Providence Gazette

April 27

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (April 27, 1776).

“He is persuaded that none of his Readers will think him unreasonable in adding a Shilling to the Price per Year.”

The first advertisement in the April 27, 1776, edition of the Providence Gazette featured news for subscribers.  John Carter, the printer, informed them of an imminent price increase.  His own expenses had gone up in the year since the war began at Lexington and Concord.  “THE increased Price of Paper (the chief Article of a Printer’s Stock) and of almost every Necessary of Life, has been so great,” he explained, “that it must have naturally fallen within the Notice of every Reader of this Gazette.”  Given the circumstances that Carter believed honest readers acknowledged, he was “thereforecompelled to acquaint his Customers, that the Price thereof in future will be Eight Shillings per Annum.”

He emphasized that the situation “compelled” him to take this action rather than doing so willingly or eagerly.  Carter also noted that other printers had recently done the same, so he was not alone in seeking such a remedy to his financial woes.  “He likewise begs leave to inform [subscribers],” the printer stated, “that for the same Reason the Price of the Cambridge Paper,” the New-England Chronicle, “has been raised to Eight Shillings” and “the Philadelphia Evening-Post to Two Dollars.”  (Carter meant the Pennsylvania Evening Post.)  In addition, John Dunlap had recently advertised a price increase from ten to fifteen shillings for Dunlap’s Maryland Gazette; or, the Baltimore General Advertiser.  In consideration of those recent precedents, Carter was “persuaded that none of his Readers will think him unreasonable in adding a Shilling to the Price per Year, which is not quite a Farthing on each Gazette” or each issue of the newspaper.[1]

The printer pledged to honor the previous price for current subscribers “till the Year, or other Time for which each Subscriber contracted, shall be expired.”  Once their current year (or other amount of time previously agreed between printer and subscriber) came to an end, the new price went into effect.  Those who did not wish to continue their subscriptions “at the Price above mentioned, … are requested to give Notice to the Printer.”  Carter understood that money was also tight for his subscribers, but he hoped that they would accept a small increase in the annual subscription fee in order to continue receiving the news (about the war, politics, and other matters), editorials, advertisements, and other content he published and disseminated each week.

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[1] A farthing was worth one-quarter of a penny.  Carter published the Providence Gazette weekly.  An additional farthing for fifty-two issues amounted to thirteen pence … or one shilling and one penny.  Carter raised the price by only one shilling, so indeed “not quite a Farthing” for each issue.

April 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (April 20, 1776).

“Rasins by the Cask, Cocoa, Coffee, Chocolate, [and] Cinnamon.”

In the spring of 1776, the partnership of Clark and Nightingale advertised a variety of commodities available “At their Store in Providence, by Wholesale and Retail.”  Their inventory included “Muscovado Sugar, Rasins by the Cask, Cocoa, Coffee, Chocolate, [and] Cinnamon.”  Among the beverages they listed, tea was conspicuously absent.  That popular beverage had been so thoroughly politicized that it disappeared from newspaper advertisements.

Does this explain the rise of coffee as the more popular beverage in America?  Historian Michelle Craig McDonald, author of Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States, cautions that we should not be too hasty in reaching that conclusion.  Yes, the Tea Act angered colonizers to the point that members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Indigenous Americans dumped tea into Boston Harbor in December 1773 and residents of cities and towns throughout the colonies gathered for the ritual destruction of their own tea in bonfires.  That could have been the opening for coffee to eclipse tea in popularity.  For a time, coffee did become a substitute for tea.  McDonald relays a story of an innkeeper refusing to serve tea to John Adams but instead offering him coffee in July 1774.[1]  Yet she also cautions, as she did in a presentation at the American Antiquarian Society, that coffee eventually became a prohibited item enumerated in nonimportation agreements.  The first article of the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the First Continental Congress that went into effect on December 1, 1774, specified that the colonizers “will not import into British America … any Molosses, Syrups, Paneles, Coffee, or Pimenta, from the British Plantations” in the Caribbean.  McDonald asserts that “by 1775, coffee had become a political liability in its own right.”[2]

Yet coffee, unlike tea, did not disappear from newspapers advertisements.  It seemingly did not have the same political valence as tea.  In addition, as McDonald explains, “privateering stepped into the breach” by the time Clark and Nightingale advertised that they sold coffee.[3]  Loopholes allowed colonizers to enjoy the beverage.  In general, consumers never completely abstained from consuming tea or coffee.  Too much evidence demonstrates that they continued to drink both beverages even though they pretended otherwise.  Yet the notoriety associated with tea meant that it stopped appearing alongside coffee in advertisements.  Despite the boycott, readers still saw coffee listed alongside other commodities.

