Articles from Missouri Historical Review and Missouri Times
- Abramoske, Donald J. "The Public Lands in Early Missouri Politics."
Missouri Historical Review 53 (July 1959): 295-305. - Anderson, Hattie M. "Missouri, A Land of Promise."
Missouri Historical Review 30 (April 1936): 227-253. - Bingham, Rollins "An Old Missouri Town, Napton, Saline County."
Missouri Historical Review 8 (July 1914): 211-215. - Bradbury, John F. "Colonel Jay Torrey, Fruitville Farms, and the Village of Torreytown."
Missouri Historical Review 104 (January 2010): 115-118. - Brassieur, C. Ray "From Two Mules to Twelve-Row Equipment": An Oral History Interview with Maxwell Williams, Bootheel Farm Manager.”
Missouri Historical Review 91 (October 1996): 52-85. - Bremer, Jeff "Mothers of Commerce: Antebellum Missouri Women and the Family Farm."
Missouri Historical Review 104 (July 2010): 187-197. - Bronaugh, Mrs. J. H. “Missouri in 1837.”
Missouri Historical Review 20 (April 1926): 388-392. - Brunette, Donna A. “Charles Valentine Riley and the Roots of Modern Insect Control.”
Missouri Historical Review 86 (April 1992): 229-247. - Caldwell, Dorothy J. “Vignettes of Famous Missourians.”
Missouri Historical Review 53 (January 1959): 141-149.
"David Rankin, Cattle King of Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 66 (April 1972): 377-394. - Carpenter, Clifford D. “The Early Cattle Industry in Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 47 (April 1953): 201-215. - Clevenger, Homer “The Farmers' Alliance in Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 39 (October 1944): 24-44. - Clifford, Amber R. “To the Disinherited Belongs the Future.”
Missouri Historical Review 88 (October 1993): 22-28. - Culmer, Frederic A. “Selling Missouri Mules Down South in 1835.”
Missouri Historical Review 24 (July 1930): 537-549. - Dains, Mary K. “The Missouri State Fair: A Struggle to Begin.”
Missouri Historical Review 73 (October 1978): 23-53. - Draper, Arthur G. “Farming on the Missouri Frontier: Essay by Philander Draper.”
Missouri Historical Review 87 (October 1992): 18-35. - Eaton, Miles W. “The Development and Later Decline of the Hemp Industry in Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 43 (July 1949): 344-359. - Eddleman, Bill. “From the Stacks: The Fruitland Grange No. 611 Record Book, 1873-1876.”
Missouri Historical Review 112 (July 2018): 301-305. - Fisher, John C. "Swampland to Farmland: The Litter River Drainage District and the Transformation of Southeast Missouri Lowlands."
Missouri Historical Review 113, no. 2 (January 2019): 79-93. - Frizzell, Robert W. “Southern Identity in Nineteenth-Century Missouri: Little Dixie's Slave-Majority Areas and the Transition to Midwestern Farming.”
Missouri Historical Review99 (April 2005): 238-260. - Gall, Jeffrey L. “A Search for the Rising Tide: The Letters of Nathaniel Leonard, 1820-1824.”
Missouri Historical Review 76 (April 1982): 282-301. - Gilmore, Grace L. “Missourians Abroad - Daniel Cowen Jackling.”
Missouri Historical Review 17 (April 1923): 257-265. - Good-Knight, Asbury “Wheat Raising in Pioneer Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 16 (July 1922): 502-505. - Goodrich, James W. “Robert Eaton Acock: The Gentleman From Polk.”
Missouri Historical Review 73 (April 1979): 281-306. - Gordon, Christopher “Royal Booth and the Baby Chick Capital of the World.”
Missouri Historical Review 97 (April 2003): 191-203. - Greene, Lorenzo J. “Lincoln University's Involvement with the Sharecropper Demonstration in Southeast Missouri, 1939-1940.”
Missouri Historical Review 82 (October 1987): 24-50. - Grinstead, H. F. “First Threshing Machine Across the Mountains.”
