Administrative Information | Search Terms | Background Note | Scope and Contents Note | Arrangement | PDF of Finding Aid
 

COLLECTION SUMMARY

Title:     The Dakota Farmer collection

Dates:     1906-1946 (bulk 1911-1918, 1924-1935, 1946)

Creator:     The Dakota Farmer

Physical Description:     4.79 linear feet—4 containers, 8 photographs, oversize printing plates

Collection number:     MA 38

Language:     Collection material in English.

Repository:     South Dakota State University Archives, Hilton M. Briggs Library, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D.

Abstract:     Collection is composed of plates, publications, reports, correspondence, and photographs used for publication of the Dakota Farmer.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance:     The Dakota Farmer Collection was found in the archives stacks in January of 1998.  A label on the box indicated that the collection was a gift of Vern Lausten.  No other information on the donation was found in the library’s files.

Access Restrictions:     This collection is open to research without restrictions. Items in this collection do not circulate and may be used in-house only.

Copyright Status: Copyright 2008 by South Dakota State University and SDSU Archives. Please credit the SDSU Archives if you copy or reproduce material from this finding aid.

It is the responsibility of anyone reproducing material to determine the copyright holders and obtain permission from them if necessary. Archives staff will provide available copyright information on request. Please note that most collections, especially those received before 1997, may not have complete information on file. (Revised 15 SEP 2003)

Preferred Citation:     [Identification of item]. The Dakota Farmer collection, MA 38, South Dakota State University Archives, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S. D.

Processing Information:     This collection was processed by Crystal J. Gamradt on 11 June 2003 with revisions on July 9, 2008 (cjg).

SELECTED SEARCH TERMS

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the subject guide. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Subjects:

• Agriculture—Periodicals.

• Agriculture—North Dakota—Periodicals.

• Agriculture—South Dakota—Periodicals.

• Agriculture—United States—Periodicals.

• Dakota Farmer (Aberdeen, S.D.)

BACKGROUND NOTE

The Dakota Farmer first began as a newspaper in 1881, eight years before North Dakota and South Dakota were granted statehood.

It was first published in Alexandria in what is now Hanson County, S.D. The first owner, James Baynes, sold it within the first year of existence to Augustine Davis, and the publication moved to Huron, S.D.  Davis sold a half-interest in Dakota Farmer to William Bushnell in 1883.  Bushnell became sole owner of Dakota Farmer in 1885.

As editor and manager, Bushnell lead Dakota Farmer into its early prominence. The publication, moved to Aberdeen, S.D. in 1893, supported all sorts of agricultural organizations and promoted the development of quality livestock and crops for the Dakotas. Bushnell himself was active in politics and eventually became state statistician for South Dakota.

Over the next century, Dakota Farmer survived and thrived with farmers through good times and bad, and became a well respected source of information.

Webb Publishing, which published The Farmer, saw Dakota Farmer as a natural fit and purchased the magazine in 1979.

Today, Dakota Farmer is part of Farm Progress Companies. Farm Progress publishes 18 state farm magazines similar to Dakota Farmer. It owns and operates eight farm shows across the nation, including the largest in the nation, The Farm Progress Show.

Related Material:

The Dakota farmer, Aberdeen, South Dakota [Dakota-North Plains Corp.], 1881-1979—630.5  D149; also in microfilm 1884-1979.

The Dakota farmer, St. Paul Minn: Webb Company, 1980-1992—630.5 F2291, also in microfilm 1980-1989.

Hutton, Jennie Senrud, Dear friends--: from the pages of The Dakota Farmer, Jennie’s letters from the plains, Aberdeen, S.D., Dakota Farmer, c.1965. D521.H87 1965

SCOPE and CONTENTS NOTE

This collection is composed of plates, publications, reports, correspondence, and photographs used for publication of the Dakota Farmer.

ARRANGEMENT of the RECORDS

This collection is composed mainly of plates, publications, reports, a small amount of correspondence, and photographs.  The plates consist of frames, cover mast-heads, article mast-heads, frames for photographs, and other artwork used for the publication.  A more detailed description of these plates is found in the container list.  The publications are mainly specialty publications aimed at advertisers and marketers.  The reports are surveys conducted on farmers, bankers, merchants.

An item of note is the contracting for a new cover file.  This material contains several examples of other publication covers with critiques of what works and what does not.  Also included in this material is three sample covers for the Dakota Farmer and correspondence between the contractor and the Dakota Farmer staff.

Box 1.

1. Back to the Dakota Farmer, 1916

2. Correspondence, 1926

3. Dakota Merchant and Banker Survey, 1930 October

4. Dakotas as a market for Maytags (washers), The, 1926

5. Editorial comment, voluntary contributions, 1934-1936

6. Farm Home Development in the Dakota Farmer Empire, [n.d.]

7. Feeding the Dakotas, [n.d.]

8. Interesting Facts about the Dakota Farmer, [n.d.]

9. James Baynes, founder information, 1924

10. Preliminary report and recommendations on farm journals survey among farmers, merchants, and bankers in ND & SD, 1930 October 15

11. Promotion of SD by Greater SD Association, 1937

12. Publication information, 1946

13. Publications that influence farmers of the Dakotas, 1931, 1935

14. Publications that influence farmers of the Dakotas, 1931, 1935

Box 2.

