MISSISSIPPI DELTAChinese life & history

Greenwood · Leflore County · 1898–1899

A promise, printed again

Sam Lee promised quality laundry work and same-day service in Greenwood. Across sixteen months of saved advertisements, the type changed; the offer stayed the same.

Forty-three saved printings of one Greenwood advertisement43 saved printings between 1898-08-04 and 1899-12-08, placed by date. 14 are the first setting of the type and 29 are the second; the changeover falls between 1898-11-11 and 1898-11-18.1898-08-04 · first setting1898-08-11 · first setting1898-08-18 · first setting1898-08-25 · first setting1898-09-01 · first setting1898-09-08 · first setting1898-09-15 · first setting1898-09-22 · first setting1898-09-29 · first setting1898-10-06 · first setting1898-10-13 · first setting1898-10-20 · first setting1898-10-27 · first setting1898-11-11 · first setting1898-11-18 · second setting1898-12-02 · second setting1898-12-09 · second setting1898-12-16 · second setting1898-12-23 · second setting1899-01-13 · second setting1899-01-20 · second setting1899-01-27 · second setting1899-02-10 · second setting1899-02-17 · second setting1899-02-24 · second setting1899-03-03 · second setting1899-03-24 · second setting1899-03-24 · second setting1899-04-07 · second setting1899-05-05 · second setting1899-05-12 · second setting1899-05-26 · second setting1899-06-02 · second setting1899-06-09 · second setting1899-07-14 · second setting1899-07-21 · second setting1899-08-04 · second setting1899-08-11 · second setting1899-09-22 · second setting1899-09-29 · second setting1899-10-06 · second setting1899-10-20 · second setting1899-12-08 · second settingtype reset18981899
43 saved printings, August 1898 to December 1899. Every one has been opened and read. They carry two settings of the same advertisement: the changeover falls between the saved printings of 11 November 1898 and 18 November 1898. The reset rewrote three lines and corrected Postoffie; what the advertisement offers is the same in both. Gaps are gaps in what was saved, not proof the advertisement stopped running.

Greenwood · 4 August 1898

Sam Lee advertises laundry services

Sam Lee advertises laundry services, 4 August 1898

The Commonwealth, 1898-08-04, page sequence 5. Library of Congress, Chronicling America. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn89065008/1898-08-04/ed-1/?sp=5

Open the original at the archive ↗

Advertisement transcription

SAM LEE’S CHINESE LAUNDRY Can do your work equal to that done at Birmingham and St. Louis. Prices Same. Work Guaranteed. Drummers’ work sent in in the morning returned same day. Laundry near Postoffie.

The first of the two settings in this series: work equal to Birmingham and St. Louis, the same prices, a guarantee, drummers’ work back the same day, and a laundry near the post office.

Reading limits

editorial image reading of this printing, 13 September 2026; no independent human or community review.

One printing, saved as an image. The dates in this series show when an appearance was saved, not that the laundry traded continuously, and not a complete survey of the paper.

First setting of this advertisement, read from this printing on 13 September 2026. Clean impression; every line legible.

The same setting stands in 14 of the 43 saved appearances; the reading below is the reading of that setting, verified against this image.

The landmark line is set in upper and lower case behind a pointing-hand ornament, and the last word is printed “Postoffie”. The ornament is omitted here and the spelling is left as printed.

Line breaks inside a sentence are joined; the compositor’s end-of-line hyphen in “morn-/ing” is closed up; apostrophes are normalised.

The boxes drawn on this image are approximate guides to the lines, positioned by eye, not OCR coordinates.

Transcription
296acd32c667… version 2
Image
9e3bd803096f…
Source guide

What does this advertisement actually promise?

Three things: work as good as work done in two larger cities, the same prices as those cities, and a guarantee. It promises a standard of work. It does not record a single customer, price list, or completed job.

Does this show that laundry sent in the morning really came back the same day?

No. This is the laundry's own offer to travelling salesmen, printed in a paid advertisement. Nothing here records what was returned, when, or to whom. An advertised promise is evidence of what was promised.

