Farmer's Almanacs on Display

1793 title page

For the past few years, we've begun the New Year by sharing an historical almanac from our Special Collections holdings in our Collection Spotlight case. This year, we are keeping the tradition going by sharing three volumes of the Farmer's Almanac: 1793-1799, 1800-1809, and 1810-1819. Bound in ten-year increments, these almanacs are the earliest versions of the publication now known as the Old Farmer's Almanac ("Old" was used occasionally in the 1830s, but added permanently in 1848). You may also see older issues with the alternative spelling “almanack.”

The Farmer’s Almanac began publication in 1792 and continues today, which gives it the distinction as the oldest continuously running publication in North America. It was founded by Robert Bailey Thomas, a resident of Grafton, Massachusetts. Thomas was a schoolteacher who studied astronomy as a hobby, and then transitioned to a career as a bookbinder and bookseller and aspired to produce an almanac. He did so with the publication of the Farmer’s Almanac in 1792, and he served as its editor until his death in 1846.

The 1793 almanac is the first edition of the Farmer’s Almanac, and we’re sharing its title page, which indicates that it is “fitted for the town of Boston, but will serve for any of the adjourning States.” This means that the information found within would be applicable to other surrounding states in New England, but there were other almanacs published regionally that would be relevant for other parts of the country. This almanac was published in Boston at the Apollo Press by printers Joseph Belknap and Thomas Hall, who were also the printers of the fairly short-lived newspaper, the American Apollo. The almanac was then sold at the Apollo office, and also by Robert Thomas himself. The title page gives readers an idea of what they’ll find inside, described as “containing, besides the large number of astronomical calculations and farmer’s calendar for every month of the year, as great a variety as are to be found in any other almanac, of new, useful, and entertaining matter.” We have several 18th and 19th century almanacs in our Special Collections holdings, but not all of them include a farmer’s calendar like this one does. For each month, in addition to predicted weather conditions, lunar phases and astronomical calculations, and important historical dates, there is also a notation of tasks that a farmer should be completing at a certain time. For example, January 16 is shown as “cold but pleasant,” January 17 as “Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin born in Boston, 1706,” and January 18 as “low tides” and for all three dates there is the following entry for the farmer’s calendar, “look well to your cattle, and see that they are kept clean.” There was a wealth of knowledge in the almanac to assist farmers throughout the year.

A page of miscellany, showing a new method for making butter,
rules for a long life, and "Anecdote of the Marquis de
Lafayette and an old soldier." 

In addition to the practical information described above, the Farmer’s Almanac also included interesting tidbits. Throughout the years, editions shared “recipes” to cure maladies like pimples, freckles, toothaches, and corns. Cures were not limited to people, as there were also instructions to cure a sore of any kind in horses, or a wound in sheep. But if you tired of reading about medical ailments, there were also biographical entries for historical figures and listings and descriptions of memorable occurrences throughout the years, almost like an abridged history textbook. Almanacs would also include information like locations of circuit courts, the routes of interstate roads, and academic calendars for local universities like Harvard and Dartmouth. And to add a bit of whimsy, in later years of the almanac’s publication, each month also included an illustration and a few lines of a poem that continued from month-to-month. Shown below is the drawing and verse for January 1807, which reads “Now round the hearth with cheerful looks / The merry peasants throng, / And crack their nuts, and crack their jokes, / And pass the can along.” The almanac was a one-stop shop for information of all kinds! 

The January illustration and verse for the 1807 almanac

Listing out everything that is found in almanacs would make for a lengthy blog post, so just a few sections have been mentioned. The best way to discover the variety of published content is to peruse them, and luckily, more and more are available digitally. Some in our collection are available through our digital repository (links included in the blog posts below), and we’re also in the process of conserving and digitizing even more. A selection of Farmer’s Almanacs, including the 1793 edition, can be found in the Internet Archive and HathiTrust.

