Two Tea Documents on Display

In case you missed it, last December we exhibited a broadside concerning the shipment of tea that arrived in Boston Harbor in November 1773. The question of what to do with this tea culminated in its destruction in the harbor on December 16, a monumental event that we know of as the Boston Tea Party. We're happy to share that the broadside is once again on display this month, along with a companion letter that was issued by the Boston Committee of Correspondence at the same time.

The broadside describes meetings held on November 28, 29, and 30 when residents of Boston and nearby towns gathered to discuss the matter of the tea. Click over to our blog post from last year to read about it in detail.

Serving as a companion to the broadside is the letter issued by the Boston Committee of Correspondence, which serves as a brief cover letter for the broadside. Displaying them together helps us to interpret how news was disseminated throughout the Commonwealth during the Revolutionary Period. Committees of Correspondence were established throughout the thirteen colonies in the 1770s, and the Massachusetts committee got its start in Boston in 1772. Through letter writing, committees formed a network of communication throughout towns in the Commonwealth, as well as between the colonies. Massachusetts’ was headquartered in Boston, and this letter is signed by William Cooper, whose signature appears on many of the 18th century documents in our collection. He served as Boston’s Town Clerk in addition to being a member of Boston's Committee of Correspondence.

As the meetings regarding the shipment of tea were held in Boston, it was the Boston Committee of Correspondence to issue both the displayed broadside and the companion letter. The letter notes that the three-day meeting was moved from Faneuil Hall to Old South Meeting House (a detail also included in the broadside), by writing “On Monday last this and the neighbouring Towns as one Body convened at Faneuil-Hall, ‘till the Assembly were so numerous as occasion’d an Adjournment to the Old South Meeting-House, where it was computed there was upwards of 5000 persons.” Though many individuals attended the meeting in person, the news still needed to be spread throughout the Commonwealth, most pressingly, to provide an account of the matters that were voted upon. As such, an account of the meeting was printed as the broadside, and then it was sent along with the letter to various towns. We are thrilled for the opportunity to display these items together, as intended.

As the Preservation Librarian, I must include a note on the logistics of displaying an item two years in a row. Materials in our Collection Spotlight are only on display for a period of 30 days at a time, as we limit the amount of time that they spend out of dark, climate-controlled storage. The Collection Spotlight case has a microclimate that is conditioned to 68% relative humidity, and its viewing panel is “SmartGlass” which has UV filters and a layer of light-controlling film. When not in use, the glass portion of the case is dark, until it is activated by a button which lights the case for 30 seconds. This allows the case to remain dark for the majority of the time and only illuminated when a visitor wants to view the exhibited item, allowing us to safely display even our most sensitive items on a more frequent basis than if they were in a regular case. While the tea broadside won’t make an appearance every year, the conditions of the Collection Spotlight case ensure that it is safe to display it two years in a row.

Mark the December 16th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party by visiting the library to see these two documents on exhibited together. They are on display from December 2 through January 6. Huzzah!

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

Detestable Tea! Boston Tea Party Broadside on Display

December 16th marks the 251st anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Just over two weeks prior to the now famous event, a two-day meeting occurred where residents of Boston and nearby towns met to discuss what to do with a shipment of tea from England that was sitting in Boston Harbor. At the conclusion of those meetings, a broadside was issued with an account of what was discussed and decided. We hold one of those broadsides in our collection, and in honor of the Tea Party’s anniversary, we’re sharing it this month in our Collection Spotlight case.

A shipment of tea from England arrived in Boston Harbor on November 28, 1773 and on November 29 and 30, citizens of Boston and nearby towns gathered at Faneuil Hall to determine the "proper and effectual method to prevent the unloading, receiving, or vending the detestable TEA sent out by the East India Company." When the gathered group became too large, the meeting was moved to Old South Meeting House. For those who could not attend, an account of that meeting was published as a broadside the next day, December 1, 1773. Throughout the written account, the ship holding the tea is referred to as “Captain Hall’s ship,” but this ship is better known by its name, the Dartmouth, which was under the command of Captain James Hall and was one of three ships that brought tea to Boston Harbor, the other two being the Beaver and the Eleanor. In a previous blog post, one of our reference librarians wrote about the significant tax-related events that occurred in the years and months leading up to the Tea Party, along with the actions that followed in the immediate aftermath of this two-day public meeting. 