Not from this source: “Drummers” were travelling salesmen, who needed clean linen between trains. That definition comes from general usage of the period, not from this advertisement.

Where was the laundry?

The advertisement gives a landmark, not an address: near the post office. It is enough to find the shop if you already know the town, and it is not a street number that can be placed on a map.

Cited source: 4 August 1898

Compare the two settings

What the whole series shows

Two settings, one offer

All 43 saved appearances have been opened and read. They carry two settings of the same advertisement. Every saved appearance from 1898-08-04 to 1898-11-11 is the first; every one from 1898-11-18 to 1899-12-08 is the second.

The lines that were reset, as printed
LineUntil 1898-11-11From 1898-11-18
The claim about the workCan do your work equal to that done at Birmingham and St. Louis.Can do your work equal to that done at Birmingham or St. Louis.
The promise about timeDrummers’ work sent in in the morning returned same day.Drummers’ work received in the morning returned on same day.
Where to find itLaundry near Postoffie.LAUNDRY NEAR POSTOFFICE.

The reset rewrote three lines and corrected the misspelling Postoffie. What the advertisement offers is the same in both: comparable work, the same prices, a guarantee, drummers’ work back the same day, a laundry by the post office. The differences are consistent with resetting type; the sources do not identify who changed the wording or why. It is not evidence that the business changed, and the saved dates do not show when the laundry opened or closed.

Browse the saved series

Each printing below opens with its own date, page and citation, and with a note on what was legible in that impression. Gaps in these dates are gaps in the saved set, not proof that the advertisement did not run.

First setting · 14 saved appearances

1898-08-04 to 1898-11-11

  1. 1898-08-04page 5
  2. 1898-08-11page 8
  3. 1898-08-18page 5
  4. 1898-08-25page 4
  5. 1898-09-01page 8
  6. 1898-09-08page 8
  7. 1898-09-15page 8
  8. 1898-09-22page 5
  9. 1898-09-29page 5
  10. 1898-10-06page 5
  11. 1898-10-13page 5
  12. 1898-10-20page 5
  13. 1898-10-27page 4
  14. 1898-11-11page 12

Second setting · 29 saved appearances

1898-11-18 to 1899-12-08

  1. 1898-11-18page 3
  2. 1898-12-02page 10
  3. 1898-12-09page 10
  4. 1898-12-16page 9
  5. 1898-12-23page 10
  6. 1899-01-13page 7
  7. 1899-01-20page 5
  8. 1899-01-27page 5
  9. 1899-02-10page 8
  10. 1899-02-17page 9
  11. 1899-02-24page 5
  12. 1899-03-03page 2
  13. 1899-03-24page 3
  14. 1899-03-24page 5
  15. 1899-04-07page 3
  16. 1899-05-05page 6
  17. 1899-05-12page 6
  18. 1899-05-26page 6
  19. 1899-06-02page 6
  20. 1899-06-09page 6
  21. 1899-07-14page 6
  22. 1899-07-21page 6
  23. 1899-08-04page 2
  24. 1899-08-11page 2
  25. 1899-09-22page 6
  26. 1899-09-29page 3
  27. 1899-10-06page 2
  28. 1899-10-20page 8
  29. 1899-12-08page 8

Elsewhere in Mississippi

Columbus: three advertised offers

Compare “LOW PRICES,” “Regular prices now charged,” and “First-Class Work Guaranteed.” The selected December and February lists advertise collars at 1c and 2c respectively. February’s unspecified shirts cannot be equated with December’s plain-bosom shirts. May lists no prices.

Low prices

1912-12-08 · page 10

Read this offer

Compare with 1913-02-09

Regular prices

1913-02-09 · page 5

Read this offer

Compare with 1913-05-15

Guaranteed work

1913-05-15 · page 4

Read this offer

Compare with 1912-12-08

The repeated address and laundry services support comparing these offers. They do not independently establish that Charlie and Charley identify the same person, when prices first changed, or what customers paid.

All 19 inspected saved Columbus appearances
One story, eight printings · Port Gibson