Prairie Farmer

Search this Title

About this Title

Title: Prairie Farmer IIIF collection link
City: Chicago, Ill.
County: Cook
Frequency: Weekly
History: Union Agriculturist and Western Prairie Farmer (1841-1842); Prairie Farmer (1843-1858); Emery's Journal of Agriculture and Prairie Farmer (1858); Prairie Farmer (1859-1882); People's Illustrated Weekly and Prairie Farmer (1882); Prairie Farmer (1882-present).
Available online: 1 January 1841 - 11 January 1941 (2476 issues)

Farm newspaper originally published in Chicago. By far the oldest, continuously published farm newspaper in the United States, the Prairie Farmer began in 1841 as the Union Agriculturist and Western Prairie Farmer. In its nearly 200 year existence, the paper has undergone a number of title and format changes. Considered to be one of the most important Midwestern farm newspapers ever published, not only for its influence on agriculture, but for its influence on rural life in general. It was, for example, one of the earliest and strongest supporters of the National Grange, and also an early advocate of "book farming" (the expression, in fact, appeared as the title of an article on the subject in the paper's very first issue). In 1928, the paper bought a faltering Chicago radio station from Sears-Roebuck and Company, and turned it into a 50,000 watt, clear channel radio giant, capable of reaching listeners living anywhere between the Allegheny and the Rocky Mountains. Both the newspaper and its radio station (popularly called "The Prairie Farmer Station") played an important role in the daily lives of rural Americans, a point made by the dean of the University of Illinois's College of Agriculture in a speech given during a special ceremony in 1938.

Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1 Sunday, 1 August 1858
2 Monday, 2 August 1858
3 Tuesday, 3 August 1858
4 Wednesday, 4 August 1858
5 Thursday, 5 August 1858
1 issue
6 Friday, 6 August 1858
7 Saturday, 7 August 1858
8 Sunday, 8 August 1858
9 Monday, 9 August 1858
10 Tuesday, 10 August 1858
11 Wednesday, 11 August 1858
12 Thursday, 12 August 1858
1 issue
13 Friday, 13 August 1858
14 Saturday, 14 August 1858
15 Sunday, 15 August 1858
16 Monday, 16 August 1858
17 Tuesday, 17 August 1858
18 Wednesday, 18 August 1858
19 Thursday, 19 August 1858
1 issue
20 Friday, 20 August 1858
21 Saturday, 21 August 1858
22 Sunday, 22 August 1858
23 Monday, 23 August 1858
24 Tuesday, 24 August 1858
25 Wednesday, 25 August 1858
26 Thursday, 26 August 1858
1 issue
27 Friday, 27 August 1858
28 Saturday, 28 August 1858
29 Sunday, 29 August 1858
30 Monday, 30 August 1858
31 Tuesday, 31 August 1858