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July 3

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Journal (July 3, 1776).

“Said Deforest expects a good Assortment of Chintz by the 10th of July.”

The Continental Congress made a momentous decision when it voted to declare independence on July 2, 1776.  News would spread as quickly as it could via the communication infrastructure in place in the late eighteenth century, yet it would take time to reach all the former colonies and their residents.  Thomas Green and Samuel Green, the printers of the Connecticut Journal in New Haven, did not yet have access to the news when they distributed the July 3 edition of their newspaper.  They could not pass it along to their readers.  They did publish updates from London, Halifax, Boston, Williamsburg, New York, and Philadelphia, some of them more recent than others.  The first column on the first page of that issue, however, featured the paid notices that underwrote publication of the newspaper rather than updates and editorials.

The first of those advertisements came from Benjamin Deforest, Jr.  He promoted an array of goods for sale at his store in Ripton (now Shelton), providing a long list that included several textiles, “Silk Gloves and Mitts,” “Buttons of various Kinds,” “Shoe and Knee Buckles,” “Sattin Ribbons of various Sorts,” “Crockery and Earthen Ware,” and “pewter Platters, Plates, Pots, Porringers, Basons, [and] Chamber Pots.”  He also stocked grocery items, such as wine and spirits, “Loaf Sugar,” coffee, and chocolate, but not tea for the “Tea Pots” that appeared among his inventory of housewares.  Deforest concluded his account of his merchandise with an assertion that customers would also discover “sundry other Articles too tedious to mention” when they visited his store.  That familiar refrain harkened back to some of the longest and most elaborate newspaper advertisements that encouraged readers to participate in the transatlantic consumer revolution.  It encouraged them to engage their imaginations in hopes of prompting them to browse the shelves at Deforest’s store to see what they might discover.  Deforest did even more to elicit a sense of wonder and anticipation for his wares.  He added a nota bene to inform prospective customers that he “expects a good Assortment of Chintz,” a fashionable fabric, “by the 10th of July,” giving them another reason to shop at his store.  Current events, neither the war nor the decision to declare independence, brought commerce and consumption to a halt.  Despite the disruptions, Deforest and other retailers attempted to continue with business as usual (or as close to usual as possible), devising advertisements that deployed familiar marketing strategies.

May 19

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

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

Virginia Gazette [Dixon and Hunter] (May 18, 1776).

“To be SOLD … a considerable Number of other Articles too tedious to enumerate.”

In the spring of 1776, William Pitt advised the readers of John Dixon and William Hunter’s Virginia Gazette that he stocked a variety of items “at his Store in WILLIAMSBURG.”  His advertisement had a familiar format, a short introduction followed by a dense paragraph of text with his name at the end and a final note that drew attention to items of particular interest.

In the introduction, Pitt declared that he sold “the following Articles, for ready Money only.”  Generous credit had been an important aspect of the consumer revolution, but in times of distress many retailers insisted that their customers had to pay at the time of purchase.  Pitt certainly was not alone in doing so after the war began with the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord.  The body of the advertisement consisted entirely of a catalog of Pitt’s merchandise, a means of demonstrating the array of choices he made available to consumers.  He stocked everything from fabrics and accessories to housewares and tools, including “BROADCLOTHS, … Muslins, Gauze, Cambrick, Lawn and Gauze Handkerchiefs and Aprons, black Minionet and Blond Lace, … Women’s Hats and Bonnets, Gloves, Ribands, Fans, Necklaces, … large Dressing Glasses, black Walnut Tea Chest, … Saws, Scythes, … a Variety of China Cups, Saucers, and Teapots, Guns and Gun Locks, … broad and narrow Axes, … Brass and Iron Skillets, … Sheep and Tailors Shears, Scissors, Razor Straps, Combs, Fish Hooks, Cork Screws, Shoemakers and Saddlers Tools, Saddles, [and] Bridles.”  The length of the list was an appeal to customers in and off itself.  Some of those items, especially the textiles, are not readily familiar to modern readers, but eighteenth-century consumers recognized them and could distinguish among them.  Just in case he had not convinced prospective customers of the variety that awaited at his store, Pitt proclaimed that he sold “a considerable Number of other Articles too tedious to enumerate.”  That was a common pitch throughout the colonies.  He concluded with a shorter entry.  Many advertisers used “N.B.” for nota bene (“take note”), but Pitt inserted a manicule for the same effect.  “I have also,” he noted, “a LARGE and ELEGANT ASSORTMENT of SWORDS.”  Gentlemen looking to outfit themselves for military service or simply to defend themselves, Pitt suggested, should visit his store.  Even with the final entry about swords, his advertisement looked much like those published before the war began.

