Parchment

March 5

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

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

Supplement to the New-York Journal (March 2, 1775).

“PARCHMENT … Made and sold … [in] Philadelphia.”

In the early 1770s, Robert Wood made and sold parchment in Philadelphia, yet he did not confine his marketing or distribution of his product to that city and its hinterland.  As spring approached in 1775, he ran an advertisement in the supplement that accompanied the March 2 edition of the New-York Journal, advising prospective customers that they could acquire his parchment from local agents.  John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal, and Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, each stocked Wood’s parchment along with books, stationery, and writing supplies at their printing offices.  In addition, Joseph Dunkley, a painter and glazier, also supplied Wood’s parchment at his workshop “opposite the Methodist Meeting House.”  The New-York Journal circulated beyond the city, so some prospective customers would have found it more convenient to acquire Wood’s parchment from Isaac Collins, a printer in Burlington, New Jersey.  According to previous advertisements, Collins had been peddling Wood’s parchment to “friends to American Manufactures” for several years.

Wood asserted that the “Demand for this Parchment [was] much increased of late,” though he left it to readers to imagine why that was the case.  Most would assume that the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement that went into effect on December 1, 1774, played a role in increased demand for parchment produced in the colonies.  Wood likely intended for prospective customers to draw the conclusion that the quality of his product, not merely its availability, contributed to the demand.  He declared that “those who have tried it … esteemed [it] superior to most imported from England.”  He was bold enough to resort to superlatives, claiming that customers considered his parchment better than any imported to the colonies, yet he offered firm assurances about it quality.  Wood had recently met with so much demand for his parchment that he “extend[ed] his Works … to be able to supply his Customers in a manner more satisfactory than heretofore, without Fear of a Disappointment.”  In other words, he stepped up production to expand his inventory so every customer who wished to purchase his parchment could do so.  Wood answered the call of the eighth article of the Continental Association with his own “Industry” in producing “Manufactures of this Country” as alternatives to imported goods.

September 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Journal (September 14, 1774).

“PARCHMENT … esteemed superior to most imported from England.”

In September 1774, Robert Wood took to the pages of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet and the Pennsylvania Journal to promote the parchment that he made in Philadelphia.  To entice prospective customers, he resorted to a variety of appeals.  Most significantly, he invoked customer satisfaction, seeking to convince readers not yet familiar with his product that he already gained a positive reputation among those who had used it.  For instance, he declared that “those who have tried it” considered his parchment “superior to most imported from England.”  He previously encouraged readers to “Buy American” in another advertisement more than two years earlier.  As the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to consider how to respond to the Coercive Acts, including the possibility of another round of nonimportation pacts, Wood had a head start in presenting a “domestic manufacture,” an item produced in the colonies, as an alternative to imported parchment.  Customers did not have to sacrifice quality, plus they could acquire Wood’s parchment “at reasonable rates.”

To further bolster his reputation, Wood declared that the demand for his parchment had “much encreased of late.”  Those familiar with it wished to purchase it in greater quantities, at least according to Wood, another testimonial to the quality of the product.  Wood was prepared to meet the demand, having “extend[ed] his works, so that he now expects to be able to supply his customers in a manner more satisfactory than heretofore.”  Serving his customers included establishing a distribution network for their convenience in acquiring his parchment.  Joseph Crukshank, a printer in Philadelphia, sold Wood’s parchment, as did Isaac Collins, a printer in Burlington, New Jersey.  Taking all of this into consideration, Wood confidently declared that consumers who purchased and used his parchment could do so “without fear of a disappointment.”  He did not make an argument in favor of domestic manufactures as explicitly as he had in other advertisements, but perhaps he did not consider it necessary at a time that the imperial crisis had intensified so significantly.  Stating that his parchment had been “esteemed superior” to English imports sufficiently made the connection for readers, allowing Wood to focus on the demand for his product rather than convince prospective customers of their duty to privilege American products as a means of practicing politics.

January 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Gazette (January 9, 1772).

“Friends to American Manufactures will give the preference to his Parchment.”

Advertising campaigns that encouraged consumers to “Buy American” predate the American Revolution.  During the period of the imperial crisis that eventually culminated in thirteen colonies declaring independence, advertisers promoted “domestic manufactures” as alternatives to goods imported from England.  Robert Wood did so in the early 1770s.  He drew attention to “PARCHMENT MADE and SOLD by ROBERT WOOD” in an advertisement in the January 9, 1772, edition of the Pennsylvania Gazette.  Several printers also stocked and sold Wood’s parchment, making it convenient for consumers to acquire.

Producing parchment in Philadelphia might not seem like a significant act itself, but Wood insisted that “EVERY Manufacture carried on among us, however small,” yielded “good consequences to the country in general.”  He did his part to support the local economy and resist the abuses of Parliament (including duties on imported paper and other goods that had only recently been repealed) by making and selling parchment, but he needed consumers as partners to complete the transaction and truly make an impact.  For those who had concerns about the quality of his parchment compared to what they might acquire from merchants and shopkeepers who imported parchment, he asserted that “several of the most eminent Conveyancers in this city” had been purchasing from him “for some time past” and they considered his product “superior to the generality of what is imported.”  Furthermore, he set prices “as low as that imported,” yet another reason to purchase his parchment.

Wood concluded by reminding consumers that their choices in the marketplace had consequences.  He requested that the “friends to American Manufactures … give the preference to his Parchment” over any other, especially imported parchment.  In deploying such a title, “friends to American Manufactures,” Wood implicitly suggested to consumers that making other choices made them opponents of goods produced in the colonies and the welfare of their community.