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October 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Boston-Gazette (October 21, 1776).

“THE Publisher of this Paper being determined to remove to Boston during the Course of next Week.”

In the October 21, 1776, edition of the Boston-Gazette and Country Journal, Benjamin Edes announced his intention to return to Boston.  For more than a year, Edes had been printing the Boston-Gazette in nearby Watertown.  For two decades, Edes and John Gill published the Boston-Gazette in Boston, acquiring the newspaper from Samuel Kneeland and distributing their first issue on April 7, 1755.  During the imperial crisis, the Boston-Gazette gained a reputation for supporting the American cause.  Edes and Gill printed their final issue on Apri 17, 1775.  Two days later, the Revolutionary War began with the battles at Lexington and Concord.  Edes and Gill suspended publication of the Boston-Gazette.  At the time, every other newspaper in Boston ceased or suspended publication or moved out of the city.  Isaiah Thomas, for instance, moved the Massachusetts Spy to Worcester.  During the siege of Boston, Edes and Gill dissolved their partnership.  Edes relocated to Watertown, where the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met, and continued printing the Boston-Gazette there on June 5, 1775.  He retained the title and numbering following a suspension that lasted nearly two months.

After the British evacuated from Boston in March 1776, Edes and the Boston-Gazette remained in Watertown for more than half a year.  In late October, the printer ran advertisement announcing that he was “determined to remove to Boston during the Course of next Week.”  He hoped to maintain as many subscribers as possible, yet he also requested that “all those it will not accommodate to continue [as] his Customers there, to settle their arrears” to keep his ledgers in order.  Edes did not manage to “remove to Boston” within the week, but he did make it there within two weeks of running his notice.  The October 28 edition of the Boston-Gazette was the last one to feature “Printed by BENJAMIN EDES, in WATERTOWN” in the masthead.  Keeping to the weekly publication schedule, he printed the next issue in Boston on November 4, 1776.

Since December 21, 1719, the Boston-Gazette had been printed in Boston.  Initially, it had been printed by James Franklin and published by William Brooker.  The newspaper changed hands several times over the next five decades, but it remained in continuous publication.  It was one of the few American newspapers that did not suspend publication while the Stamp Act was in effect, yet the outbreak of hostilities caused Edes and Gill to dissolve their partnership and, after a brief hiatus, Edes continued the newspapers in Watertown.  The war continued, but Edes prepared to return the Boston-Gazette to Boston in late October 1776.

October 19

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

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

Providence Gazette (October 19, 1776).

“Books for Accounts made and ruled to any Pattern.”

In the fall of 1776, Henry Roby, a “BOOK-BINDER, from BOSTON,” took to the pages of the Providence Gazette “to inform the Public, that he carries on the Book-Binding Business, in all its Branches, at the Shop lately occupied by Mr. Benjamin Gladding, nearly opposite Mr. James Arnold’s Store.”  Roby did not indicate how recently he had arrived in Providence from Boston.  He might have just taken up residence after leaving a city that had experienced significant hardships when the Boston Port Act shut down the harbor in the summer of 1774 and during the siege of the city following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord in April 1775 or he might have departed Boston at some point in the past several years.  Artisans from that urban port sometimes continued to describe themselves as “from Boston” for years after they set up shop in another town.  Whatever the case, Roby recently moved into a shop where he had not previously conducted business.  He gave extensive directions to help prospective customers find it.

He also provided an overview of his services.  He suggested that he possessed both skill and experience when he stated that he “carries on the Book-Binding Business, in all its Branches.”  There was no aspect of that trade that he could not perform on his own.  He also chose to highlight certain services in a nota bene at the end of his advertisement.  Customers could have “Old Books re-bound or lettered” with the titles on the spine or cover.  In addition, merchants, brokers, or anyone keeping business or household accounts could have “Blank Books for Accounts made and ruled to any Pattern.”  Roby may have had some account books in stock, but he could also custom-make books to suit the needs of his customers.  They could send orders, though Roby likely preferred those who came to his shop for a consultation.  That allowed him to get the details right and perhaps even upsell them on other features or services.  Whatever customers ordered, Roby promised to complete the work “at the shortest Notice.”  The bookbinder apparently considered the advertisement worth the investment.  He inserted it in the Providence Gazette for seven consecutive weeks.

