Colonial Era Advertisements

Early Day Ads

A revealing glimpse into the the life of early America can be found in the classified ads that appeared in the newspapers of the day.

The first ad in the Boston News-Letter in 1704 asking readers to list any houses, ships or goods for sale met with resounding success. The concept spread like wildfire, adopted by a growing number of newspapers throughout the colonies.

The colonial era advertisements you see here are from newspapers in our archives — including The Columbian Centinel, The Pennsylvania Gazette, The Boston News-Letter and The Connecticut Courant.

Colonial Era Advertisements

Click any of the images below for a larger view.
These images, in effect clip art, can be downloaded at no charge for personal use only. To download the large image to your computer, right-click the small image and select "Save target as" (Internet Explorer) or "Save link as" (Firefox). In exchange we would appreciate it if you gave us a credit line "Courtesy of Archiving Early America" and a link to our site, http://www.earlyamerica.com. These same images are also available for commercial use in a high resolution format. Clients who license our images include publishers, film production companies and graphic design studios. Please refer to our Licensing Fees and Terms and Conditions.

Browse Early American Images