Lottery

October 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (October 1, 1774).

“SCHEME of a LOTTERY … for rebuilding Holden’s Grist-Mill.”

Regular visitors to the Adverts 250 Project know that I have incorporated both the Adverts 250 Project and the Slavery Adverts 250 Project into my upper-level courses, including Colonial America, Revolutionary America, Slavery and Freedom in America, Public History and Public Debate, and Research Methods.  Students in those courses serve as guest curators for the projects, generating their own miniature archives of digitized copies of eighteenth-century newspapers, selecting advertisements to feature and examine for the Adverts 250 Project, and identifying advertisements about enslaved people and composing posts for the Slavery Adverts 250 Project.  This requires working intensively with early American newspapers.

This semester I decided to experiment with designing an assignment involving those newspapers into my introductory survey of American history that begins with Indigenous America and concludes with Reconstruction.  I gave each student a packet of newspapers published during a single week in 1774 so they could develop their own sense of what was happening in the colonies 250 years ago.  I asked them to craft three short articles, 300 words each, that delivered news in modern English that an average reader today would understand.  Realizing that advertisements contained newsworthy content and that many of them would be more accessible than the articles and editorials in early American newspapers, I encouraged students to examine those and “translate” them for modern audiences, being sure to include the essential who, what, when, where, and how.  In addition, they need to reflect on why, both why something happened in 1774 and why it is important in helping us understand some aspect of the past.  In the past, I’ve found that students often struggle with articulating even basic details from primary sources.  For a survey course, this seemed like a good opportunity to practice that skill while, hopefully, removing some of the pressure of writing a formal essay.  In addition, most students in upper-level courses have been very curious when looking through an entire week’s worth of colonial newspapers, generating all sorts of questions about life in early America.  Their sense of wonder guided classroom discussions, so I hoped to create a similar experience for students in my survey course.

We devoted an entire week, two seventy-five-minute classes, to “history labs” that introduced students to early American newspapers.  On the first day, I presented an overview that included examining a framed original newspaper from May 1787 that usually hangs in my office before giving them time to browse the newspapers on their own and discuss with their peers.  We then convened as an entire class for discussion and questions.  We devoted the entire second day to a workshop intended to prepare students to write their articles about news from early America.  Rather than expect them to complete an unfamiliar assignment on their own away from class, I wanted them to have an opportunity to get started, ask questions, and seek clarifications.  I knew that some students would eventually visit during office hours for assistance, but for many that would be our only chance for one-on-one conversations about how they approached the assignment.  I proved them with worksheets for outlining their articles, including topic, citations to newspapers, and who, what, when, where, how, and why.

During that workshop, I discovered that many students felt uncertain about the expectations for the assignment, including the intended format.  In turn, I decided to provide an example that they could use as a model, one that demonstrated that the project was not as complicated as some of them imagined.  I selected an advertisement that outlined a “SCHEME of a LOTTERY” for the purposes of raising funds “for rebuilding Holden’s Grist-Mill” in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, from the Providence Gazette.  It lent itself well to identifying who, what, when, where, how, and why, allowing me to provide students with an example of how to recognize the important details and organize them in a manner that makes sense to modern readers.  Was that example helpful for students?  I’ll find out later today when the assignment is due.  For now, I’m excited to see what kinds of news my students will report based on what they found interesting among the articles, editorials, and advertisements that ran in newspapers 250 years ago.

March 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (March 25, 1774).

“LOTTERY … for finishing and compleating the great Wharf Bridge.”

Lotteries funded a variety of public works projects in early America.  In October 1773, for instance, the “GENERAL ASSEMBLY of the Colony of CONNECTICUT” … approved a lottery “for raising the Sum … for finishing and compleating the great Wharf Bridge, at CHELSEA, in NORWICH.”  The lottery managers, Joshua Lathrop, Samuel Tracy, and Rufus Lathrop, set about advertising the “SCHEME OF A LOTTERY” in November, continuing their efforts for several months into 1774.  They ran two notices in the March 25 edition of the Connecticut Gazette, the original advertisement and an update that gave a deadline for purchasing tickets.  In addition to that newspaper published in New London, they also placed the original notice in the Norwich Packet on March 24.  Between the two newspapers, the managers reached readers in the region likely to support the project.