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[1] Michelle Criag McDonald, Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025),115.

[2] Coffee Nation, 115.

[3] Coffee Nation, 117.

March 23

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

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

Providence Gazette (March 23, 1776).

“No advantage is meant to be taken.”

As spring approached in 1776, James Green took to the pages of the Providence Gazette to advertise “GARDEN-SEEDS” that he sold “At his little Shop.”  He had done so in recent years, though the Continental Association, a nonimportation agreement devised by the Second Continental Congress that went into effect on December 1, 1774, and the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, seemingly had an impact on his business.  He previously promoted a “Fresh Assortment of Garden Seed, just imported in the last Ships from London,” in the spring of 1773 and a “Fresh Assortment of Garden Seeds, imported from London …, warranted to be all of the last Year’s Produce,” in the spring of 1774.  In 1776, on the other hand, he stocked some seeds that he described as “English, the Growth of the Season before last,” meaning that they arrived before the Continental Association went into effect.  This time around he also had seeds for a variety of “American Produce,” adapting his business to the changing times.

As was often the case, Green took the opportunity to hawk other merchandise, including “a few articles of English goods,” presumably imported more than a year earlier, “a small assortment of glass, stone and earthen ware,” and “loaf and brown sugar, coffee, chocolate, indico, rice, [and] flour.”  Tea was conspicuously missing from the list of groceries that Green stocked.  The shopkeeper did not merely list his wares.  He also assured prospective customers his merchandise “will be sold at as cheap a rate as the times will afford.”  In other words, he set reasonable prices, yet he acknowledged that the nonimportation agreement and the war resulted in higher prices.  Still, he sought to avoid suspicion that he engaged in price gouging: “No advantage is meant to be taken.”  In making that statement, he echoed the ninth article of the Continental Association.  It dictated that “such as are Venders of Goods or Merchandise will not take Advantage of the Scarcity of Goods that may be occasioned” by this agreement.  Green wanted the entire community to know that he dealt fairly with his customers.

March 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (March 9, 1776).

“Just PUBLISHED … An APPENDIX to Common Sense.”

Advertisements for Thomas Paine’s Common Sense continued to proliferate in the March 9, 1776, edition of the Providence Gazette.  Three weeks earlier, John Carter, the printer, announced that he had a local edition of the pamphlet “Now in the PRESS” and expected that copies would be ready for sale within a week.  To stoke anticipation, he trumpeted, “This Pamphlet is in such very great Demand, that in the Course of a few Weeks three Editions of it have been printed in Philadelphia, and to in New-York, besides a German Edition.”  The following week, he updated the advertisement to alert the public that he “JUST PUBLISHED” the pamphlet and sold it for “One Shilling single, or Eight Shillings per Dozen.”

Rather than continuing to run that advertisement, he once again revised it for the March 1 edition of the Providence Gazette.  This version eliminated the comment about the “very great Demand” for the pamphlet.  Carter also described his edition as “A NEW EDITION OF Common Sense,” replicating how William Bradford and Thomas Bradford described the edition they produced in collaboration with Thomas Paine after the author parted ways with Robert Bell, the publisher of the first edition of Common Sense.  Given that the Bradfords did not announce publication of that edition until February 14, the edition that Carter had “Now in the PRESS” on February 17 must have drawn from one of Bell’s editions or from John Anderson’s New York edition (drawn from one of Bell’s editions) published on February 8.  Why did Carter consider it necessary to revise his advertisement to describe his edition as “A NEW EDITION”?

He may have seen the dispute, first between Bell and Paine and later between Bell and the Bradfords, play out in advertisements in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers published in Philadelphia.  After all, printers exchanged newspapers so they could reprint news, letters, editorials, and other content.  During that dispute, the Bradfords emphasized that their edition included new material written by Paine, “An APPENDIX, and an Address to the People called QUAKERS.”  It did not take long for Bell to pirate those items and add them to “Large ADDITIONS to COMMON SENSE,” a collection of essays from newspapers, none of the written by Paine.