March 31

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

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

Supplement to the Pennsylvania Ledger (March 30, 1776).

“BLANKS and HAND-BILLS in particular are done on the shortest notice.”

In the spring of 1776, Melchior Steiner and Charles (Carl) Cist ran an advertisement “to acquaint the public, that they have removed their PRINTING OFFICE to the house of Ludwick Sprogrell, in Second-street” in Philadelphia.  In their new location, the partners “carry on the PRINTING-BUSINESS in its different branches, in the English, German, and other languages, with care, fidelity & dispatch.”  That had been a common appeal in advertisements that they previously placed in several newspapers in December and January, emphasized in a headline that proclaimed, “PRINTING In ENGLISH, GERMAN, and other Languages.”  By the time they relocated, Steiner and Cist collaborated with William Bradford and Thomas Bradford, the printers of the Pennsylvania Journal, in printing a new edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense approved by the author and a German translation of the popular pamphlet.

Yet the printers did not limit themselves to books and pamphlets and other major projects.  They concluded their advertisement with a note that “BLANKS and HAND-BILLS in particular are done on the shortest notice.”  In other words, they accepted all sorts of smaller job printing assignments, quickly producing documents useful in business.  “BLANKS” referred to a variety of forms so commonly used that it saved time to print them in volume and then write the details by hand for each transaction.  In an advertisement in the Providence Gazette, John Carter listed more than a dozen kinds of blanks he printed, including “long and short Powers of Attorney, long and short Deeds, Bills of Sale, Bills of Lading, Portage Bills, Policies of Insurance, Apprentices Indentures, [and] Bonds of various Sorts.”  When it came to “HAND-BILLS,” customers used them to promote consumer goods and services, sometimes supplementing newspaper advertisements, and to disseminate news about politics, meetings, and other current events.  That printers so often advertised that they printed handbills suggests that many more of those items circulated in early American cities and towns than have survived in research libraries, historical societies, and private collections.  Steiner and Cist printed both blanks and handbills “on the shortest notice,” indicating that customers expected their orders to be filled speedily so they could get more information into circulation.

December 18

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

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

Connecticut Courant (December 18, 1775).

“Gentlemen in the army … forwarding their commands by any of the post-riders, may depend on fidelity and dispatch.”

Thomas Hilldrup, a watch- and clockmaker, had a history of running engaging advertisements in newspapers printed in Connecticut in the 1770s.  He once again took to the pages of the Connecticut Courant and Hartford Weekly Intelligenceron December 18, 1775, this time informing existing and prospective clients that he had moved to a new location.  In framing this announcement, he asserted that he had already built a reputation and earned the trust of many customers.  Having been “imboldened by the many favours received of the indulgent public,” Hilldrup declared, he “hereby informs them that for the conveniency of his business, he has removed his shop a few rods north of the State-House, to that, for many years, occupied by Dr. William Jepson.”  He supplemented this announcement with assurances about his skill and the quality of his work, stating that he “continues to repair watches properly and warrant them as usual.”

Realizing that the Connecticut Courant circulated far beyond Hartford, Hilldrup took the opportunity to address “Gentlemen in the army, or others at a distance.”  Like other watchmakers, he provided mail order services for cleaning and repairs.  He promised those clients that by “forwarding their commands by any of the post-riders” they “may depend on fidelity and dispatch.”  As the Continental Army continued the siege of Boston, Hilldrup may have known that some of the clients he served in recent years too part in that endeavor.  In an unfamiliar place that experienced some of the most significant disruptions during the first year of the Revolutionary War, they may have been at a loss to identify local artisans that they trusted to do repairs and perform routine maintenance.  That might have made Hilldrup’s mail order service look especially attractive.  The watchmaker likely also hoped that others enlisted in the army (as well as “others at a distance”) who had not previously availed themselves of his services would be influenced by his claim that he already established a robust clientele, those “many favours received of the indulgent public” that he invoked at the beginning of his advertisement.  Whether or not this strategy proved effective, Hilldrup envisioned “Gentlemen in the army” as a new category of customers to target in his marketing.  The Revolutionary War presented opportunities to savvy entrepreneurs as well as challenges and disruptions.