May 14

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

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (May 14, 1776).

“Teapots, Cups and Saucers – Regimental Buttons, &c. &c.”

In the spring of 1776, Alexander Bartram “inform[ed] the public, that he has on hand a genteel Assortment of Merchandize.”  In an advertisement in the May 14 edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, he stated that he would sell his wares “for a small profit,” signaling to prospective customers that he would not take advantage of the disruptions to trade caused by the war to jack up prices.  Like any other shopkeeper, he needed to earn his livelihood, so a slight markup seemed reasonable under the circumstances.

Bartram devoted most of his advertisement to a list of some of his inventory, including “Broad Cloths and Trimmings, such as brown, buff, green, blue, and light colours, … a good Assortment of Glass Ware, … most sizes of China and Delph Bowls fit for taverns, blue and white and enamelled Dishes and Plates, [and] Teapots, Cups and Saucers.”  At what seemed to be the end of the list, he added “&c.” (the abbreviation for et cetera commonly used in the eighteenth century) to indicate that he had even more goods on hand at his shop.  Then he continued with shorter list that resonated with current events.  He declared that he also stocked “An Assortment of Queen’s Ware, Teapots, Cups and Saucers – Regimental Buttons, &c. &c.”  A month earlier, the Second Continental Congress relaxed the prohibition on buying and selling tea, so Bartram may have seen an opportunity to promote “Teapots, Cups and Saucers” more than once in his advertisement.  His reference to “Regimental Buttons” suggested that he sold other accessories for military uniforms.  Some men who refrained from other forms of conspicuous consumption during the imperial crisis welcomed the opportunity to outfit themselves in attire made fashionable by military service when the war began.  Bartram likely hoped that would work to his advantage.  By including “&c.” so many times, Bartram underscored that he carried so many more items than appeared in his short advertisement.  His extensive catalog of merchandise, after all, extended an entire column in an advertisement that appeared in Story and Humphreys’s Pennsylvania Mercury the previous fall.  While not nearly as long, his new advertisement spoke volumes to readers who perused it in the Pennsylvania Evening Post.

May 4

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

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

Pennsylvania Ledger (May 4, 1776).

“His large and elegant STOCK of China, Glass and Earthern Wares.”

The extensive advertisement for a “large and elegant STOCK of China, Glass and Earthern Wares” that Joseph Stansbury ran in the May 4, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger looked more like advertisements that appeared before the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774, and before the war began on April 19, 1775.  It filled an entire column, listing countless items that Stansbury sticked at his store “opposite Christ Church [in] Philadelphia.”

To help prospective customers navigate his inventory, Stansbury used headings for “CHINA,” “GLASS,” and “EARTHERN WARE.”  To make the most efficient use of the space, he divided the column into two columns with a line of decorative type running down the center.  Under each heading, he grouped similar items together and, when their description extended more than one line, indented the second and subsequent lines so the resulting white space guided readers.  Some categories of goods were short, just two lines, such as “Rich enamelled tea-table sets complete” and “Blue and white soup terrines, two sizes.”  Others were much longer, including one that extended for twenty-two lines.  That one offered “Cream-pots, salts, mustards, pepper-castors, egg slices, custard cups, blamange moulds, cheese-toasters, cream-buckets, Italian lamps for the chambers of the sick, garden pots, flower horns, jarrs and beakers, sauce-boats, terrines, butter-tubs and stands, egg cups, bottles and basons, water dishes, fish drainers, cream cheese dishes, chamberpots, pattypans, baking dishes, compotiers, pudding dishes, pap boats, sallad dishes, plates, oblong dishes, mugs, jugs, childrens tea sets, whistling birds, &c.”  The “&c.” (the abbreviation for et cetera commonly used in the eighteenth century) suggested an even greater array of goods available to consumers who visited Stansbury’s store.  He promoted “a great choice of patterns” among his “Chocolate, & coffee tea-cups and saucers,” part of his larger theme of presenting all kinds of choices to consumers.