They competed, however, with another lottery.  The managers of the “COLCHESTER LOTTERY” published their own “SCHEME” for their drawing.  The advertisements for the two lotteries appeared one after the other, filling almost an entire column in the Connecticut Gazette.  Immediately below them, Timothy Green, the printer and a local agent working on behalf of both lotteries, placed a notice advising that “Tickets in Colchester and Chelsea Bridge LOTTERIES are to be Sold by T. Green, in New-London, by Nathan Bushnell, jun. Aaron Bushnell, Joseph Knight, and David Belding, Post-Riders.”  In hopes of convincing colonizers to purchase their tickets, the managers of the Norwich Bridge Lottery emphasized that their endeavor served “the good Purpose of finishing said Bridge, which will be so greatly exposed, unless it can soon be completed.”

Preparations for a lottery could last as long as a year, but the managers aimed to complete the Norwich Bridge Lottery in six months.  In their update, they advised that they “hope to be ready to proceed to the drawing by the 20th of April next, or sooner.”  To meet that goal, they needed to sell all the tickets as quickly as possible.  They called on local agents like Green and the post riders to “dispose” of their tickets by April 1 or “return them in to the Managers.”  Similarly, they requested that “those who intend to be Adventurers in said Lottery will soon apply for their Tickets, that there may be no delay in the Drawing.”  That served the dual purpose of dispersing prizes to the winners and raising the funds necessary to complete the work on the bridge.  As with other lotteries for public works projects, the managers encouraged colonizers to contemplate both their own interests and the interests of their communities, anticipating that the combination would convince them to purchase tickets.

Connecticut Gazette (March 25, 1774).

September 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal (September 14, 1773).

“The Delaware Lottery, For raising … 15,000 Dollars for the Use of the COLLEGE OF NEW-JERSEY.”

Advertisements for lotteries to fund a variety of projects, including roads, bridges, and buildings, regularly appeared in colonial newspapers.  Usually they promoted local projects, but that was not the case in an advertisement for the Delaware Lottery that ran in the September 14, 1773, edition of the South-Carolina Gazette and Country Journal. Sponsored by the “Presbyterian Congregation at Prince-Town, AND THE United Presbyterian Congregations OF NEWCASTLE and CHRISTIANA-BRIDGE,” this lottery benefited the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

This was not the first time that a college in colony to the north looked to benefactors from the south.  Three years earlier, Hezekiah Smith visited Georgia and South Carolina to raise funds on behalf of Rhode Island College (now Brown University).  Rather than a lottery, he advertised a subscription list.  In recognition of their donations, benefactors would have their names listed alongside others who supported that worthy enterprise.  Smith also left instructions for stragglers to submit donations (and receive recognition for their benevolence) after his departure from the towns he visited.

The sponsors of the Delaware Lottery asserted that the “growing Importance of the College of NEW-JERSEY … is now generally known through every Province in America,” making it a worthwhile endeavor for colonizers near and far to support.  Located “[i]n the Centre of North-America” (by which the sponsors meant midway along the string of settlements along the Atlantic coast), the College of New Jersey “is well fitted for the most extensive Usefulness” to all of the colonies.  The school provided “a complete and finished Education, to all who are sent to it.”  The sponsors also declared that the college “has hitherto subsisted, and been raised to its present Situation, entirely by the Favour of the Public.”  In other words, no prominent benefactor or institution funded the college; instead, it depended on the generosity of individuals who chose to make donations … or purchase lottery tickets.

According to the “SCHEME” of the lottery, the sponsors sought to sell twenty-thousand tickets for five dollars each.  They planned to pay out most of what they collected, reserving “15,000 Dollars” or “Fifteen per Cent” of each prize for the college.  The sponsors reported that “a Number of Tickets are already engaged, and many Gentlemen of extensive Acquaintance have interested themselves in this Measure,” so anyone interested in participating needed to purchase their tickets soon to get them while they lasted.  Local agents in several towns in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia sold tickets.  A note at the end of the lengthy advertisement advised colonizers in South Carolina to submit letters to Charles Crouch, the printer of the newspaper that carried the notice, to forward to William Bradford and Thomas Bradford in Philadelphia.  Such letters “will be safely forwarded and answered by the first Opportunity that offers after the Receipt of them.”