Missouri Historical Review 8 (October 1913): 54-55. - Hardeman, Nicholas P. “Portrait of a Western Farmer: John Locke Hardeman of Missouri, 1809-1858.”
Missouri Historical Review 6 (April 1972): 319-335. - Hearne, Jeff “The Beginning of LaForge: An Experiment in Rural Homesteading.”
Missouri Historical Review 88 (April 1994): 301-316. - Hooker, H. D. “George Husmann.”
Missouri Historical Review 23 (April 1929): 353-360. - Hurt, R. Douglas “Planters and Slavery in Little Dixie.”
Missouri Historical Review 88 (July 1994): 397-415. - Huss, Stephen F. “Milkweed, Machine Guns and Cows: Jefferson County Farmers in World War II.”
Missouri Historical Review 86 (April 1992): 265-281. - Hutcheson, Virginia Sue “Cattle Drives in Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 37 (April 1943): 286-296. - Jeffrey, A. A. “Knighting the Heroes of Agriculture.”
Missouri Historical Review 20 (January 1926): 247-251. - Jewett, W. O. L. “Historical Sketch of Shelby County, Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 8 (April 1914): 154-163. - Jordan, Damuel M. “Farming as It Used to Be, and as It Is in Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 22 (October 1927): 13-29. - Keathley, Clarence R. “Making Sorghum in Arcadia Valley”
Missouri Historical Review 67 (January 1973): 253-264. - Keller, Kenneth W. “Merchandising Nature: The H. J. Weber and Sons Nursery.”
Missouri Historical Review 89 (April 1995): 307-326. - Kliman, Todd "The Ignoble Grape: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of the Outsider Norton."
Missouri Historical Review 109 (January 2015): 93-107. - Lanterman, Alice “The Development of Kansas City as a Grain and Milling Center.”
Missouri Historical Review 42 (October 1947): 20-33. - Ledbetter, William “Isaac A. Hedges' Vision of a Sorghum-Sugar Industry in Missouri.”
Missouri Historical Review 21 (April 1927): 361-369. - Lemmer, George F. “Agitation for Agricultural Improvement in Central Missouri Newspapers Prior to the Civil War.”
Missouri Historical Review 37 (July 1943): 371-385.
"Early Leaders in Livestock Improvement in Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 37 (October 1942): 29-39.
"Farm Machinery in Ante-Bellum Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 40 (July 1946): 467-480.
"Missouri Agriculture as Revealed in the Eastern Agricultural Press, 1823-1869."
Part I: Missouri Historical Review 42 (April 1948): 226-240.
Part II: Missouri Historical Review 42 (July 1948): 325-342. - Manring, Randall C. “Population and Agriculture in Nodaway County, Missouri, 1850 to 1860.”
Missouri Historical Review 72 (July 1978): 388-411. - McCain, William D. “The Papers of the Food Administration for Missouri, 1917-1919, in the National Archives.”
Missouri Historical Review 32 (October 1937): 56-61. - Montgomery, Rebecca S. “With the Brain of a Man and the Heart of a Woman: Missouri Women and Rural Change, 1890-1915"
Missouri Historical Review 104 (April 2010): 159-178. - Morman, Wm. Howard “History of Greer Mill.”
Missouri Historical Review 66 (July 1972): 610-621. - Muehl, Siegmar “Winegrowing in the Hermann Area: Early Years' Chronicle.”
Missouri Historical Review 87 (April 1993): 233-252.
”The Wild Missouri Grape and Nineteenth-Century Viticulture.”
Missouri Historical Review 91 (July 1997): 373-384.
”Isidor Bush and the Bushberg Vineyards of Jefferson County.”
Missouri Historical Review 94 (October 1999): 42-58. - Mumford, F. B. "A Century of Missouri Agriculture."
Missouri Historical Review 15 (January 1921): 277-297.
"William H. Hatch - His Great Contribution to Agriculture."
Missouri Historical Review 18 (July 1924): 503-506. - Naglich, Dennis "Rural Prairieville During Reconstruction."