October 24

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

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (October 25, 1775).

“THE AMERICAN GLASS STORE is removed from Second-street.”

The advertisement consisted of only five lines in the October 24, 1775, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post, yet it spoke volumes about the current events.  “THE AMERICAN GLASS STORE,” the notice informed the public, “is removed from Second-street, to James Stuart’s in Front-street, below Walnut-street, where shopkeepers and others may be supplied with an assortment of FLINT and GREEN GLASS WARE, at reasonable rates.”  It was one of many advertisements that presented opportunities for colonizers to “Buy American” during the imperial crisis that eventually became a war for independence.

On several occasions, supporters of the American cause participated in boycotts in hopes of using their participation in the marketplace as leverage to achieve political ends.  They organized nonimportation agreements in response to the Stamp Act in 1765 and in response to the duties levied on certain imported goods, including glass, in the Townshend Acts in the late 1760s.  Simultaneously, they called for “domestic manufactures” or goods produced in the colonies as alternatives to imported wares.  In August 1769, Richard Wistar advertised products from his “GLASS-WORKS,” items “of American manufactory” produced in Pennsylvania, “consequently clear of the duties the Americans so justly complain of.”  The most extensive and coordinated boycott, the Continental Association devised by the First Continental Congress in response to the Coercive Acts, went into effect on December 1, 1774.  Within a week, the “Proprietors of the GLASS HOUSE near this city,” Philadelphia, advertised “White and Green Glass Ware; Such as are usually imported from Great-Britain.”  The proprietors accepted orders from “store-keepers and others, both of town and country.”  As the imperial crisis intensified, savvy entrepreneurs opened an “AMERICAN GLASS STORE” in Philadelphia, an establishment that specialized in glassware produced locally.  The Continental Association specified that colonizers “will, in our several Stations, encourage Frugality, Economy, and Industry; and promote Agriculture, Arts, and the Manufactures of this Country.”  Local producers of glassware delivered, but they needed retailers and consumers to do their part as well.  The brief advertisement in the Pennsylvania Evening Post let shopkeepers and other customers, all of them very much aware of the events of the last decade, know where they could express their political principles by purchasing American glassware.

July 6

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

New-York Journal (July 6, 1775).

“Removed next door to the white corner house … a dial plate over the window.”

John Simnet, a cantankerous watchmaker who frequently advertised in New York’s newspapers in the early 1770s, once again took to the pages of the New-York Journal in the summer of 1775.  In this notice, he announced that he “continues to repair and clean old watches … and sells new watches.”  He took a neutral tone in that notice compared to the derogatory declarations he sometimes made about his competitors in other advertisements.  Simnet did state that he cleaned and repaired watches “much cheaper and better than is usual,” comparing the price and quality of his services to those offered by other watchmakers, but he did not denounce any competitors by name or launch into a diatribe about the general incompetence of those who followed an occupation he often claimed as solely his own.  He also described himself as “one of the first who brought this curious and useful manufacture to perfection,” but limited that comment to promoting his own work rather than denigrating other watchmakers.

Perhaps Simnet was more interested in drawing attention to his new location.  He moved from a shop “at the Dial, next Beekman’s Slip, in Queen Street” to a shop “next door to the white corner house, New-York, opposite to the Coffee-House, and lower corner of the bridge.”  Detailed directions were necessary.  Neither New York nor any other town had standardized street numbers in the 1770s, though some of the largest port cities would begin assigning them by the end of the century.  Sinnet resorted to landmarks to direct customers to his shop.  Like many other entrepreneurs, he also marked his location with a device that represented his business, “a dial plate over the window.”  It may have been the same “Dial” that had adorned his previous location.  If Simnet did transfer the “dial plate” from one shop to another, he maintained a consistent visual image for customers and others to associate with his business.  Other entrepreneurs who placed advertisements in the July 6, 1775, edition of the New-York Journal also used images to mark their locations, including James Wallace, a lacemaker and tailor “At the SIGN of the HOOD,” and William Pearson, a clock- and watchmaker “At the Dial, in HANOVER-SQUARE.”  That a competitor displayed a dial made Simnet’s elaborate directions imperative.  He did not want prospective customers stopping by another shop by mistake.

April 26

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (April 26, 1775).