With the drawing fast approaching in the first week of October, readers had little time remaining to indicate their desire to enter the lottery, win prizes, and support the College of New Jersey.  That support, the “Favour of the Public,” may have provided a lot less motivation than the prospects of significant payouts for many of those who purchased tickets, but none of them had to admit that was the case.  By holding a lottery rather than circulating a subscription list, the sponsors encouraged benefactors with the prospects of reaping benefits for themselves as an incentive for their philanthropy.

March 29

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy (March 29, 1773).

“A LIST OF Blanks & Prizes in Faneuil-Hall Lottery.”

A notice in the March 29, 1773, edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy informed the public that “A LIST OF Blanks & Prizes in Faneuil-Hall Lottery, THE LAST, as they are Drawn from Day to Day, may be seen at the Printing-Office in Queen-street.”  A decorative border enclosed the advertisement, lending it greater visibility among the news and several advertisements on the same page.

Throughout the colonies, lotteries funded all sorts of public works projects, including roads, bridges, market houses, and iron works, in the eighteenth century.  Following the destruction of the original Faneuil Hall in 1761, residents of Boston set about rebuilding the marketplace and paid for the project with a series of lotteries that took place over a decade. Newspapers in Boston often carried advertisements that encouraged colonizers to purchase tickets for the current “class” or drawing.  One class featured “F” tickets, with subsequent drawings having tickets for the other letters in “Faneuil” for the drawing held from 1767 through 1771.  The “LIST OF Blanks & Prizes” for 1773 came from another drawing, “THE LAST” of the series of Faneuil Hall lotteries.

Sponsors and managers of other lotteries usually pledged that they would publish a roster of winning tickets and prizes in the public prints.  Doing so simultaneously kept participants informed and held the managers accountable.  Lengthy lists filled entire columns and sometimes entire pages of colonial newspapers.  For the Faneuil Hall Lottery, however, the sponsors opted to avoid the expense of inserting the winning tickets in the newspapers and instead posted the results at the printing office operated by John Green and Joseph Russell, the printers of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy.

That contributed to the printing office’s status as a hub for disseminating information, though not always in print.  Green and Russell, like other printers, served as brokers of all kinds of information that never made it into their newspapers.  They regularly published advertisements that advised the public to “Enquire of the Printers hereof” to learn more.  In the same issue that carried the announcement about the “LIST of Blanks & Prizes,” an employment advertisement placed by a young woman seeking “to go into a small Family” as a cook and housekeeper and another inserted by a colonizer in need of “A MAID … that can be recommended for her … Activity in Household Affairs” both directed readers to contact the printers rather than the advertisers.  Anonymous notices offering enslaved people for sale in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy and other newspapers published in the city also concluded with instructions to “enquire of the printers.”  The arrival of visitors and messages in response to such advertisements, as well as though interested in the results of the Faneuil Hall Lottery, made the printing office a bustling center of information exchange, in print, in handwritten notes, and in conversation.

February 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (February 20, 1773).

“SCHEME Of the Third and last Class of GREENE’s IRON-WORKS LOTTERY.”

Colonizers in Rhode Island frequently resorted to lotteries to fund public works and other projects in the eighteenth century.  The press, especially the Providence Gazette, served as a vital resource for that funding mechanism.  Lottery sponsors promoted their projects in the newspaper, explaining the purpose of the project the lottery supported and encouraging readers to purchase tickets.  Notices in the Providence Gazette also facilitated accountability.  Sponsors published the terms of lotteries in advance and then notified the public of which numbers won prizes after the drawings occurred.

On occasion, the portions of the Providence Gazette devoted to advertising seemed to carry more news about lotteries than any other sort of paid notice.  Consider the February 20, 1773, edition.  Three advertisements, one after another, promoted lotteries.  In the first, the “Managers of the Wenscot Road Lottery” advised that they would hold “the First Class” or round of the lottery “at the House of Elisha Brown, Innholder, in North Providence” on February 25.  In the second, the “Managers of the Barrington Lottery” also set February 25 as the date of their first drawing, that one to be held “at the House of Colonel Nathaniel Martin, in Barrington.”  The third have the “SCHEME” or list of prizes and number of tickets for “the Third and last Class of GREENE’s IRON-WORKS LOTTERY.”  The sponsors previously held two other drawings.  The final one consisted of “3600 Tickets, at 4 Dollars each.”  The managers would draw 1385 “Benefit Tickets” for prizes that totaled $12,000.  That left $2400 “For the Iron-Works.”  Whether they participated or not, the public could review the accounting “SCHEME” for the lottery.

