prevent Trouble …”

Thomas Hilldrup used a clever turn of phrase as a headline to draw attention to his advertisement in the May 8, 1775, edition of the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligencer.  “To prevent Trouble,” it proclaimed, inviting readers to look more closely to see what kind of trouble might be afoot.  The headline stood out even more considering that most advertisements in that newspaper did not have headlines.  Among those that did, some used the names of the advertisers as the headlines, such as “PETER VERSTILE” and “CALEB BULL, jun.”  Hilldrup also used his name as a secondary headline on the third line of his advertisement.  A few headlines indicated the goods or services offered in the notices, including “LEATHER BREECHES” and “WILL COVER” (the phrase commonly applied to stud horses).

When they looked more closely, readers saw a second line, “To his Customers,” in a smaller font than the primary and secondary headlines on the first and third lines.  When they continued reading the body of Hilldrup’s advertisement they discovered his important message: “To prevent Trouble To his Customers, Thomas Hilldrup, HEREBY informs them, that he hath remov’d his shop nearer the north meeting house … where he proposes to manufacture, and supply the publick with good sound clocks.”  Hilldrup devised a dramatic means of announcing that he moved to a new location!  He ran the advertisement as a courtesy for those who might go looking for his former shop.  It turned out that it was nothing as dire as threatening to sue customers and associates who did not settle accounts, nor did it have any connection to current events.  Hilldrup first ran the advertisement on April 24, just days after the battles at Lexington and Concord.  He may or may not have been aware of those skirmishes when he composed the advertisement, though he almost certainly realized that the imperial crisis could boil over at any moment.  When his advertisement appeared in subsequent issues of the Connecticut Courant, readers no doubt searched the pages for new information about what was occurring in and near Boston and the responses in other places.  That meant that a notice placed “To prevent Trouble” likely garnered more attention than other advertisements as readers perused the newspaper.

March 28

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (March 28, 1775).

“A remarkable fine breeding MARE to be SOLD.”

It was not exactly front-page news, at least not as twenty-first-century readers think about how newspapers are organized.  The first item in the first column on the first page of the March 28, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post was an advertisement for a “remarkable fine breeding MARE to be SOLD.”  Immediately below, Benjamin Towne, the printer inserted an excerpt about the “right and capacity of the people to judge of government” from “CATO’s LETTERS, No. 38.”  It continued onto the second page, followed by news from Annapolis, Boston, Newport, and New York.  Local news from Philadelphia ran on the third and fourth pages, with advertisements completing the issue.

Once again, eighteenth-century methods of organizing the news differed from what modern readers have come to expect from newspapers.  The news with the dateline “PHILADELPHIA, March 28” included “the copy of a letter which was wrote by a Lady of New-York, to Capt. S—s, and Capt. McD—” and an “Extract of a letter from London, to a gentleman in Virginia, dated Dec. 24, 1774.”  Only a few very brief items relayed news from the vicinity, including a report on the “appointment [of] officers of militia for the county of Newcastle” and the date for the “MAYOR’s COURT.”

Eighteenth-century readers devised their own strategies for perusing newspapers published during the era of the American Revolution.  They did not depend on editors intentionally placing the most important news first, nor did they rely on headlines to summarize the content of letters and articles.  Instead, they had to give greater attention to that “letter which was wrote by a lady of New-York” and that “Extract of a letter … to a gentleman in Virginia” to determine what they contained and if they were interested in examining them more closely.  In contrast, the advertisement for the “breeding MARE” did feature a headline.  Advertisements were far more likely to have some sort of headline than any other items in early American newspapers.  The differences between those newspapers and today’s newspapers can be disorienting at first, yet they testify to an evolution in how publishers have disseminated the news and how readers engage with it.

February 8

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Journal (February 8, 1775).

“Attend to this Advertisement!”

When Joseph Holbrook sought to sell a house, two mills, and a farm in Woodbury in the winter of 1775, he placed an advertisement in the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy.  In it, he assured prospective purchasers that “said place is the best situation for maintaining a large family with ease.”  The house and mills were new.  The gristmill “grinds 5000 bushels in one year for common custom,” while the sawmill “cuts 100,000 feet of boards every year.”  They operated throughout the year because the mills “never fail of water [during] the driest season,” nor did they flood at other times.  The land included “good meadow, orchard, pasture and plow land.”

Holbrook’s notice looked much like other advertisements in colonial newspapers except for a headline that proclaimed, “Attend to this Advertisement!”  That headline almost certainly drew the attention of readers, making them curious about what appeared in the notice.  Such a command distinguished Holbrook’s advertisement from others, not only because it gave instructions but because it had a headline at all.  Several notices in the February 8 edition of the Connecticut Journaldid not have headlines, just the first word in capital letters with a dropped capital for the first letter.  Some had the first line in larger font, such as one that began, “Pursuant to a Request made to,” and another that started, “This is to give notice to all.”  Among those with headlines, the name of the advertiser usually served that purpose.  One headline announced, “Jacob Dagget” in a larger font than anything else on that page.  Another used “JOSEPH HOWELL” as the primary headline with two secondary headlines, “Choice good Train & blubber Oil” and “Dry’d and pickled COD-FISH.”  Holbrook, however, did not resort to the usual wording and format for advertisements.  The headline for his advertisement, in italics and a larger font than its body, suggested that something of consequence followed the edict to “Attend to this Advertisement!”  The advertiser and the compositor deployed both copy and design to encourage readers to peruse what otherwise would have been an ordinary real estate notice.