“He still carries on the Cabinet business … no advantages shall be taken of the present times.”

Henry Jacobs had confidence in the circulation of the Pennsylvania Journal when he placed an advertisement in the spring of 1775.  Addressing “his friends and the public in general,” he declared that he “still carries on the Cabinet business in all its branches, at Church Hill, in Queen Ann’s county, Maryland.”  That small town on the colony’s eastern shore was approximately eighty miles from Philadelphia, the bustling port where William Bradford and Thomas Bradford printed the Pennsylvania Journal, yet Jacobs considered advertising in that newspaper a sound investment.  He may not have expected to gain any customers in Philadelphia, but he realized that the Pennsylvania Journal served an extensive readership in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.  That meant that “the public in general” in Queen Anne’s County might see his advertisement as copies of the Pennsylvania Journal circulated there.

Yet some of the language in his advertisement suggests that Jacobs did not yet have friends and customers in Maryland.  Near the end of his notice, he stated that he “hopes to establish a useful trade in said place,” indicating that he may have been a newcomer there.  Perhaps Jacobs relocated from Philadelphia.  When he announced that he “still carries on the Cabinet business … at Church Hill,” the “still” may have referred to pursuing his trade but not the location.  Jacobs’s advertisement might have been a moving notice, alerting customers that he left one town and opened a workshop in another.  He hoped to maintain at least some of his former clientele.  If that was the case, it also helps to explain why he chose to advertise in a newspaper published in Philadelphia rather than the Maryland Gazette printed in Annapolis.  Furthermore, he sought an apprentice and a journeyman “of abilities and good recommendation,” possibly seeking staff to assist him at his workshop in a new town.

Like many other colonizers who advertised goods and services, Jacobs expressed gratitude to “his friends and customers, for the favours he has already received.”  Doing so signaled to readers not familiar with him or his furniture that he was an established artisan.  He underscored his skill and experience when he trumpeted that he “has given due proofs of his workmanship.”  Jacobs intended to bolster his reputation, especially when he stated that customers previously placed orders “beyond his expectations.”  Such appeals could have resonated with customers in both Philadelphia and Queen Anne’s County.  The primary purpose of his advertisement, after all, was not to proclaim “his most humble thanks” but instead to drum up new business.  To that end, he asserted that he “hath it now in his power to serve [his customers] better than before,” though he did not explain what he meant when he gave those assurances.  If he had been in Church Hill for some time, perhaps he made improvements to his workshop or acquired new tools.  If he was new to town, he may have referred to his new workshop.  Whatever the case, he promised that “no advantages shall be taken of the present times.”  Jacobs likely had not heard about events at Lexington and Concord on April 19 when he composed his advertisement and submitted it to the printing office.  The “present times” became more complicated as the imperial crisis became a war.

November 16

Carl Robert Keyes Uncategorized , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (November 16, 1774).

“For the better conveniency of his customers … leav[e] their orders at the store of Messieurs ROBERT and NATHANIEL LEWIS.”

Moving to a new location had caused some difficulty for Francis Wade, a brewer, prompting him to insert an advertisement in the Pennsylvania Journal in hopes of remedying the situation.  He formerly operated his brewery in the vicinity of “Hamilton’s Wharf, near the Draw-Bridge,” in Philadelphia, but in the fall of 1774 he could be found on Fourth Street “at the corner of Race-street.”  Wade reported that he had been “informed by a number of his friends,” likely including some of his former neighbors, “that his old country customers and other that inclined to deal with him, have been at a loss to find him out” since he moved.  Although many residents of the city knew about his new location, his “former customers” from the countryside did not have the same familiarity with the happenings in Philadelphia.  Since the Pennsylvania Journal circulated far beyond Philadelphia, Wade hoped that his notice would reach them and encourage them to seek him out on Fourth Street.

The brewer realized that his new location might not have been as convenient for some customers as his old one, so he used his advertisement as an opportunity to offer them an alternative.  Wade instructed “his customers down town, masters of vessels, shallopmen, and others” that they could place their orders at the store operated by Robert Lewis and Nathaniel Lewis.  When they did so, they could expect that they would “be served as expeditious as when he lived in that neighbourhood.”  Wade enlisted the aid of associates in his efforts to maintain and grow his client base, seeking to ameliorate an obstacle that he encountered following “his removal from his old Brewery.”  Working with the Lewises allowed him to maintain a presence in the vicinity of his former location.  Running newspaper advertisements made that presence visible to his “country customers” and other prospective customers.  Wade endeavored to sell “all sorts of BEER for exportation or home consumption as usual,” yet his move caused him to devise new methods of doing business that had not been part of his usual routine.

