1880 Broadsheet Ad for Savannah based Hardee's Son Cotton Fertilizer

This is a remarkable and unusual c. 1880 advertising broadsheet promoting the Cotton crop fertilizer sold by N. A. Hardee's Son and Company of Savannah, Georgia. The broadside is in exceptional condition and features an idyllic vignette illustrating two southern girls wearing wide-brimmed hats working the cotton fields. It promotes Cotton Boll Ammoniated Super-Phosphate, a guano based fertilizer prepared in New Bedford, Massachusetts, by Clark's Cove Guano Company

Printed on Cotton!

The broadside is curiously printed on cloth – presumably cotton – potentially a play on the fact they are advertising cotton fertilizer, but more likely related to the intent. This promotional poster was probably never used, but it would have been distributed to N. A. Hardee's Son agents in the Georgia and South Carolina countryside where intense moisture and heat would have quickly destroyed a simple paper advertisement.

N. A. Hardee's Son and Company

N. A. Hardee's Son and Company was founded in Savannah in 1867 by John Lewis Hardee (1837-1891). As the company's name suggests, J. L. Hardee, was the son of Noble Andrew Hardee (1805-1867). Noble Andrew Hardee was a prosperous commission merchant in Savannah who founded his firm in 1836. When N.A. Hardee died, his son partnered with General William W. Kirkland to expand the operation considerably, renaming the company in honor of his father. Like many Savannah shipping businesses it was based on Bay Street, no. 128, and its historic offices still stand. The firm specialized in Guano fertilizers and promoted itself specifically to cotton growers. The firm closed its doors around 1884. In an interesting twist of fate, the records for the company from 1877 – 1884 were discovered behind a while during restoration of their former Bay Street offices. Among other items associated with the restoration are four posters printed on linen or cotton, as here, advertising Cotton Boll Ammoniated Super-Phosphate.

Publication History

The broadside is not dated, but based upon the location of Holt Brother's, 119 – 121 Nassau Street, we can assume this was issued in the early 1880s. It is possible that the reason his cloth broadside has today survived in such pristine condition is that the firm closed its doors roughly around this time.