October 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (September 29, 1774).

“Stop THIEF!  Stop THIEF!”

The headline attracted attention: “Stop THIEF!  Stop THIEF!”  John Burrowes of Middletown Point, New Jersey, was the victim of a crime, one that occurred on the night of September 9, 1774.  A “robber or robbers” stole a variety of goods from his store, including “One piece rich black satin,” “Nine or ten cross-bar’d red and white cotton handkerchiefs, fine,” “Eleven pieces coarse [calico], some of them full pieces, others part pieces,” and “Six pair cypher’d stone sleeve buttons, set in silver.”  In addition, they made off with “sundry others not mentioned.”

A few days after the theft, Burrowes dispatched messages to two printing offices in New York, the nearest town with one or more newspapers.  Advertisements featuring identical copy, but very different formats, soon appeared in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury and the New-York Journal.  Despite the differences in their layouts, both proclaimed ““Stop THIEF!  Stop THIEF!”  That suggests that Burrowes had been quite specific in his instructions about the headline even as he left the rest of the design to the discretion of the compositors who set type for the two newspapers.

The shopkeeper realized that the robbers would likely attempt to sell some or all the stolen merchandise rather than keep it for their own use.  By publishing notices, he alerted readers in New York and far beyond to be wary if offered any of the items he listed.  He sought to enlist their help in capturing the culprits and, if possible, recovering the stolen goods.  To that end, he designated a local agent, Henry Remsen, in New York to represent him should the robbers and the goods turn up there, while also directing readers to contact him in Middletown Point if the robbers were apprehended in the area.

Burrowes’s advertisement appeared in the New-York Journal at the same time that John Holt, the printer, published accounts of the Suffolk County Resolves from Massachusetts.  Those measures called for a boycott of goods imported from Britain until Parliament repealed the Boston Port Act and the other Coercive Acts.  Holt ran other news about the imperial crisis under a masthead that included the “UNITE OR DIE” political cartoon that encouraged resistance to the various abuses perpetrated by Parliament.  Whatever else happened to be taking place in terms of current events, however, Burrowes likely considered the contents of his advertisement, a form of local reporting from his small town, among the most important news in the New-York Journal.  Advertisements often served as mechanisms for disseminating news that did not appear elsewhere in colonial newspapers.

June 20

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

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (June 20, 1774).

“The polite and useful ART of FENCING.”

Two fencing masters dueled for pupils in the pages of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy in June 1774. Each of them addressed prospective students with a flourish.  Donald McAlpine called on “all Lovers of the noble Science of DEFENCE,” while Monsieur Regnier, “MASTER of the polite and useful ART of FENCING,” was even more elaborate in addressing “the Braves and invincible Companions of MARS.”  Those headlines set their advertisements apart from others that read “TO BE SOLD” or “SPRING GOODS” or “THOMAS YOUNG.”

McAlpine specialized in teaching “the Art commonly called the BACKSWORD,” a “Science” that he would impart to the “entire Satisfaction” of “GENTLEMEN who choose to be instructed” by him.  He offered lessons on King Street from the early morning, commencing at sunrise, through the early evening, concluding with sunset, with a few hours set aside for meals and conducting other business.  He also visited gentlemen at their lodgings to give private lessons.  McAlpine indicated that he previously instructed “Gentlemen who have encouraged him” in his endeavor, while suggesting that he might not remain in Boston if other pupils did not engage his services.  He claimed that he “is strongly urged to go to another place” to teach the gentlemen there, yet it “would be most agreeable to him” to remain in Boston.  That would only happen, however, if he “Meets with such further Encouragement and Approbation” to convince him to stay.  If any gentlemen who considered themselves “Lovers of the noble Science of DEFENCE” had hesitated in seeking out McAlpine’s services, they needed to remedy that soon or risk him moving to another city.

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (June 20, 1774).

That appeal might have been more effective if Regnier had not simultaneously advertised that he taught fencing at “his Academy, in King-street, just opposite the Royal Exchange Tavern.”  He bestowed on his pupils “all the principal Attitudes and Positions peculiar to that Art.”  He made clear that learning to fence was not solely about using a sword but also entailed attaining graceful comportment that distinguished pupils as they pursued their everyday activities beyond his school.  To that end, he also taught French to both ladies and gentlemen, asserting that his pupils learned to read, speak, and write “with Propriety and Elegance.”  Regnier’s students became more genteel thanks to his lessons.  In addition, they could feel more confident in putting these markers of sophistication on display thanks to the careful instruction they received.  Like McAlpine, Regnier extended “his most respectful Compliments of Thanks” to those “who have hitherto made him the Subject of their Favours.”  Such remarks did more than reveal his success in cultivating a clientele in Boston; they also suggested to anyone who had not previously taken lessons or thought that they might benefit from brushing up that they needed to engage Regnier’s services to keep up with friends and acquaintances who already had the good sense to hire him.