September 25

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

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

Boston Evening-Post (September 19, 1774).

“Next Door to Dr. Daniel Scott’s, at the Sign of the Leopard.”

In the fall of 1774, William Breck ran an advertisement “to inform his Friends and Customers” that he had moved to a new location.  They would no longer find him at his shop “at the Golden Key, in Ann-street” but instead at a shop “near the Hay-Market, next Door to Dr. Daniel Scott’s at the Sign of the Leopard, South-End of BOSTON.”  Even though he moved, he “continues to sell, as usual, A general Assortment of Hard-Ware GOODS … at the lowest Prices.”

Breck’s advertisement documented some of the visual culture of commerce that residents and visitors encountered as they traversed the streets of the busy port.  Both devices, the Golden Key and the Sign of the Leopard, had also circulated more widely via other media.  Breck distributed an engraved trade card that included an image of an ornate key suspended within a cartouche above a list of the merchandise he stocked “at the Golden Key near the draw-Bridge.”  Paul Revere produced the trade card in the late 1760s, yet Breck might have given out copies well into the 1770s.  (Mary Symonds, a milliner in Philadelphia, commissioned a similar trade card in 1768.  She wrote a receipted bill on the back of one of them in 1770.)  Breck’s advertisement ran on its own in the September 22 edition of the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Weekly News-Letter, but it just happened to appear immediately below Scott’s advertisement for his “Medicine Store” at “the Sign of the LEOPARD” featuring a woodcut depicting a leopard in the September 19 edition of the Boston Evening-Post.  That image had been circulating in that newspaper for several months, making the Sign of the Leopard an attractive option when Breck decided to include a familiar landmark to help orient customers to his new location.

Breck did not mention whether the Golden Key moved with him or remained as a fixture on Ann Street, marking the location for the next tenant in his former shop.  He had previously made quite an investment in associating the image with his business.  Engraved trade cards, after all, were much more expensive than newspaper advertisements, handbills, and broadsides.  Did he surrender an aspect of the branding associated with his business for many years when he relocated?

September 10

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

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

Providence Gazette (September 10, 1774).

“He has removed his Shop to … the Sign of the Hat in Hand.”

When William Barton moved to a new location as the summer came to a close in 1774, he placed an advertisement in the Providence Gazette to inform “his good old Customers in particular, and the Public in general” where to find him.  Having established a clientele, the hatter did not wish to miss out on subsequent business if customers went to his former shop and did not discover him there.  All prospective customers, whether or not they previously acquired hats from Barton, could recognize his new location by the “Sign of the Hat in Hand.”  The hatter did not indicate whether that marketing device had marked his previous location or if it was an innovation on the occasion of setting up shop on Weybosset Street.  Either way, it became part of the landscape of advertising that colonizers encountered as they traversed the streets “near the Long Wharff” in Providence.

To entice consumers to visit his shop, Barton made a variety of appeals.  He promised quality, stating that he made hats “in the best Manner.”  He emphasized fashion, declaring that his hats reflected “genteelest Taste.”  He touted his own skill and industriousness, asserting that “the greatest Expedition” went into producing his hats.  He offered choices to consumers, proclaiming that his inventory included “all Kinds of Hats.”  For his boldest appeal, he trumpeted that he was “determined to dispose of his Hats on as reasonable Terms as any Hatter in America.”  Barton did not merely compare his prices to his local competitors.  He confidently declared that consumers would not find any better deal anywhere, even if they sent away to Boston or New York or any other city or town in the colonies.  He challenged readers to visit his shop, learn his prices, and judge for themselves.  If his claim could get potential customers through the doors, that increased his chances of making sales.  Though his advertisement was not particularly lengthy, Barton incorporated many of the most common marketing appeals advanced by artisans in eighteenth-century America, anticipating that they collectively became more even more convincing.