Reward Notice Broadsides

Reward notices constitute another form of broadside and are of endless variety; lost items include horses, dogs, pocket books, packets off a steam boat, and silks, satins, and rings stolen from retail shops. Among the most numerous reward notices are those seeking runaway slaves. "$200 Reward" gives a remarkably detailed description of five members of a slave family that escaped from St. Louis in 1847. Sometimes added annotations are as important at the original printing. For example, on the back of "A List of the East-India Company's Ships," 1766, is an extensive manuscript, Account of my Negroes, 1784-85, indicating names and birth and death dates.