What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“Hancock and Washington handkerchiefs.”
William Adcock placed an advertisement in the September 17, 1776, edition of the Pennsylvania Evening Post to inform the public of a “VENDUE” or auction scheduled for the following day. He declared that “a great variety of goods suitable to the season” would “be exposed to sale.” He listed some of them, mostly textiles, to give prospective bidders an idea of the available goods. In addition to “spotted velvets, silk breeches pieces, … a large quantity of stripes and checks, … silk and worsted gloves and mits, [and] a large quantity of mens fine cotton stockings,” Adcock promoted “a great variety of other goods too tedious for an advertisement.”
He did not, however, find it “too tedious” to mention “Hancock and Washington handkerchiefs, and a great variety of other printed handkerchiefs.” As the Museum of the American Revolution notes, “newspapers, pamphlets, and books … convey[ed] information” during the era of the American Revolution, yet “[s]imilar technology of the time – engraved copper plates, presses, and type – were used to print other paper items used for practical purposes [and the] images used on one type of item were often copied and used on other types of items,” including handkerchiefs.
Most of the handkerchiefs at Adcock’s vendue likely featured decorative patterns, but the “Hancock and Washington handkerchiefs” sported portraits of the new nation’s most prominent political leader, John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, and its most prominent military leader, George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. A single handkerchief might have included images of both men. Alternately, the politician and the general may have been depicted individually on separate handkerchiefs, presenting patriotic consumers with more merchandise to purchase. Either way, the handkerchiefs simultaneously commemorated American leaders and commodified the American Revolution. Consumers could demonstrate their support for the American cause by purchasing and then using or displaying these handkerchiefs.
Few such handkerchiefs have survived, in part because textiles are so fragile. In 2023, the Museum of the American Revolution mounted an exhibition that included an anti-Stamp Act handkerchief and a heroes of the Revolution handkerchief (with Washington in the center and John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, General Nathanael Greene, and General Benjamin Lincoln in the corners), giving visitors to the museum (and the museum’s website) a glimpse of the commemorative items that the founding generation produced and purchased.