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 Monday, 1 April 1889
2 Tuesday, 2 April 1889
3 Wednesday, 3 April 1889
4 Thursday, 4 April 1889
5 Friday, 5 April 1889
6 Saturday, 6 April 1889
1 issue
7 Sunday, 7 April 1889
8 Monday, 8 April 1889
9 Tuesday, 9 April 1889
10 Wednesday, 10 April 1889
11 Thursday, 11 April 1889
12 Friday, 12 April 1889
13 Saturday, 13 April 1889
1 issue
14 Sunday, 14 April 1889
15 Monday, 15 April 1889
16 Tuesday, 16 April 1889
17 Wednesday, 17 April 1889
18 Thursday, 18 April 1889
19 Friday, 19 April 1889
20 Saturday, 20 April 1889
1 issue
21 Sunday, 21 April 1889
22 Monday, 22 April 1889
23 Tuesday, 23 April 1889
24 Wednesday, 24 April 1889
25 Thursday, 25 April 1889
26 Friday, 26 April 1889
27 Saturday, 27 April 1889
1 issue
28 Sunday, 28 April 1889
29 Monday, 29 April 1889
30 Tuesday, 30 April 1889