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 Saturday, 1 February 1896
1 issue
2 Sunday, 2 February 1896
3 Monday, 3 February 1896
4 Tuesday, 4 February 1896
5 Wednesday, 5 February 1896
6 Thursday, 6 February 1896
7 Friday, 7 February 1896
8 Saturday, 8 February 1896
1 issue
9 Sunday, 9 February 1896
10 Monday, 10 February 1896
11 Tuesday, 11 February 1896
12 Wednesday, 12 February 1896
13 Thursday, 13 February 1896
14 Friday, 14 February 1896
15 Saturday, 15 February 1896
1 issue
16 Sunday, 16 February 1896
17 Monday, 17 February 1896
18 Tuesday, 18 February 1896
19 Wednesday, 19 February 1896
20 Thursday, 20 February 1896
21 Friday, 21 February 1896
22 Saturday, 22 February 1896
1 issue
23 Sunday, 23 February 1896
24 Monday, 24 February 1896
25 Tuesday, 25 February 1896
26 Wednesday, 26 February 1896
27 Thursday, 27 February 1896
28 Friday, 28 February 1896
29 Saturday, 29 February 1896
1 issue