Carter acquired one of those pamphlets.  On March 9, he once again ran his advertisement promoting the “NEW EDITION.”  In a second advertisement, he announced publication of “An APPENDIX to Common Sense,” a separate item that sold for “Ninepence single, or Six Shillings per Dozen.”  Richard Gimbel indicates that this pamphlet included the “Address to the People called Quakers.”[1]  Perhaps Carter updated his advertisement in solidarity with the Bradfords.  He did not, after all, publish a local edition of “Large Additions.”  Carter did not explicitly wade into that controversy that gained so much attention in Philadelphia.  Instead, he kept the focus on distributing Common Sense and Paine’s supplementary materials.

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[1] Richard Gimbel, Thomas Paine: A Bibliographical Check List of Common Sense with an Account of Its Publication (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1956), 90.

February 17

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

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

Providence Gazette (February 17, 1776).

“This Pamphlet is in such very great Demand, that … three Editions of it have been printed in Philadelphia.”

On February 17, 1776, John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, became the first printer in New England to announce plans to publish a local edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.  “Now in the PRESS,” he proclaimed, “And on Thursday next will be Published … Common Sense: Addressed to the INHABITANTS of AMERICA, on the following interesting Subjects.”  Carter then listed the titles of the sections of the political pamphlet, replicating many of the advertisements that previously ran in newspapers published in Philadelphia and New York.  He even included the epigraph from “Liberty,” a poem by James Thomson, that appeared on the first page of the first edition published by Robert Bell and in many of Bell’s advertisements for the pamphlet.

Carter disseminated this advertisement on a Saturday, but readers had to wait until the following Thursday for the pamphlet to go on sale.  To stoke anticipation even more, he reported, “This Pamphlet is in such very great Demand, that in the Course of a few Weeks three Editions of it have been printed in Philadelphia, and two in New-York, besides a German Edition.”  Indeed, Bell first advertised Common Sense on January 9 and soon after advertised an unauthorized second edition.  Unhappy with Bell’s failure to earn a profit on the first edition, Paine turned to William Bradford and Thomas Bradford to publish a new edition with additional content.  Before its publication on February 14, Bell and Paine engaged in bitter exchanges in advertisements in the Pennsylvania Evening Post and other newspapers.  In their advertisement, the Bradfords also indicated that a “German edition is likewise in the press.”  Meanwhile, John Anderson advertised his local edition, the first printed in New York, on February 7.  Even if readers of the Providence Gazette had not previously heard much about Paine’s incendiary political pamphlet, Carter intended for its popularity in Philadelphia and New York to encourage sales of his local edition.  He clearly intended for retailers to purchase it to sell again, offering a discount of “One Shilling single, or Eight Shillings per Dozen.”  Perhaps he expected that supporters of the American cause would also purchase by the dozen and distribute them to friends and relations.  Allowing such a steep discount likely helped the pamphlet achieve even greater circulation.

February 11

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (February 10, 1776).

“A House of Entertainment in Providence.”

When John Fry relocated from Newport to Providence, he ran an advertisement in the Providence Gazette to “acquaint his Friends, and the Public in general, that he has opened a House of Entertainment … a little below the Great Bridge.”  To aid prospective patrons in finding the establishment where he “proposes to victual and lodge Gentlemen and Ladies,” he clarified that they should seek “the House owned by Mr. James Lovett.”  In addition to food and rooms available to residents of Providence and travelers to the town, Fry “has likewise good Accommodations for Horses, and will engage to keep them in the best Manner.”

While Fry certainly hoped to attract local patrons to spend some of their leisure time at his “House of Entertainment,” he also depended on the circulation of the Providence Gazette far beyond the town to generate business among travelers.  At the time, it was one of only two newspapers printed in Rhode Island … and the Newport Mercury, the other newspaper, experienced disruptions in publication in the early months of 1776.  Sometimes Solomon Southwick, the printer, only had enough paper for a half sheet edition of two pages rather than the usual four; other times he missed a week completely.  Such had been the case for several newspapers since the war began in April 1775.  The Providence Gazette previously had readers in Newport, but it became an even more important vehicle for disseminating news and advertisements when the Newport Mercury experienced disruptions.  Fry no doubt intended for “his Friends” in Newport who planned to visit Providence to see his advertisement in the Providence Gazette; he leveraged their familiarity with him when selecting where to eat and sleep when they came to his new town.  Yet he also addressed “the Public in general” throughout Rhode Island as well as eastern Connecticut and central and southeastern Massachusetts, knowing that the Providence Gazettecirculated in many towns in the region.

