Jolliff & Son Mercantile

09/08/2026

We had a great time this past week representing Jolliff & Son Mercantile at the Steamboat Arabia Museum!

We brought along a selection of reproduction labels and paper packaging to help show one piece of the Arabia story that didn’t survive the wreck. While thousands of the goods themselves were remarkably preserved, most of the paper labels, wrappers, and packaging that originally told you what those products were simply disappeared.

We had a huge crowd and some really great conversations about 1850s packaging, advertising, and the incredible collection recovered from the Arabia. We were also joined by some of the best museum professionals & living historians in the country. They told the stories of the cargo, the people & the story of our region.

It’s hard to overstate what a treasure this collection is. There really isn’t anything else quite like it.

If you haven’t been, go see the Steamboat Arabia Museum before it closes in November. And if you’ve been before, it’s worth another visit. There is always something you missed the first time. Arabia Steamboat Museum

09/06/2026

We will be taking our handcart and making a delivery to the troops. Great living history and night tours planned!

(We will not have products for sale or the store set up.)

Mark your calendars for Sept. 19, 2026!

Commemorate the 165th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington with us! From battle reenactments and live 1800s music to cannon firings and interactive soldier camps, there’s something for everyone.

- Free and open to the public.
- Rain or shine.
-Bring lawn chairs, a picnic lunch, water, insect repellent and sunscreen.

Want to take a candlelight hospital tour of the Anderson House? Space is limited to 25 people per tour, and pre-registration is required! Call 660-259-4654 now to register.

See you on the battlefield!

08/24/2026

A Question for the Patrons of Jolliff & Son Mercantile

The humble shipping crate was rarely at the end of its usefulness once the goods inside had been unpacked. Throughout the 19th century, crate lumber was put to work as shelving, cupboards, flooring, tables, and all manner of useful camp and household furniture.

One clever example was the camp stool fashioned from shipping-crate boards, equally at home in a soldier’s camp, workshop, or frontier store.

We are considering putting our carpenters to work on a small run of these stools for Jolliff & Son Mercantile.

Would you have interest in acquiring one?

Speak now, and we may set the saws to work!

08/23/2026

A little dispatch from our contractors workroom.

Our officer’s rank insignia are now in production, being worked for Jolliff & Son Mercantile by our contract manufacturer in fine gold bullion wire.

Our order includes Infantry royal blue and Artillery red in the company grades of Second Lieutenant, First Lieutenant, and Captain.

And following our last call, we are pleased to add one special commission to the workbench: a Staff black pair in the rank of Colonel, being made to order for one of our patrons.

These handsome rounded straps are being produced in limited number and made expressly for Jolliff & Son, for gentlemen who prefer something a little finer upon the coat.

The photograph offers a glimpse of the work now underway. We look forward to seeing the finished goods arrive upon our counter.

Jolliff & Son Mercantile

08/22/2026

FINAL CALL — SOLDIERS’ CARE PACKAGES FOR LEXINGTON

Good People of Missouri,

We are now about one month out from Lexington, and Jolliff & Son Mercantile is putting out the final call for Soldiers’ Care Packages.

Our first shipment of wooden boxes has arrived, each assembled for us by our carpenter and crate builder. We will begin stenciling them shortly and preparing them for their journey to Lexington.

For $150, you may sponsor a care package filled with period-inspired goods to be presented to a soldier at Lexington. Our aim is to create something that feels as though it might truly have been packed at home, loaded aboard a wagon, and sent along to a man in the field.

We have already had a wonderful response, but with the event now only a month away, we need to finalize the number of boxes we will prepare.

If you have been considering sponsoring a package, now is the time to speak for one.

Jolliff & Son Mercantile
Fine Goods for the Citizen & Soldier

08/15/2026

Good day from aboard the train, crossing Missouri and bound for the depots of St. Louis, where we may inspect a few goods suitable for the shelves of Jolliff & Son Mercantile.

Meanwhile, we are working with contract artisans across the big pond to produce for us a small run of fine quality officer’s rank insignia, worked in genuine gold bullion embroidery.

These handsome rounded straps are intended to adorn any Federal officer’s coat of your choosing. Our present plans are to offer Infantry blue, Artillery red, and staff black, in the company grades of Captain, First Lieutenant, and Second Lieutenant.

Now, before the order is placed, we put the question to our patrons: is there a gentleman of the Cavalry who desires a fine pair in yellow? Or perhaps an officer above the company grades who wishes us to procure his rank?

Speak now.

We came into possession last year of a secondhand pair of rounded bullion straps, and they proved quite popular. Thus, we have determined it is time for Jolliff & Son to have a small supply made expressly for our own mercantile.

Fine goods, made in limited number, for gentlemen who prefer something a little finer upon the coat.

Jolliff & Son Mercantile

08/12/2026

A Few Goods for the Officer

Historically, sutlers and post sutlers did not generally deal in military equipment or issued goods. Their trade was in the comforts, necessities, and small luxuries a soldier might purchase for himself. Exceptions could be found, of course, including replacement buttons and a small assortment of goods intended for officers.

Officers were a different matter. Much of an officer’s clothing and many of his accoutrements were privately purchased, often made to order by military tailors rather than drawn from government stores. For that reason, certain items of insignia and dress occasionally found their way into the commercial trade.

Jolliff & Son Mercantile follows much the same practice. We do not endeavor to be a military outfitter, but from time to time we come upon a few unusual pieces worthy of offering.

Shown here are embroidered officer’s insignia. The shoulder straps are very old reproductions that recently came into our possession, while the embroidered rank disks are newly made reproductions.

The circular insignia were intended for wear upon the overcoat, but period photographs also show similar embroidered devices worn upon fatigue blouses, offering a considerably more subdued expression of rank than the familiar shoulder strap.

As with our other small goods, we have packaged these in a period fashion suitable to the trade.

A limited assortment will be among the goods in our tent at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, this December.

Jolliff & Son Mercantile

08/11/2026

Good People of Missouri, and Soldiers bound for Lexington,

The time is drawing near.

With the gathering at Lexington soon upon us, Jolliff & Son Mercantile reminds all who intend to receive one of our Soldiers’ Care Packages that orders should be placed without delay.

This week, we feature another small article included among our goods: reproduction match packages copied from examples recovered from the wreck of the Steamboat Arabia, which sank in the Missouri River in 1856.

These little round wooden containers were made to carry a small supply of matches and offer a fitting reproduction of an everyday necessity carried and sold in the years before the War.

They join the assortment of useful goods, provisions, and curiosities prepared especially for our Soldiers’ Care Packages.

Care Packages are the sum of $150 and contain goods valued far beyond that amount. Packages will be delivered to Lexington, Missouri, ready for your arrival.

Quantities are limited, and the hour grows late.

Send notice to place your order.

See our related public notices upon these bulletins for further particulars.

Jolliff & Son Mercantile

03/30/2026

We offer a variety of packaged pencils and more coming online this season!