Missouri Historical Review 87 (July 1993): 387-402. - Ogilvie, Leon Parker "Populism and Socialism in the Southeast Missouri Lowlands."
Missouri Historical Review 65 (January 1971): 159-183. - Piott, Steven L. "Missouri and the Beef Trust: Consumer Action and Investigation, 1902."
Missouri Historical Review 76 (October 1981): 31-52. - Popplewell, Frank S. "St. Joseph, Missouri, As A Center of the Cattle Trade."
Missouri Historical Review 32 (July 1938): 443-457. - Rafferty, Milton D. "Missouri's Black Walnut Kernel Industry."
Missouri Historical Review 63 (January 1969): 214-226.
"Agricultural Change in the Western Ozarks"
Missouri Historical Review 69 (April 1975): 299-322. - Renner, G. K. "The Kansas City Meat Packing Industry Before 1900."
Missouri Historical Review 55 (October 1960): 18-29.
"The Mule in Missouri Agriculture, 1821-1950."
Missouri Historical Review 74 (July 1980): 433-457.
"Strawberry Culture in Southwest Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 64 (October 1969): 18-40. - Rogers, Janes Harris "The Model Farm of Missouri and Its Owner."
Missouri Historical Review 18 (January 1924): 146-157. - Rowe, Janet C. "The Lock Mill, Loose Creek, Missouri: The Center of a Self-Sufficient Community, 1848-1900."
Missouri Historical Review 75 (April 1981): 385-293. - Saloutos, Theodore "William Hirth and the Missouri Farmers' Association."
Missouri Historical Review 44 (October 1949): 1-20. - Scheef, Robert F. "Prohibition Vineyards: The Italian Contribution to Viticulture in Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 88 (April 1994): 279-300. - Shoemaker, Floyd C. "This Week in Missouri History."
Missouri Historical Review 49 (January 1955): 153-160.
"Macon."
Missouri Historical Review 51 (July 1957): 362-372.
"Hermann: A Bit of the Old World in the Heart of the New."
Missouri Historical Review 51 (April 1957): 235-244.
"Kennett: Center of a Land Reborn in Missouri's Valley of the Nile."
Missouri Historical Review 52 (January 1958): 99-110. - SHS Staff "Vignettes of Famous Missourians."
Missouri Historical Review 50 (July 1956): 400-407.
"Vignettes of Famous Missourians."
Missouri Historical Review 51 (April 1957): 284-292. - Stevens, Linda Walker "The Making of a Superior Immigrant: George Husmann, 1837-1854."
Missouri Historical Review 89 (January 1995): 119-138. - Strickland, Arvarh E. "The Plight of the People in the Sharecroppers' Demonstration in Southeast Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 81 (July 1987): 403-416. - Summers, Floyd G. "Norman J. Colman."
Missouri Historical Review 19 (April 1925): 404-408.
"Charles V. Riley, Benefactor of Agriculture."
Missouri Historical Review 19 (July 1925): 611-621. - Viles, Jonas "Missouri in 1820."
Missouri Historical Review 15 (October 1920): 36-52. - White, L. M. "The Heart of the Saddle Horse Story of Missouri."
Missouri Historical Review 50 (January 1956): 121-131. - Williams, Sara Lockwood "Pioneer Days in Old Sparta."
Missouri Historical Review 25 (July 1931): 550-555. - Withers, Robert S. "The Pioneer's First Corn Crop."
Missouri Historical Review 46 (October 1951): 39-45.
"The Stake and Rider Fence."
Missouri Historical Review 44 (April 1950): 225-231.
"Old Time News."
Missouri Historical Review 7 (October 1912): 32-37.
"John Bradbury, the Earliest St. Louisan of Botanical Note."
Missouri Historical Review 24 (April 1930): 414-419.
Historic Missourian Biographies
The Society’s Historic Missourians website contains biographies of a number of significant farmers, horticulturalists, and agricultural scientists who lived in Missouri.
- George Washington Carver - George Washington Carver was a world-famous chemist who made important agricultural discoveries and inventions. His research on peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other products helped poor southern farmers vary their crops and improve their diets.
