Description
This project contributes to our understanding of rural Midwesterners and farm newspapers at the turn of the century. While cultural historians have mainly focused on readers in town and cities, it examines Midwestern farmers. It also contributes to the "new rural history" by exploring the ideas of Hal Barron and others that country people selectively adapted the advice given to them by reformers. Finally, it furthers our understanding of American farm newspapers themselves and offers suggestions on how to use them as sources.
Table of Contents
List of tables
List of Maps
List of Abbreviations
Introduction. The Rural Midwest and the Midwestern Farm Press During the Progressive Era, 1895-1920
1. First Class Papers and Never-Stop Papers: Twenty-Five Years of the Midwestern Farm Press
2. Owners and Editors: The Faces Behind the Midwestern Farm Press
3. What Farmers Read and Liked: Scenes of Reading in the Rural Midwest
4. Who Read the Agricultural Journalist?: Farm Newspaper Subscribers in the Lower Midwest
5. Innumerable Little White Churches: The Ritual Church and the Midwestern Farm Press
6. The School House at the Crossroads: The Rural School and the Midwestern Farm Press
7. Why Leave the Farm?: The Rural Family and the Midwestern Farm Press
Conclusion. Good Farming-Clear Thinking-Right Living: The USes of Midwestern Farm Newspapers
Appendix A. Researching Reading in Rural Midwesterners' Records
Appendix B. Midwestern Farm Newspapers since the 1920s.
Appendix C. Tables
Appendix D. Maps
Bibliography