1. Plates—Article mastheads, [n.d.]

2. Plates—Artwork, [n.d.]

3. Plates—Crest, [n.d.]

4. Plates—Frames, [n.d.]

5. Plates—Masthead, [n.d.]

6. Plates—ND and SD map, [n.d.]

7. Plates—Northwest farmstead (Santa), [n.d.]

Box 3.

1. Clippings and tear-sheets, 1906-1918

2. Contracting for a new cover, 1946

3. Development of the Dakotas Parallels the efforts of the Dakota Farmer, The, 1928

4. First Assistant to … Cooks, 1940-1941

5. Why local dealers benefit by handling advertised goods, [n.d.]

Box 4.

• Photographs and Plates, 1911-1929

Photographs

• MA 38-0001—Bound Dakota Farmers standing upright, [n.d.]

• MA 38-0002—2 images mounted on tagboard—“And this was Once a Bare Prairie” specimens of Ponderosa Pine, Blue and White spruce, and Scene at the home place of A. Norby, Madison, S.D., [n.d.]

• MA 38-0003—Trees on a hill from vol. 34 no. 14, July 15, 1914 issue of the Dakota Farmer

• MA 38-0004—team of 2 white work horses pulling flatbed of corn with man standing on flatbed holding the reins—used as cover for Nov. 15, 1921 Dakota Farmer

• MA 38-0005—person on horse with dead coyote hanging from saddle horn, [n.d.]

• MA 38-0006—aerial view of a farm, [n.d.]

• MA 38-0007—bison herd, [n.d.]

• MA 38-0008—Dakota Farmer building and lot next to it, [n.d.]

Plates—Article mastheads

• Advice from our Lawyer—[n.d.]

• Along Dakota Prairie Trails—[n.d.]

• Bees and Honey—[n.d.]

• Breezes from the West—[n.d.]

• Country Life in the Dakotas—[n.d.]

• Dairy and Creamery—[n.d.]

• Dakota Farmer Young Folks Conducted by Aunt Clara—[n.d.]

• Help One Another—[n.d.]

• Horticulture, Trees-Fruit and the Garden—[n.d.]

• Incomes from Your Money—[n.d.]

• Livestock Edited by John T. E. Dinwoodie

• “Now You Tell One”—[n.d.]

• Poultry Department—[n.d.]

• Sheet with 6 article mastheads: Special Service Department, Subscription Department; Country Life in the Dakotas by Helen B. Russell Golden Valley Co. [N.D.], Stray Shots by W.C. Allen, Traps and Trapping, Along Dakota Prairie Trials Wayside Observations by A. H. Pankow—[n.d.]

• Stray Shots by W.C. Allen—[n.d.]

• The Dakota Farmer Editorial—[n.d.]

• The Home, edited by Mabel Sensor—[n.d.]

• What’s Doing in the Dakotas—[n.d.]

• “What’s in the Air” by Radio Ranger—[n.d.]

Plates—Frames

• 12 different sheets of frames

Plates—Artwork

• 2 men on a sofa reading the Dakota Farmer—[n.d.]

• 3 separate border designs

• Border with 3 photographs (Power on the Farm)—[n.d.]

• Car driving down road with dog in window going past a sign that reads, “Good Bye! Good Luck! Come Again!”—[n.d.]

• Farm scene with farmer shaking hands with men in suits while wife and son with dog look on—[n.d.]

• Farm scene with pigs and cows and car driving past—[n.d.]

• Old Dakota Farmer Building (Elks Building) Aberdeen, S.D.—[n.d.]

• Postman in U.S. Mail truck delivering mail to farm—[n.d.]

• Sheet with 2 designs (bees and flowers, apple orchard)—[n.d.]

• Sheet with 4 designs (book shelves, bees and flowers, apple orchard, family reading paper)—[n.d.]

• Sheet with 7 designs (book shelves, family reading paper, corn shocks, threshing, horse/cow/pigs, apple orchard, bees and flowers)—[n.d.]

• The Dakota Farmer Building entrance—[n.d.]

Plates—Masthead

• The Dakota Farmer—January 21, 1929

• The Dakota Farmer Cover (blank)—[n.d.]

• The Dakota Farmer—April 12, 1911

• The Dakota Farmer Cover (blank)—[n.d.]

• The Dakota Farmer—[n.d.]

• First bound volume of the Dakota Farmer—Current Bound volume of the Dakota Farmer

Plates—North Dakota and South Dakota maps

• North Dakota Railroad/County/River Map—April 22, 1912

• South Dakota Railroad/County/River Map—April 22, 1912

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