As they competed with each other for pupils, McAlpine and Regnier also subtly encouraged the ladies and, especially, gentlemen they addressed to think of themselves in competition with each other.  Those “Lovers of the noble Science of DEFENCE” and those “invincible Companions of MARS” could enhance their social standing through displays of fencing, but they needed instruction from masters of the art to develop and to refine their skills.  More than mere lessons, McAlpine and Regnier marketed a means for achieving and demonstrating status.

May 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Connecticut Journal (May 20, 1774).

“GOODS.”

Only six advertisements appeared in the May 20, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Journal and New-Haven Post-Boy, far fewer than in the previous issue.  The printers, Thomas Green and Samuel Green, made space for the entire text of the Boston Port Act, passed in response to the destruction of tea the previous December.  The act closed and blockaded the busy port until residents paid for the tea dumped into the harbor.  It filled the entire front page and overflowed onto the second, followed by news that Thomas Hutchinson, the royal governor of Massachusetts, had returned to England with the king’s permission and, in turn, George III appointed “Thomas Gage, Esq; Lieutenant general of his Majesty’s forces, to be Captain-general and Governor in Chief of the said province, and Vice Admiral of the same.”  Other news from England and the rest of Europe completed the page, followed by extensive news from Boston and brief updates from New York, Hartford, and New Haven on the third and fourth pages.  The advertisements in that issue completed the final columns on the last two pages.

Despite the significance of the news on the front page and throughout the rest of the issue, no headlines directed attention to the Boston Port Act, the appointment of Gage, or any of the other coverage.  The sorts of headlines familiar to modern readers usually were not part of eighteenth-century newspapers, no matter how momentous the news they carried. Advertisements, on the other hand, much more frequently made use of short summaries and larger fonts.  Instead of a headline that proclaimed, “BOSTON PORT ACT TO CLOSE HARBOR ON JUNE 1,” running across the page just below the masthead on the first page, the largest font in the May 20 issue appeared in an advertisement.  The introduction for that advertisement had a slightly larger font than the news in the column to the left and throughout the rest of the newspaper.  The names of the merchants, “Morgan & Shipman,” ran in a font approximately twice the size of that for the news.  The word “GOODS,” concluding a description of their “good Assortment of Spring and Summer GOODS,” extended across the column in a font approximately three times the size of any font used for news.  It even rivaled the size of the font in the masthead, drawing eyes to Morgan and Shipman’s advertisement as readers sought news to buttress what they previously heard and read.  The format made the advertisement visually engaging, especially compared to other content.  Printers did not consider the same treatment necessary for news, testifying to a different manner for producing and reading newspapers in early America compared to later periods.

March 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Connecticut Courant (March 22, 1774).

“Good GOODS!”

Caleb Bull, Jr., had experience deploying crafty headlines to draw attention to his advertisements in the Connecticut Courant.  In the spring of 1772, he ran an advertisement that consisted almost entirely of the headline: “New, New, New GOODS! AT CALEB BULL jun’s. Store in HARTFORD.”  He inserted an advertisement with a similar headline in the March 22, 1774, edition of the Connecticut Courant.  “Good GOODS!” it proclaimed.

Some of the headlines for notices that recently appeared in that newspaper may have inspired Bull to devise something playful and out of the ordinary for his own advertisement.  At the beginning of the month, William Beadle alluded to the Boston Tea Party when he offered “Best Bohea TEA, Such as Fishes never drink!!”  Matthew Talcott’s notice declared, “Make Way! A Probationer for New Gate!” in the previous issue.  That issue also carried William Prentice’s advertisement for “Cheap GOODS.”  That headline did not merely announce that Prentice sold goods; it also made an appeal to price.  For eighteenth-century readers, “cheap” meant inexpensive rather than inferior quality.

The following week, Bull placed his own advertisement for “Good GOODS!”  It served as a counterpoint to Prentice’s “Cheap GOODS” advertisement that ran once again.  In this instance, the headline did indeed market the quality of the items offered for sale.  The shopkeeper also made an appeal to price, assuring prospective customers that they would pay “a moderate Adva[n]ce from the COST.”  In other words, Bull marked up his merchandise only slightly.  He sacrificed larger profits in favor of presenting consumers with bargains, a means of competing with the “Cheap GOODS” available at another store in Hartford.

With experience publishing innovative headlines for his advertisements, Bull may have perused recent issues of the Connecticut Courant, noticed similarly provocative headlines, and determined that the time was right to make his own intervention in the public prints.  If that was the case, he monitored advertisements in the local newspaper for style as well as substance, then composed copy accordingly.