Mrs. Jane Day, Boston Evening-Post, 14 May 1759, "Shop Advertisement," [in middle of column, below Elizabeth Campbell notice], Courtesy, American Antiquarian Society.

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Jane (Jannette) Day, Advertisement

Earlier in the 1750s, Elizabeth Murray had befriended a young immigrant, Jane, or Jannette, Day, who arrived in Boston with a very young daughter, Jackie, and no husband. Murray assisted the newcomer, helping to set her up in business in 1756 as an embroidery teacher.

Jannette Day placed advertisements in newspapers as far away as Newport. For a time, one of her pupils was Elizabeth's niece, Dolly Murray. As a teacher and milliner, Day supported herself for the next decade, until returning to Great Britain in 1769.

After she left America, Jannette Day became a devoted correspondent of Elizabeth Murray, writing her lengthy letters full of her sense of indebtedness to Murray and appreciation for her friendship.

For more on Jannette Day and women's business partnerships, see Patricia Cleary, Elizabeth Murray: A Woman's Pursuit of Independence in Eighteenth-Century America (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2000).

For other examples of colonial advertising, see Trade Cards, Broadsides and Advertisements in Browse the Collection portion of our site.