- James Beauchamp Clark - James Beauchamp “Champ” Clark was a prominent Democratic politician from Missouri. Clark served in the U.S. House of Representatives for twenty-six years. As a politician, he supported agrarian interests over corporate interests.
- Frederick Victor Heinkel - Fred V. Heinkel was president of the Missouri Farmers Association from 1940 to 1979. Throughout his life, he worked on behalf of farmers in Missouri and the United States.
- Henry Kirklin - Henry Kirklin was a former slave who became a prize-winning gardener and horticulturalist. Kirklin taught at the Bartlett Agricultural and Industrial School, later known as the Dalton Institute, in Chariton County, Missouri. Kirklin also lectured and demonstrated horticultural techniques at county fairs and in African American schools on behalf of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture.
- Jerry L. Litton - Jerry L. Litton was a successful rancher, US congressman, and candidate for the US Senate in 1976 before losing his life in a plane crash that also killed his family.
- Curtis Fletcher Marbut - Dr. Curtis Fletcher Marbut was a university professor and a pioneer in modern soil science. His work contributed to advancements in soil classification, agriculture, and geography.
- Frederick B. Mumford - Frederick B. Mumford was an important figure in the history of US and Missouri agriculture. While he may be best known today for the building on the University of Missouri campus named after him, Mumford helped the university’s College of Agriculture grow into a highly regarded program while he was dean from 1909 to 1938.
- James Sidney Rollins - James Sidney Rollins was president of the board of curators of the University of Missouri for nearly twenty-five years until his retirement in 1886. He played a vital role in the founding, location, growth, and development of the university and its agricultural college.
- Laura Ingalls Wilder - Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of the most influential children’s authors in American history. Her vibrant retelling of episodes from her childhood in the classic Little House historical fiction series helped shape the popular idea of the American frontier. Laura was also famous for her farming skills, and it was through her agricultural career that Laura got a start in writing. In 1911 Laura wrote several articles about farm life for the Missouri Ruralist.
- Margaret Bush Wilson - Margaret Bush Wilson was a St. Louis lawyer, civil rights activist, and an attorney for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Electrification Administration.
Manuscripts
The State Historical Society of Missouri’s manuscript collections include a wealth of materials pertaining to various aspects of agriculture. These collections include papers of individual farmers; records of family and corporate farms, co-ops, sales and service companies of farm implements, and farm product marketing groups and organizations; and personal and professional papers of foresters, horticulturalists, and others involved in the study and research of agriculture. The collections provide information on subjects such as the use of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as irrigation and soil quality.
Maps
Plat Maps of Missouri - County plat books or atlases contain descriptions of land owners and landmarks. Utilizing the Public Land Survey System, each map is divided into township, range, and sections. Landowners are identified, and landmarks such as churches, cemeteries, and schools are sometimes included. Many plat books contain a brief county history and a directory of county residents. The State Historical Society of Missouri's plat map collection is available on digital.shsmo.org. The online collection contains plat maps of Missouri counties published between 1875 and 1917. Additional plat maps are available for research at the State Historical Society of Missouri.
Newspapers
The Society maintains collections of several newspapers highlighting Missouri’s agricultural heritage. These papers, aimed at farmers and their families, featured information, education, and entertainment. Most of the agricultural newspapers in the collection were published from the 1880s to the 1950s. The decline in family farming in Missouri negatively impacted the publication of agricultural newspapers. There are no newspapers categorized as agricultural in the Society’s collection dated after 1979.
Two newspapers, the Missouri and Arkansas Farmer and Fruitman and the Missouri and Kansas Farmer, promoted the settlement of southwest Missouri, southeast Kansas, and northwest Arkansas. Established in the 1880s, these newspapers printed testimonials from settlers and visitors about the area’s rich agricultural promise.
