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 September 1907
2 Monday, 2 September 1907
3 Tuesday, 3 September 1907
4 Wednesday, 4 September 1907
5 Thursday, 5 September 1907
1 issue
6 Friday, 6 September 1907
7 Saturday, 7 September 1907
8 Sunday, 8 September 1907
9 Monday, 9 September 1907
10 Tuesday, 10 September 1907
11 Wednesday, 11 September 1907
12 Thursday, 12 September 1907
1 issue
13 Friday, 13 September 1907
14 Saturday, 14 September 1907
15 Sunday, 15 September 1907
16 Monday, 16 September 1907
17 Tuesday, 17 September 1907
18 Wednesday, 18 September 1907
19 Thursday, 19 September 1907
1 issue
20 Friday, 20 September 1907
21 Saturday, 21 September 1907
22 Sunday, 22 September 1907
23 Monday, 23 September 1907
24 Tuesday, 24 September 1907
25 Wednesday, 25 September 1907
26 Thursday, 26 September 1907
1 issue
27 Friday, 27 September 1907
28 Saturday, 28 September 1907
29 Sunday, 29 September 1907
30 Monday, 30 September 1907