Classifieds News

Classified advertising is a very old form of communication; in fact, it is probably older than anyone would have ever expected. Public notices carved on stones among the ruins of Pompeii reveal that the ancient world knew the power of the written word. Offering a window into the needs and details of everyday life, early ads reveal much about the culture and times in which they were written. Read on for more details.

Early classified ads offer many historical clues into the details of daily life routines and needs, such as clothing and tools, from eras long faded into the mists of time. The first known handwritten notices to appear in public places nailed to posts and walls appear to date back to 15th century England. In the mid 1600s want ads for lost property were very common.

Colonial couple

In colonial America, the first classified ads appeared in 1704 in a publication known as the Boston News-Letter. The ad requested readers to indicate if they wanted to list houses, property, goods or merchandise and offered reasonable rates if they decided to do so (from 12 pence to 5 shillings). The ad was so successful that the concept of advertising spread all across the globe. Lost and Found ads were intermittently seen in various publications from the mid 18th through the 19th centuries. Consider the following ads, the first from The American Oracle of Liberty from January 1, 1778 and the second from The New York Times, dated March 22, 1865:

Found last week, a pair of SADDLEBAGS, containing a number of Apples, and other valuable eatables, &c. Enquire at Mrs. Jones’s Inn-holder, Worcester.

LOST AN OPERA GLASS IN A BLACK MOROCCO CASE, was lost on Monday Night at the Winter Garden by the young Man who fainted. The finder will be Suitably rewarded by returning it to no. 59 Bleecker St. or no. 630 Broadway in the store.

Benjamin Franklin

It is the ordinary events that make up the fabric of our everyday lives and nothing reveals them more accurately than newspaper accounts and ads. In the 18th century, there were several important newspapers. One issue of the 1750 Pennsylvania Gazette published by Ben Franklin is filled with letters from George Washington concerning news of the revolution and the needs and wants of his soldiers. The Massachusetts Centinel in April of 1790 became a champion of the Federalist cause and often published ads revealing what products colonial Americans desired and consumed.

A lot more revealing about the darker periods in America’s past, some classified ads of the early 1800s advertised for the return of runaway slaves. Often quite explicit, these ads included directions on what to do if the slave was captured, the amount of reward offered and a bonus for punishing the slave by lashing. Other similar ads dictated that the master of the runaway was to be found within a stipulated amount of time, and if that was not possible, the poor slave, as if a piece of livestock, was to be sold to the highest bidder.

After the Civil War, the nature of classified advertising began to slowly change. For one thing, African-American newspapers flourished and they permitted former slaves to place ads in search of members of their families who had either run away or had been sold on heartless auction blocks. An Information Wanted section evolved out of a need for former slaves and other immigrants (particularly the Irish searching for relatives who came to the United States after the Potato famine of 1848) to find their lost relatives. Many wives placed ads in newspapers looking for their husbands.

Burgeoning industrialization and the twentieth century revolutionized the newspaper industry as well as all others. The advent of the Information Age lessened the barriers to communication, as little by little the world became smaller and smaller via newspapers and their ads. Read all about the History of Classified Ads: Part II, coming soon to your neighborhood theaters.

By Marjorie Dorfman
May 7, 2009
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