Stansbury encouraged the sort of conspicuous consumption that had become increasingly popular in the middle decades of the eighteenth century as colonizers participated in a transatlantic consumer revolution.  A series of boycotts (known at the time as nonimportation and nonconsumption agreements) during the imperial crisis and then the disruptions to trade during the war prompted many merchants, shopkeepers, and consumers to suspend some of their operations or abstain from importing and purchasing all sorts of goods.  Stansbury’s advertisement, however, testified to an active market or, at least, his desire to continue making sales despite the trying times.  As a Loyalist, Stansbury may not have much cared about the Patriot position when he ran his advertisement.  He was imprisoned later in 1776 for boisterously singing “God Save the King” and eventually served as an intermediary between Benedict Arnold and John André.

February 12

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

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (January 12, 1776).

“JOHN RICHARDSON’s HARDWARE and JEWELLERY STORE.”

John Richardson ran an advertisement for his “HARDWARE and JEWELLERY STORE” in the February 12, 1776, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  He was not alone in his marketing efforts.  Richard Sause also placed an advertisement for a “JEWELLERY, CUTLERY, HARD-WARE, and HABERDASHERY STORE.”  Both emphasized consumer choice as a marketing strategy, but they deployed very different formats in demonstrating the choices they offered to customers.

The bulk of Richardson’s advertisement consisted of a dense paragraph of text that listed his inventory, including a “neat and general assortment of jewellery, and jewellers materials; watches and watch materials, good choice of gilt and plated buckles, metal and steel buckles; materials for coach-makers, ditto for saddlers and cabinet-makers; … ladies pocket books, hand vices, plyers, nut crackers, buckle patterns, metal shoe clasps, lables for bottles, mother of pearl tea tongs, [and] gilt sleeve buttons.”  It was an array of merchandise that Richardson invited readers to imagine and, hopefully, examine for themselves.

Sause listed even more items in his advertisement, yet that was not the only reason that it occupied more than twice as much space on the page.  Rather than cram everything together in a single paragraph, Sause opted to list small collections of items – one, two, or three at a time – together yet on separate lines.  Those lists sometimes overflowed onto indented second and subsequent lines; the indentations provided a visual cue that further distinguished the wares that Sause promoted.  For instance, the entry for “Gold lace, tinsel and com- / mon watch braids” did not run into the next entry for “Silver corals, and a variety of / fashionable silver buckles.”  Sause also divided his advertisement into two columns (just as he had done in a previous advertisement), making it even more visually distinctive.

Although Richardson and Sause sold similar merchandise and both made appeals to consumer choice, they made different decisions about how to present their goods to prospective customers in the public prints.  Richardson may have opted for economy by purchasing less space in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, while Sause, drawing on experience, could have considered it worth the investment to take up more space in the newspaper.

September 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Story and Humphreys’s Pennsylvania Mercury (September 22, 1775).

“Determined to SELL OFF his large Assortment of GOODS remarkably Cheap.”

The pages of American newspapers had a different appearance after the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774.  While adherence to prior nonimportation agreements had been scattered, this one attracted much greater compliance.  As a result, the advertisements that featured lengthy lists of imported merchandise to be sold by local merchants and shopkeepers appeared in the public prints less often, but they did not disappear completely.  Notices that listed a few dozen items continued to appear in some newspapers.

Even so, Alexander Bartram’s advertisement for goods “lately imported from the MANUFACTURERS in BRITAIN” seemed extraordinary because of its length.  It did not fill only a portion of a column in Story and Humphreys’s Pennsylvania Mercury; instead, it extended an entire column and overflowed into another column.  It cataloged dozens of items available at his shop “Next Door to the SIGN of the INDIAN-KING, in MARKET-STREET” in Philadelphia.  Dated April 28, Bartram’s advertisement first appeared in the newspaper on that day in 1775 and then again in the supplement the following week.  The shopkeeper declared his intention to “SELL OFF his large Assortment of GOODS remarkably Cheap.”  He apparently acquired his wares prior to December 1, though he did not make a point of asserting that was the case.  The boycott presented an opportunity to clear his shelves of older merchandise since he would not have to compete with new arrivals.

Five months later, his advertisement ran in Story and Humphreys’s Pennsylvania Mercury once again.  The compositor had not broken down the type in that time.  With the Continental Association still in effect, Bartram saw another opportunity to clear the shelves in his shop … but how many of the items listed in his advertisement remained after his prior attempts to sell them “remarkably Cheap” over the summer?  That likely mattered little to Bartram, especially if he believed that such an extensive list would get customers looking for bargains through the doors.  A month later, he took to the Pennsylvania Journal with a much shorter advertisement that promoted a “General assortment of MERCHANDIZE, suitable for the season.”  Dated October 25 and scheduled to run for six weeks, that notice advised that Bartram “proposes to leave the city in a short time.”  If he already planned to depart Philadelphia at the time he republished his lengthy advertisement in late September, he may have considered it worth the expense of taking up so much column space if it might result in significant sales to liquidate his merchandise.

