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Farm, Field and Fireside: Health and Hygiene

A guide to health and wellness topics in the Farm, Field and Fireside collection of farm periodicals. Supplements the main Farm, Field and Fireside guide.

Introduction

This guide is a supplement to the Farm, Field and Fireside Research Guide. It includes more information on the treatment of  health and hygiene in farm periodicals.  The resources listed here will help you contextualize what you see in Farm, Field and Fireside, and should also assist you in constructing more focused keyword searches.

Farm periodicals promoted a scientific approach to homemaking,1 particularly in the treatment and prevention of disease, and the rearing of children. Farm newspapers not only disseminated the latest information, but also provided a forum in which readers could discuss their own approaches to health and wellness. Finally, advertisements for "patent medicines" and other medical treatments not only generated revenue for the periodicals,2 but were also sources of information for readers--sometimes even as important as feature articles.3

 

 

Illustration from: Lung-Germine Co. [Advertisement], The Farmer's Wife. XIII.9 (January, 1909): p. 183.

Credits

This guide created by Geoffrey Ross, June 30, 2009.