The linked blog post puts this broadside in historical context, and is an informational complement to the displayed broadside. We encourage you to read through that post, and then click on the image above or download the broadside from our digital repository to read it in its entirety. There are some key individuals and events to note in the broadside, as highlighted below. In addition to the aforementioned Captain Hall of the Dartmouth, others are: 

The Body: the term used to describe the group assembled.

Jonathan Williams, Esquire: named as moderator to help facilitate the meeting.

Francis Rotch: A whaler from New Bedford and part owner of the Dartmouth.

Captain Edward Proctor and Ezekiel Cheever: the Body passed a motion to establish a security night watch over the Dartmouth to prevent it from being unloaded. Capt. Proctor and Cheever were named as Captains of the Watch. The watch consisted of a group of 25 volunteers, who were instructed to raise alarms if anything happened to them or the ships during their watch.  

Mr. Copley: better known by his full name, John Singleton Copley. Copley was a painter who leaned politically neutral; he was friendly with patriots Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams, but his family had Loyalist ties and his father-in-law, Richard Clarke, was one of the consignees of the tea in this shipment in question. Clarke's company, Richard Clarke & Sons, included his sons Jonathan and Isaac. Other tea consignees included Thomas Hutchinson Jr., Benjamin Faneuil, and Joshua Winslow. Because of his relationship with the Clarkes, Copley served as a go-between the two parties during the course of the meeting. In fact, one of the proposals he brought to the assembly was in regard to the consignees' safety:

“A proposal of Mr. Copley was made, that in case he could prevail with the Mess. Clarkes to come into this meeting, the question might now be put, whether they should be treated with civility while in the meeting, though they might be of different sentiments with this body; and their persons be safe until their return to the place from whence they should come – and the question being accordingly put, passed in the affirmative.”

Despite Copley sharing this information with the consignees, ensuring their safety, they declined to attend the meeting. They stated that they believed 

“nothing would be satisfactory (to the Body) short of re-shipping the tea, which was out of their power, they thought it best not to appear, but would renew their proposal of storing the tea, and submitting the same to the inspection of a committee, and that they could go no further, without incurring their own ruin but as they had not been active in introducing the tea they should do nothing to obstruct the people in their procedure with the same.” 

Though the Clarkes did not attend the meeting, Dartmouth’s Captain Hall and owner Francis Rotch did attend when requested, along with the captains and owners of the other ships expected to arrive with tea: for the Eleanor, Captain James Bruce and John Rowe, and for the Beaver, Captain Hezekiah Coffin (like the Dartmouth, the Beaver was owned by the Rotch family). The meeting concluded with the following resolution, and the vote was then printed and sent to seaports within the colonies and to England: 

“if any person or persons shall hereafter import tea from Great-Britain, or if any master or masters of any vessel or vessels in Great-Britain shall take the same on board to be imported to this place, until the said unrighteous Act shall be repeal’d, he or they shall be deem’d by this Body an Enemy to his Country, and we will prevent the landing and sale of the same, and the payment of any duty thereof. And we will effect the return thereof to the place from whence it shall come.” 

The account of this two-day long meeting reflects the intensity of the situation, as well as the complicated nature of trying to figure out what to do with this detestable tea when there were multiple parties deadlocked on how to proceed - the Royal Governor and consignees, the ship owners and captains, and the colonists! Though we know that the story ends with the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor, the displayed broadside is an important primary source account of the sentiment and actions that lead to that event. Take advantage of the opportunity to see it in person by visiting our reading room from December 3 through January 7. Huzzah! 

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

Celebrate Patriots’ Day and National Poetry Month

In honor of both Patriots’ Day and National Poetry Month, visit our Flickr page for a selection of historical and patriotic poetry. In this small set, read about the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Paul Revere, and how to be a patriotic citizen.

Poems were taken from Poems of American Patriotism, Longfellow’s Poems, Poems: Being Volume IX of Emerson’s Complete Works, and The Spirit of the American Revolution, as Revealed in the Poetry of the Period, all volumes from the State Library’s Special Collections Department.

For more poems and literary works, including many compilations of war poems, poetical quotations, orations, and complete works by Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and more, visit Special Collections in Room 55. Hours are 9 – 5, Monday through Friday.

Bianca Hezekiah
Program Coordinator, Reference Department