Other agricultural newspapers promoted improved farming methods. Columns devoted to livestock and poultry raising, dairying, horticulture, and row crops described characteristics of stock breeds and encouraged farmers to rotate crops and pack fruit properly for shipping. Pages for farm wives provided recipes and dress patterns as well as letters received from readers. The St. Joseph Stockyards Journal included detailed information about the selling prices and number of livestock brought to the city’s stockyards.
The content of agricultural newspapers evolved during the twentieth century. The South Central Ozarks Farmer, a supplement to the Mountain Grove Journal and Cabool Enterprise during the 1970s, expressed concern about the increasing number of corporate farms. In 1974 the publisher attended a consumer/farmer relations institute that examined, “The great middle ground that lies between the farmer and the supermarket grocery cart.”
For a list of all digitized newspapers, visit the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project.
For a list of newspapers on microfilm at the State Historical Society of Missouri, visit the newspaper catalog.
Agricultural Newspapers in SHSMO Holdings
| County | City | Title | Also Available On | Date Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adair | Kirksville | Adair County Farmer | Microfilm | 1891-1894 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | Journal of Livestock & Agriculture | Microfilm | 1969-1978 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | Journal of Livestock and Agriculture | Microfilm | 1963-1966 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | St. Joseph Journal of Livestock & Agriculture | Microfilm | 1973-1974 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | St. Joseph Journal of Livestock and Agriculture | Microfilm | 1978-1986 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | St. Joseph Stock Yards Journal | Microfilm | 1950-1954 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | Stock Yards Daily Journal | Microfilm | 1904-1906 |
| Buchanan | St. Joseph | Stock Yards Journal | Microfilm | 1940-1949 |
| Caldwell | Hamilton | Farmer’s Advocate | Microfilm | 1893-1906 |
| Caldwell | Hamilton | Hamilton Farmer’s Advocate | Microfilm | 1890-1893; 1901-1919 |
| Cape Girardeau | Jackson | Jackson, Mercury, and Cape Girardeau Farmer | Microfilm | December 31, 1831 |
| Carroll | Dewitt | Carroll Farmer’s Herald | Microfilm | 1901-1934 |
| Jackson | Kansas City | Kansas City Weekly Journal and Missouri and Kansas Farmer | Microfilm | 1920-1923 |
| Jackson | Kansas City | Missouri & Arkansas Farmer and Fruitman | Microfilm | 1896-1906 |
| Jackson | Kansas City | Missouri and Kansas Farmer | Microfilm | 1884-1919 |
| Jackson | Kansas City | Weekly Star Farmer | Microfilm | 1952-1961 |
| Madison | Fredericktown | Farmer and Miner | Microfilm | March 18, 1876 |
| Perry | Perryville | Mid America Farmer Grower | Microfilm | 1988-2014 |
| Perry | Perryville | MidAmerica Farmer | Microfilm | 1987-1988 |
| Perry | Perryville | MidAmerica Regional Farmer | Microfilm | 1987 |
| Scotland | Memphis | Farmers’ Union | Microfilm | 1891-1895 |
| Shelby | Clarence | Farmer’s Favorite | Microfilm | 1899-1901 |
| Taney | Forsyth | Pioneer Farmer | Microfilm | June 2, 1876 |
| Wright | Mountain Grove | Mountain Grove South Central Ozarks Farmer | Microfilm | 1974-1979 |
| St. Louis | Farmers’ & Mechanics’ Advocate | Microfilm | 1834-1835 | |
| St. Louis | Farm Progress | Microfilm | 1908-1912 | |
| St. Louis | Journal of Agriculture and Farmer | Microfilm | 1876-1886 | |
| St. Louis | St. Louis Midland Farmer | Microfilm | July 1876 | |
| St. Louis | St. Louis Union Stockyard Journal | Microfilm | 1901 |
Photographs
Digital Collections
A selection of farming and agricultural photographs are available online:
- Missouri Ruralist Magazine Agricultural Photographs
- Agricultural Photographs, The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia
Highlighted Collection
- U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, Aerial Photographs of Missouri, 1938-1979 (P0335) - A collection of aerial photography, taken from the late 1930s to the 1970s, used to document land use and obtain accurate field measurements.