Such was the case for another lottery advertised elsewhere in the same issue of the Providence Gazette, that one “Granted by the Honourable General Assembly … for compleating the Repairs of King’s Church, in Providence.”  That lottery had “Four Classes” or a series of four drawings.  Purchasing tickets for one or more classes did not obligate colonizers to participate in all four.  The advertisement included the “SCHEME” and listed the managers who oversaw the lottery and sold tickets.  In addition, readers could purchase tickets “at the Printing-Office.”

In the previous issue, the “LIST of the fortunate Numbers in the Market-House Lottery, Class V,” filled two of three columns on the first pages, while a notice “To the PUBLIC” promoting “the Scheme for erecting and building a Bridge across Seaconk River, between the Towns of Providence and Rehoboth” filled an entire column and overflowed into another on the final page.  Many readers might have considered it an editorial rather than an advertisement.  Three other notices giving “schemes” of lotteries also ran on that page.  In total, advertisements concerning lotteries comprised five of the twelve columns in that edition of the Providence Gazette.  As they purchased so much advertising space, the managers appointed to oversee lotteries depended on the early American press in promoting their ventures and reporting on the outcomes.

September 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (September 12, 1772).

“This lottery being evidently designed to serve the Public … the Managers are persuaded it will meet with general Encouragement.”

Advertisements for lotteries that funded public works project accounted for a substantial amount of the content in the September 12, 1772, edition of the Providence Gazette.  A notice for the “GLOUCESTER South Road Lottery” asserted that it was “evidently designed to serve the Public, as travelling from Providence to Connecticut will be thereby rendered very commodious.”  Another lottery held for the purpose of raising funds “to build a Town Wharff in Warwick” was similarly described as “being designed to serve the Public,” prompting the manager appointed by the General Assembly to expect “good Encouragement” from colonizers purchasing tickets.    A third lottery advertised in that issue would pay for “repairing the Meeting House in the Town of Barrington; and also for purchasing and opening some Highways in said Town.”  Each of those advertisements indicated that “a List of the Prizes, when drawn, will be published in the Providence Gazette.”

Many colonial newspapers regularly carried lottery results.  Those results usually appeared in elaborate tables that listed dozens or even hundreds of winning tickets and the prize associated with each ticket.  The advertisement for the Gloucester South Road Lottery, for instance, indicated that it consisted of 1400 tickets with prizes for 467 of those tickets.  Similarly, the lottery for the wharf in Warwick had 353 prizes for “CLASS I,” its first drawing, and another 248 prizes for “CLASS II.”  On September 12, the Providence Gazette published the “LIST of the fortunate Numbers in the MARKET-HOUSE LOTTERY, CLASS III.”  A table that contained ten columns each for the winning tickets and prizes listed approximately eight hundred of those “fortunate Numbers.”  It spread across two of the three columns on the second page, extending three-quarters of the page, seeming to displace news from Quebec and London inserted in what space remained below the table.

Considered collectively, the advertisements for lotteries in Rhode Island and the list of winners in the Market House Lottery filled an entire page in a weekly newspaper that consisted of only four pages.  Just as those lotteries raised funds for various projects, they also generated revenues for John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette.  He may or may not have considered the list of “fortunate Numbers” news that he printed gratis as a public service, especially since it appeared on a page that otherwise did not feature advertising, but the notices encouraging readers to purchase tickets did run alongside other paid advertisements … and they ran for multiple weeks.  Colonizers who bought lottery tickets took a chance on winning a payout, but printing advertisements for lottery tickets was a sure thing for Carter and other colonial printers.

September 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

New-London Gazette (September 11, 1772).

“SCHEME Of the Second and last CLASS of a LOTTERY.”

An advertisement in the September 11, 1772, edition of the New-London Gazette promoted a “LOTTERY For raising Six Hundred Pounds, to repair and add to the Great Bridge over the Cove at Chelsea” in Norwich, Connecticut.  That was one of several public works projects in New England funded by lotteries in the era of the American Revolution.  The General Assembly passed “an especial Act” and appointed managers to oversee the lottery.  Local agents in half a dozen towns sold tickets.