December 30

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

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

Providence Gazette (December 30, 1775).

“Great Allowance made to those that take a Quantity.”

The collaboration between John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, and Benjamin West, an astronomer and mathematician, continued for another year.  An advertisement in the final issue of the Providence Gazette for 1775 alerted readers that the “NEW-ENGLAND ALMANACK, Or, Lady’s and Gentleman’s DIARY, For the Year of our LORD 1776” by Benjamin West was “Just Published, and to be Sold by the Printer hereof.”  At the end of the advertisement, a manicule directed attention to a note that informed shopkeepers and others of a “Great Allowance made to those that take a Quantity.”  In other words, Carter offered steep discounts to retailers who purchased a significant number of copies to sell to their own customers.  That pricing scheme allowed them to turn a profit by setting prices that competed with customers acquiring the almanac at the printing office.

To entice customers of every sort, Carter provided an overview of the contents of the almanac.  In addition to the “usual astronomical Calculations,” it included “a particular Account of the Transit of Mercury, which will happen on the 2d Day of November, 1776.”  Carter stoked anticipation for that event, making it even more appealing by providing those who purchased the almanac detailed information to help them understand it.  The almanac also contained useful reference material, including “a Table of Coins, Time of holding Friends yearly Meetings; Courts in the New-England Government; List of public Officers; a compleat Table of Interest, at any Rate per Cent. Time of the Arrival and Departure of the Posts; [and] Description of the Roads.”  The almanac also served as a medical manual with several remedies, such as “a certain Cure for the Canker, a Cure for the Bite of a Rattle-Snake; [and] a Cure for the Dysentery, or Bloody-Flux.”  In addition to all that, the almanac had items selected to entertain or to educate readers, including a short essay “on Contentment,” “Humanity, a Poem,” and “a concise geographical Description of CANADA.”  That last item may have been of particular interest given the American invasion of Canada in hopes of winning support for the American cause.  Despite capturing Montreal in November, the attack on Quebec City failed in late December.  American forces withdrew.  The “concise geographical Description of CANADA” would not serve the intended purpose once word arrived in New England, though readers could consult it to supplement reports they read in the Providence Gazette and heard from others.  Overall, Carter aimed to convince prospective customers that this almanac has an array of features that merited selecting it for use throughout the new year.

December 17

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (December 16, 1775).

“THE Subscriber having entered into the American Army, desires all Persons indebted to him to make immediate Payment to his Wife.”

When William Barton, a hatter in Providence, “entered into the American Army” in 1775, he ran a newspaper advertisement that delegated responsibilities to his wife and a business associate.  He requested that “all Persons to indebted to him … make immediate Payment to his Wife, … who is legally impowered to give proper Acquittances, that he may be enabled to discharge his just Debts.”  It may not have been the first time that his unnamed wife oversaw accounts for the Barton household and her husband’s shop.  Like many other wives of shopkeepers and artisans, she could have had experience assisting her husband by tending to customers while he was busy or away from the shop.  She did not, however, assume responsibility for making sales during her husband’s extended absence while he served in the Continental Army, at least not initially.

Instead, Barton “inform[ed] his good Customers, and the Public in general, that he still continues to carry on the Hatter’s Business, at his Shop … where Mr. SETH LATHROP will supply all Person … with every Kind of Beaver, Felt and Castor Hats.”  Barton did not indicate whether Lathrop previously played a role in the business.  Had Lathrop been an employee or an apprentice who now ran the shop while Barton was away?  Did he take new orders and make new hats according to the tastes of Barton’s “good Customers” and new clients who responded to the advertisement?  Or did he merely sell hats already in stock when Barton enlisted in the army?  Barton’s notice did promise low prices, “the cheapest Rates,” and made assurances about the quality of the hats available at the shop, proclaiming that they were “warranted to be good.”

Barton also declared, “The Favours of the Public will be gratefully acknowledged, by their humble Servant.”  Although he deployed language that often appeared in newspaper advertisement to conclude his notice, he may have intended that his introduction would entice both his existing “good Customers” as well as new customers to support his business and, in doing so, his wife and their household.  Barton likely hoped to leverage his service in the “American Army” as a selling point for his hats.  After all, he chose to disclose that information first, making sure that it framed the overview of his shop that remained open during his absence.  Some advertisers espoused support for the American cause in their newspaper advertisements.  More significantly, Barton demonstrated his commitment to his political principles through his enlistment.  That merited special consideration for his “Hatter’s Business, at his Shop” that remained open in Providence.