September 19

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette (September 19, 1775).

“Bonneau & Wilson … Continue to sell … fashionable Trimmings.”

It was the type of advertisement that often appeared in colonial newspapers from New England to Georgia during the middle third of the eighteenth century.  In the September 19, 1775, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette, Bonneau and Wilson listed an array of imported goods available at their store on Broad Street in Charleston.  They stocked everything from “Tambour Suits of Muslins and single Aprons” to “Persian and Sattin quilted Coats” to “black and coloured Silk Gloves and Mits” to “Men, Women, and Childrens Silk, Cotton and Thread Hose.”

The merchants did not indicate when they acquired those items, whether they had arrived before the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774, but they did state that they “Continue to sell” them.  Perhaps they meant that they continued to sell goods received before the nonimportation agreement went into effect.  After all, the familiar format of their advertisement lacked some elements that often appeared in such notices.  It did not proclaim that they had just imported their merchandise on the latest vessels from English ports, nor did it name which ships had transported their wares so prospective customers could confirm that they stocked new items.

Neither did Bonneau and Wilson assure the public that they sold goods according to the provisions of the Continental Association.  They may not have believed it necessary considering the surveillance underway at the time.  Just a few days earlier Richard Lushington ran an advertisement in the South-Carolina and American General Gazette to defend his reputation against allegations by “some evil, malicious designed Person or Persons” to the “Committee of Charlestown” that he did not abide by the Continental Association.  In addition, no reader could have perused Bonneau and Wilson’s advertisement without keeping current events in mind, especially since the first page of that issue featured “A DECLARATION By the REPRESENTATIVES of the United Colonies of NORTH-AMERICA, now in General Congress, at PHILADELPHIA, setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms.”

Some aspects of Bonneau and Wilson’s advertisement suggested business as usual at their store, especially the extensive list of imported goods, yet missing elements, news items that accompanied their notice, and current events all indicated that both the merchants and their prospective customers thought about the marketplace differently than they had when similar advertisements ran in newspapers before the imperial crisis.

September 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (September 7, 1775).

“Several packages of their Spring goods, are yet unopened.”

As fall arrived in 1775, Francis Lewis and Son took to the pages of the New-York Journal to advertise an array of imported goods that they stocked and sold at their store.  As many merchants and shopkeepers did, they demonstrated the choices they made available to consumers with a list of their inventory.  Their catalog featured two columns with one or two items per line, enumerating “Red strouds, shalloons,” “Printed callicoes, cotton and chintzes,” “A variety of ribbons,” “Musqueto netting for beds,” “Looking glasses,” and “Long and short handle frying pans.”  That popular format for newspaper advertisements did not appear with the same frequency once the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774.  Recognizing that the nonimportation pact devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts remained in place, Lewis and Son signaled that they abided by it.

The savvy entrepreneurs specified that their wares had been “imported last Fall.”  Under other circumstances, retailers did not boast that their merchandise had been on the shelves for nearly a year.  Instead, they emphasized how recently they received shipments from London and other English ports, sometimes even naming which vessels had transported the goods so readers who followed the shipping news could confirm that sold new items.  In this instance, however, Lewis and Son needed to assure the public, especially prospective customers, that they did not deviate from the Continental Association.  Patriots could not fault shopkeepers and consumers for selling and buying goods “imported the last Fall.” To underscore that they made a deliberate choice, Lewis and Son added a nota bene: “Several Packages of their Spring goods, are yet unopened.”  That note had even greater in significance in September 1775, following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord, than it did when the advertisement first appeared in the March 23, 1775, edition of the New-York Journal.  Lewis and Son highlighted their own restraint in placing goods in the marketplace even as they suggested to prospective customers that they barely had to restrain themselves in their purchases because the shopkeepers offered so many choices.

May 16

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette (May 16, 1775).

“He will sell at smaller profits than usual … agreeable to the resolve of the Continental Congress.”