Rather than hold a single set of drawings, the managers opted to sponsor more than one “class” of tickets and prizes.  Doing so gave colonizers more opportunities to participate, likely making it easier for the managers to meet their fundraising goals.  Winners in one class could reinvest in another, those less fortunate could try again, and others could purchase tickets for the first time.  The notice published in September concerned “the Second and last CLASS” limited to “2000 TICKETS at Fifteen Shillings each; of which 592 are Prizes.”  Tickets sales amounted to £1500, with £1200 paid out in prizes and the remaining £300 for the bridge.

The managers encouraged colonizers to purchase their tickets quickly because “the Tickets in the former Class were sold in less than two Months,” leaving “many people disappointed.”  They aimed to sell all the tickets in time to hold the drawing by the middle of October.  The managers pledged that “Proper Notice will be given of the Time and Place of drawing,” just as a “a List of Prizes will be published in the New London Gazette.”  By the time they encountered the advertisement for the lottery on the final page of the September 11 issue, readers likely saw the “LIST of the NUMBERS which came up PRIZES in Chelsea Bridge LOTTERY, Class the First; drawn August 31, 1772” that dominated the first page.  The printer managed to squeeze one advertisement into the right margin, but otherwise the list of winning numbers and the prizes associated with them was the only content that appeared below the masthead.  Publishing that list served many purposes, including giving a boost to the advertisement for the second class of the lottery that appeared elsewhere in the newspaper.

June 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (June 27, 1772).

“SCHEME Of a LOTTERY.”

Two notices concerning lotteries appeared among the advertisements in the June 27, 1772, edition of the Providence Gazette.  Managers alerted the public to the “MARKET-HOUSE LOTTERY” and a lottery for “mending the Gloucester South Road, leading to Connecticut.”  The General Assembly approved both lotteries and appointed managers “who have given Bond for the faithful Performance of their Trust” to oversee them.  Readers of the Providence Gazette regularly encountered advertisements for lotteries, a popular means of funding public works projects in Rhode Island and other colonies in the eighteenth century.

Managers often sponsored several stages or classes for their lotteries, giving colonizers multiple opportunities to participate.  The managers of the Market-House Lottery opted not to elaborate on the various classes, feeling that the “Scheme” of the lottery “has been lately published at large.”  Instead, they focused on “the Class now in Hand,” but did remind colonizers that “each succeeding Class becomes more valuable than the former.”  Why not wait for later classes?  The managers sold a limited number of tickets for each class.  Colonizers who participated in the previous class had “the Preference given them, before any other Persons, of purchasing an equal Number of Tickets in the next Class.”  The “Scheme” of the lottery incentivized buying tickets in the first class and continuing to buy tickets for each class.

The managers of the lottery intended to raise funds for mending the Gloucester South Road also described the “SCHEME” of their lottery.  They planned a drawing for the “First Class” of tickets “in a very short Time,” as soon as they sold 1400 tickets for a dollar each.  To entice readers to purchase tickets, the managers promoted both the prizes and the purpose of the lottery.  They reminded readers that the lottery was “evidently designed to serve the Public, as Travelling from Providence to Connecticut will be thereby rendered very commodious.”  They hoped to incite public spiritedness as a means of encouraging colonizers not enticed solely by the prizes.

November 23

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (November 23, 1771).

“SCHEME of a LOTTERY.”

Colonists in Rhode Island held lotteries to fund a variety of public works projects in the early 1770s.  After receiving approval from the colonial legislature, the sponsors kept readers informed about the progress on those projects and promoted the lotteries via newspaper advertisements.  The November 23, 1771, edition of the Providence Gazette, for instance, contained four advertisements about lotteries conducted to fund various projects, including “repairing and rebuilding the BRIDGE over Pawtucket River,” “reparing the ROAD … in I,” “purchasing a PARSONAGE, for the Use of the PRESBYTERIAN or CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY, in the Town of Providence,” and “building a STEEPLE to the Church in Providence, and purchasing a CLOCK to be affixed therein, for the Use of the Public.”  A fifth notice indicated that the “Managers of the Warwick Bridge Lottery” would draw numbers on December 6.

