What did newspapers mean to the rural frontier? They were (and are) vital sources of information about everything from big city life to the changing rural landscape around farmers and other folks far from city life. This digital newspaper collection from the University of Illinois was made possible with funding from a wide range of organizations, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Illinois State Library, and the Center for Research Libraries. Visitors can browse over twenty titles here, including "Banker Farmer," "Farmer's Wife," "Ohio Farmer," and "Western Rural." It's quite amazing, as visitors can look through all of the advertisements, photo captions, and so on. Visitors can also use the Preview the Collection area to download a slide show of highlights from this prodigious cache. The Browse option is quite fun, and visitors might do well to start by typing in keywords like animal husbandry, machine tools, or railroads.
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