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

“He has procured an European Dyer.”

Stephen Potter, a clothier in Coventry, Rhode Island, gave the public advance notice about a service he would soon offer.  In an advertisement that first appeared in the February 12, 1774, edition of the Providence Gazette and then continued on February 19 and 26, he advised “his old Customers, and all others” that he “begins colouring the first of March next.”

That expanded the range of services that the fuller provided when he processed woolen cloth “at his Clothier’s Works,” but Potter did not do so on his own.  Instead, he hired an employee (or perhaps acquired an indentured servant) who possessed skills that he did not.  As he explained to prospective customers, Potter “procured an European Dyer” who could “dye any Colour in Cloth or Yarn.”  The clothier highlighted the fact that his new dyer produced “a compleat Green.”

Entrepreneurs did not usually credit others who worked in their shops when they ran advertisements in colonial newspapers, but a few did so when they believed that acknowledging those who labored beside them or on their behalf helped in marketing the goods and services they sold.  In this instance, Potter’s “old Customers,” in particular, “and all others,” in general, likely knew that dying woolen goods was not a skill that he possessed.  As he sought to expand his business, Potter deemed it necessary to credit the “European Dyer” who recently joined “his Clothier’s Works.”

That did not prevent Potter from promoting his own contributions to the business, declaring that he “engages to dress his Work in the neatest Manner.”  Customers could expect the highest quality of both the fulling and the dying of cloth entrusted to Potter.  That Potter offered dying as an ancillary service distinguished his operation from other clothiers in the area.  That included John Waterman, a competitor who simultaneously ran advertisements in the Providence Gazette.