Alexander Donaldson advertised a “large and general assortment of SPRING GOODS” available at his store in Baltimore in Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette in the spring of 1775.  To entice prospective customers, he provided an extensive list of textiles, accessories, housewares, and other items.  His inventory included, for instance, “India and English taffaties and Persians of most colours,” “an elegant variety of dark and light ground chintzes and callicoes,” “umbrelloes, fans and necklaces,” “taffaty, sattin, paduasoy, gauze and velvet ribbonds,” “men and womens gloves and mitts of all kinds,” “London and Bristol pewter,” “a variety of ironmongery and cutlery,” and “writing paper, quills, ink powder, [and] sealing wax and wafers.”  Donaldson also stocked “many other articles too tedious to insert,” though his concern may have been the additional cost to catalog even more of his merchandise in an already-lengthy newspaper notice.

The merchant ended with a note that he “will sell at smaller profits than usual for eighteen months, agreeable to the resolve of the Continental Congress.”  In doing so, he invoked the ninth article of the Continental Association, a nonimportation, nonconsumption, and nonexportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts.  That article specified, “That such as are Venders of Goods or Merchandise will not take Advantage of the Scarcity of Goods thar may be occasioned by this Association, but will sell the same at the Rates we have been respectively accustomed to do for twelve Months last past.”  In other words, merchants and shopkeepers would not gouge customers by jacking up prices once the Continental Association went into effect on December 1, 1774.  The ninth article also spelled out the consequences: “if any Venders of Goods or Merchandise shall sell any Goods on higher Terms, or shall in any Manner, or by any Device whatsoever, violate or depart from this Agreement, no Person ought, nor will any of us deal with any such Person, or his or her Factor or Agent, at any Time thereafter, for any Commodity whatever.”

Considering such penalties, Donaldson very carefully explained that he set fair prices.  Even better, he offered bargains to his customers.  The Continental Association called for selling at the “Rates” or prices established during the year before it went into effect, yet Donaldson declared that he “will sell at smaller profits than usual.”  He did not indicate when his good arrived in the colonies, leaving it to readers to assume that since he abides by the price controls that he also observed the deadline for receiving imported goods.  The favorable “Rates” for his wares may have also distracted colonizers from asking too many questions about when Donaldson’s inventory had been ordered and shipped or when it arrived in an American port.  In addition, the merchant did not list tea, forbidden by the third article, alongside other popular beverages, coffee and chocolate, another indication that he adhered to the Continental Association.  Donaldson signaled to customers that they could shop at his store while still supporting the American cause.

April 15

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Ledger (April 15, 1775).

“MERCHANDIZE, imported [in] the last fall vessels from Europe.”

William Barrell’s advertisement in the April 15, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Ledger looked much like many of the advertisements that merchants and shopkeepers had been placing in American newspapers for the past couple of decades.  That was even though the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress, had been in effect since December 1, 1774.  Colonizers sought to use economic leverage to convince Parliament to repeal the Coercive Acts.

The notice filled most of the first column on the first page, making it difficult for readers to miss.  Barrell promoted a “large and general assortment of MERCHANDIZE.”  To demonstrate the choices available to consumers, he included an extensive catalog that accounted for most of the space occupied by the advertisement.  He did not opt for dense paragraphs of text, instead arranging with the compositor to divide the list of his inventory into two columns with a line comprised of printing ornaments running down the center.  One, two or three related items appeared on each line.  Barrell stocked all sorts of textiles, everything from “Ticklenburg & ozenbrigs” to “Colour’d and white corduroys, and cordurets” to Crapes, bombazeens and poplins.”  He also carried “Mens and womens silk gloves and mittins,” “Playing cards,” and “Plated, lacquer’d Duncomb and other metal buttons.”  Prospective customers had access to the same variety of goods as they did before the nonimportation agreement.

In his introduction to his list of “useful and necessary articles,” Barrell made a standard appeal to price, stating that he sold his wares “on the most Reasonable Terms.”  He also noted that he imported them via the “last fall vessels from Europe.”  The savvy merchant carefully alerted the public that he was not breaking the Continental Association by selling goods imported since December 1.  Instead, he continued to stock and sell only items that arrived in Philadelphia before the Continental Association went into effect.  In that regard, his advertisement did differ from those published at other times.  Merchants and shopkeepers often emphasized that they peddled new inventory that just arrived.  Customers could select from among the latest styles.  In this instance, however, Barrell realized that consumers would accept, even embrace, goods that had been on the shelves for a few months, especially if he emphasized that they had not been there for too long, just since the arrival of the “last fall vessels.”