Prairie Farmer

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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.

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1 Wednesday, 1 June 1859
2 Thursday, 2 June 1859
3 Friday, 3 June 1859
4 Saturday, 4 June 1859
5 Sunday, 5 June 1859
6 Monday, 6 June 1859
7 Tuesday, 7 June 1859
1 issue
8 Wednesday, 8 June 1859
9 Thursday, 9 June 1859
10 Friday, 10 June 1859
11 Saturday, 11 June 1859
12 Sunday, 12 June 1859
13 Monday, 13 June 1859
14 Tuesday, 14 June 1859
1 issue
15 Wednesday, 15 June 1859
16 Thursday, 16 June 1859
17 Friday, 17 June 1859
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19 Sunday, 19 June 1859
20 Monday, 20 June 1859
21 Tuesday, 21 June 1859
1 issue
22 Wednesday, 22 June 1859
23 Thursday, 23 June 1859
24 Friday, 24 June 1859
25 Saturday, 25 June 1859
26 Sunday, 26 June 1859
27 Monday, 27 June 1859
28 Tuesday, 28 June 1859
1 issue
29 Wednesday, 29 June 1859
30 Thursday, 30 June 1859