In three of those advertisements, the sponsors explained the benefits of the projects to encourage colonists to participate.  The directors of the lottery for Whipple’s Bridge noted that “keeping of Bridges in Repair” served “the Good of the Public in general.”  Residents of Providence, they continued, “more especially” had an interest in maintaining this particular bridge because “the Road over said Bridge leads directly to several large Towns in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay.”  Similarly, the directors of the lottery to fund repairs to the road in North Providence hoped to “meet with every Encouragement in the Sale of their Tickets” because “this Road leads directly through the Colony.”  In both instances, the sponsors asked colonists to do their part in supporting infrastructure that facilitated travel and the circulation of information and goods throughout the colony and beyond.

The General Assembly appointed John Smith, a merchant, to serve as manager of the lottery for building a steeple and adorning it with a clock.  In the advertisement outlining the “SCHEME of a LOTTERY” to support those projects, Smith opined that it was “universally allowed, that Steeples are in a particular Manner ornamental to a Town,” but that was not the only reason colonists, even those not affiliated with that particular church, should support the lottery.  “Reasons of a more important Nature,” he declared, “induce him to believe, that the Public-spirited, of all Denominations, will afford it every Assistance” … because “the former Church Steeple … was serviceable to Navigation as a Landmark.”  All residents of Providence would benefit from a new steeple, just as they would benefit from a town clock.  “The Utility of a Town-Clock,” Smith declared, “must appear obvious to every one.”  That being the case, he decided not to “offend the public Understanding, by offering Arguments to evidence its Usefulness.”  Smith believed that colonists needed less convincing about that part of the project.

The sponsors of the lotteries encouraged readers to follow their progress, noting that “the Prizes will be Published in the Providence Gazette, and punctually paid off.”  They also cautioned that any prizes not claimed within a specified period, six months or one year depending on the lottery, “will be deemed generously given to the Public” for the further maintenance of the projects they funded.

January 10

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Massachusetts Spy (January 10, 1771).

“AN exact List of Blanks and Prizes in Fanueil-Hall Lottery, to [be] seen at the Printing-Office.”

Printing offices were hubs for disseminating information in eighteenth-century America.  Many were sites of newspaper production, printing and reprinting news, letters, and editorials from near and far.  Many printers encouraged readers and others to submit “Articles of Intelligence” for publication in the colophons that appeared on the final pages of their newspapers.  Every newspaper printer participated in exchange networks, trading newspapers with counterparts in other towns and colonies and then selecting items already published elsewhere to insert in their newspapers.  Newspaper printers also disseminated a wide range of advertising, from legal notices to advertisements about runaway apprentices and indentured servants or enslaved people who liberated themselves to notices marketing consumer goods and services.  In many instances, newspaper advertisements did not include all of the relevant information but instead instructed interested parties to “enquire of the printer” to learn more.  Accordingly, not all of the information disseminated from printing offices did so in print.  Some printers also worked as postmasters.  Letters flowed through their printing offices.  Printers did job printing, producing broadsides, handbills, and pamphlets for customers, further disseminating information at the discretion of their patrons rather than through their own editorial discretion.  Many printers sold books, pamphlets, and almanacs posted subscription notices for proposed publications, and printed book catalogs and auction catalogs.

Yet that was not the extent of information available at early American printing offices.  Colonists could also visit them to learn more about the results of lotteries sponsored for public works projects.  An advertisement in the January 10, 1771, edition of the Massachusetts Spy, for instance, informed readers of “AN exact Lost of Blanks and Prizes in Fanueil-Hall Lottery, to [be] seen at the Printing-Office opposite to William Vassell’s, Esq; the head of Queen-street.”  Other newspapers published in Boston that same week carried the same notice but named “Green & Russell’s Printing-Office.”  The printers of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Post-Boy also played a role in disseminating information about a lottery that helped to fund a local building project.  Eighteenth-century newspapers sometimes included lottery results, the “Blanks” or ticket numbers and the corresponding prizes, but those could occupy a significant amount of space.  Rather than incur the expense of purchasing that space in newspapers, the sponsors of lotteries sometimes instead chose to deposit that information at printing offices, sites that collected and disseminated all sorts of information via a variety of means.  Printers served as information brokers, but they did not limit their efforts and activities to printed pages dispersed beyond their offices.  Sometimes colonists had to visit printing office or correspond with printers via the post in order to acquire information that did not appear in print.