The official site of Colonial Williamsburg - Primary Source: Virginia Gazette Advertisement

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Virginia Gazette Advertisement

EDWARD WALL,
AN EMINENT TAILOR,
(living in Richmond county, near Farnham church)
BEGS leave to inform the public that he has just imported all the newest fashions from London, and proposes to work on the following terms:

For making a dress suit,
£
1   5 0

For making a plain suit, 1   1 6

For making a Newmarket 0 10 0

For a lady's riding dress, 1   5 0

Cloaks of different kinds of different prices, for
READY MONEY, OR SHORT CREDIT.
Those ladies and gentlemen who please to favour him with their custom may depend on having their work done in the neatest and best manner.

Source: Virginia Gazette (Rind), March 3, 1774.

Letters, paintings, diaries, scrapbooks, toys, clothing, and bones that remain from the past are all examples of primary sources that help us learn about days, years, centuries, and eras gone by. The advertisement above is a transcription of a primary source (see also secondary source) document. It originally appeared in the Virginia Gazette, a newspaper published in Williamsburg in the eighteenth century. It was among many articles and advertisements that were saved, later found, gathered, and archived to ensure that we could go back to them to check what we know and what we continue to learn from them. [Note: Differentiating between primary and secondary sources is essential to research and comprehension skills as they relate to the National Standards for History.]

Advertisements in the Virginia Gazettte featured a vast variety of goods and services that reflect eighteenth-century life in the southern colonies. They reveal how people earned a living, how they spent their money and give insight about economy and the connection to Great Britain. The ads also reflect daily life, customs, lifestyles, and preferences, all valuable pieces of information to guide our appreciation and knowledge of colonial life.

Examine the type of language and appeal that Edward Wall used to try to get customers for the clothing he made. How does that compare to today's style of advertising? Note that the money is listed in three columns, showing the denominations of three English coins of the time, most valuable on the left, least on the right:

Pounds Shillings Pence

For more information about the English system of currency, try the "Merchant's Account" activity, which goes along with Colonial Williamsburg's A Day in the Life video series.

The publisher and the date of the newspaper are shown beneath the advertisement. "Rind" refers to Clementina Rind, a female publisher who took over the job when her husband died. The date was just two years before the American Revolution began.

Click here to see the entire glossary of terms relating to eighteenth-century colonial economy.

To further explore this primary source, see the Teaching Strategies section of this month's newsletter.

This article was written by Martha Berner, retired elementary school teacher, San Diego, CA.