November 12

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (November 11, 1775).

“WANTED to purchase, Five Thousand Weight of Hog’s Bristles, long and good.”

Cornelius Cooper, a “Brush Maker, from Philadelphia,” experimented with various marketing strategies when he relocated to Providence and placed advertisements in the Providence Gazette in the fall of 1775.  In an advertisement that ran for several weeks, he announced that the “makes and sells, Wholesale and Retail, Sweeping, Hearth, Cloaths, Shoe and Buckle-Brushes, and every other Article in the Brush Way.”  In other words, he produced every sort of brush for any sort of purpose that his customers needed.  He also made a pitch for local consumers to “Buy American,” asking that “every Friend to America, both in Town and Country, will encourage him occasionally” by making a purchase from his shop.  Only in the nota bene that concluded his advertisement did Cooper issue a call that “People will be careful to save their Hogs Bristles,” an essential material for making brushes, “for which he will give a good Price in Cash.”

In a subsequent advertisement, Cooper put his request for hog bristles front and center.  A headline in capital letters proclaimed, “READY CASH.”  The brushmaker explained that he sought to purchase “Five Thousand Weight of Hog’s Bristles, long and good,” and would pay six pence per pound.  Only after he caught readers’ attention with that offer did he list the inventory available at his shop in Providence.  Rather than name general categories of brushes, he made a display of the many kinds of brushes that he made and sold, including “Tanner’s and Currier’s Scouring and Blacking Brushes, Hatter’s Stopping and Planking Brushes, [and] best Weaver’s Sizing or Look Brushes.”  In addition to supplying consumers with brushes to use in their homes, Cooper aimed to supply artisans with brushes specific to their trades.  He also renewed his appeal for “a Lad about 14 Years of Age” to serve as an apprentice, but added that he “wanted, a smart active Negro Boy, about 14 Years of Age.”  Whether the enslaved youth would also learn how to make brushes or instead do other tasks in the workshop, Cooper did not specify.  He dropped the appeal to “every Friend in America,” though likely not because he noticed any discrepancy in advocating for the liberties of white colonizers and seeking to purchase an enslaved youth.  After all, acquiring bristles so he could stay in business seemed to be Cooper’s primary focus in his new advertisement.

October 22

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

Providence Gazette (October 21, 1775).

“THOSE Gentlemen … who have been entrusted with Subscription-Papers … are requested to return them.”

Among the various advertisements in the October 21, 1775, edition of the Providence Gazette, one requested that “THOSE Gentlemen, in this and the neighbouring Governments [or colonies], who have been entrusted with Subscription-Papers for printing A HISTORY OF THE BAPTISTS IN NEW-ENGLAND … return them to the Author,” Isaac Backus, “by the 15th of January next.”  Backus, a Baptist minister, advocate for religious liberty, and one of the founders of Rhode Island College (now Brown University), previously announced this project in an advertisement in the Providence Gazette ten months earlier in December 1774.  At that time, he indicated that “Subscriptions are taken in by the Author, by Mr. Philip Freeman, in Union-street, Boston; by the Printer of this Paper, and by others who are furnished with Subscription Papers in Town and Country.”

Like many other authors and printers, neither Backus nor John Carter, the “Printer of this Paper” who apparently planned to publish the History, went to press without first having an idea how many copies to produce to make the venture viable.  They disseminated subscription proposals to garner interest, asking those who wished to reserve copies to sign the subscription papers entrusted to local agents in their towns.  The combination of subscription proposals and subscription papers served two important functions, inciting demand and gauging the market.  Despite that level of sophistication, Backus did not write directly to the local agents who oversaw the subscription papers “in Town and Country” but instead ran a newspaper advertisement and expected local agents to see it and respond according to the directions in the notice.

Backus originally instructed that prospective subscribers should “send in their Names” by February 1, 1775, “that it may be determined what Number to print,” but the project had stalled as the imperial crisis intensified.  His new advertisement extended the deadline by nearly a year, though this time he reported that the “Work is now in the Press at Providence, and will be ready to deliver to the Subscribers by that Time.”  That seems to have been another miscalculation since the first of three volumes did not appear until 1777, printed by Edward Draper in Boston rather than by Carter in Providence.  The book had a circuitous path to publication.  Backus attempted to use newspaper advertisements to keep subscribers informed, but factors beyond his control intervened.