If you are in the Boston area, be sure to stop by the library from January 7 through February 4 to see a few Farmer’s Almanacs on display, and check out the links below to learn more about the almanacs we’ve displayed in previous years:

Strong’s Almanack from 1796 and 1797 

The New-England Almanack from 1815 and 1818

Peter Parley's Almanac for Old and Young, 1837

Fleet's Pocket Almanack for the year of our Lord 1789: Being the First after Leap Year and the Thirteenth of American Independence

Isaiah Thomas’s New England Almanac from 1797, 1800, and 1812 

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian

Author Talk with Ellen Douglas and Paul Kirshen

• Climate Change Impacts and Projections for the Greater Boston Area: Findings of the Greater Boston Research Advisory Group Report
• Wednesday, January 15, 2025. 12pm - 1:00pm
• In-person and Virtual event. No registration required.
• State Library of Massachusetts - Room 341, Massachusetts State House
• Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/user/mastatelibrary

The State Library of Massachusetts Author Talks Series kicks off 2025 with a presentation on climate change specific to Boston and the surrounding area. Ellen Douglas, PhD and Paul Kirshen, PhD from UMass Boston will be speaking on their report, Climate Change Impacts and Projections for the Greater Boston Area.

Please join us at noon in our historic reading room or tune in virtually; the event will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel courtesy of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Broadcast Services.

Be sure to sign up for our Author Talks newsletter and follow our social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, and X) for the latest information on our visiting authors. If you are unable to attend, the recording will be posted to our YouTube channel to watch anytime - view all past recordings here!

About the Report

Published in 2022, this climate change report is a follow-up to the notable 2016 report focused on the City of Boston, published by the Boston Research Advisory Group. This updated report goes beyond Boston to include analysis of 101 cities and towns that make up the greater, metropolitan area of Boston. Douglas and Kirshen delve into the specific climate risks to this area including temperatures, storms, and sea level rise. Read the full abstract and access the article as a downloadable PDF for free via UMass Boston School for the Environment Publications; article link.

About the Authors

Ellen Douglas - Dr. Ellen Douglas is a hydrologist and engineer with broad expertise in the analysis of water-related issues. Ellen was a professor in the School for the Environment at UMass Boston for 17 years, researching the impacts of climate change on coastal and inland communities across New England before joining the AECOM team in August 2023. Her role at AECOM includes managing projects related to climate resilient infrastructure. She has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and technical reports. She was a contributing author for the 2013 U.S. National Climate Assessment and the IPCC Fifth and Sixth Assessment Reports. Ellen spent nine months as a Fulbright Fellow in Australia (2013-14) working with the CSIRO on the Water Values and Benefits project.

Ellen is a first-generation college graduate and one of only two members of a large extended family to earn a PhD. She lives at CanDo Acres, a small hobby farm in Fremont, NH along with dogs, horses and goats. She spends most of her free time managing the farm, riding her horse and her Trek road bike.

Paul Kirshen - Dr. Paul Kirshen has 45 years of experience serving as Principal Investigator/Project Manager of complex, interdisciplinary, participatory research related to water resources and coastal zone management and climate variability and change. He is presently Professor in the School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston, Founding Core Faculty Member of the UMass Boston Sustainable Solutions Laboratory, which focuses upon climate justice, and the founding Director (now Research Director) of the Stone Living Lab, a partnership of UMass Boston, Boston Harbor Now, and some government organizations. This Lab conducts research on the socio-economic and biophysical performance of coastal Nature-Based Systems for coastal flood protection. He is also a Visiting Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Tufts University.

He has been conducting research and consulting on the integrated vulnerability of metro Boston to present and future climates and adaptation/management strategies since 1990 and presently supports the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City, and metro Boston in these activities. His research has been cited by the US Supreme Court (No. 05-1120, decided April 2, 2007). Since 2008, the consideration of environmental justice and equity has been an explicit focus of all research. Climate change adaptation experience has also been in other parts of the US, the Caribbean, and India. He has over 100 journal articles on these topics and numerous technical reports. He has received both academic and civic awards for this research. He was a Lead Author of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (water resources in North America) and the 2014 US National Climate Assessment (coastal zone). He received his ScB in Engineering from Brown University and his MS and PhD in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As always, this author talk is free and open to all. Assisted listening devices will be made available upon request. If you are able to join us in person for this talk, attendees will be able to participate in a question-and-answer session with the authors. Any questions or concerns, please email us at AuthorTalks.StateLibrary@mass.gov.

For more information on the State Library Author talks series, please visit our site.


Author Talks Working Group

State Library Newsletter - January Issue

Happy January 2025! What do cardinals, climate change, and historic photographs all have in common? They're all keywords from this month's newsletter!

 
Pictured here is a preview, but the full issue can be accessed by clicking here. And you can also sign up for our mailing list to receive the newsletter straight to your inbox.

That's a Wrap on 2024!

As 2024 comes to an end, we're sharing some of our most popular blog posts from the year. Our staff is always hard at work preparing posts about our collections, resources, and research tips! We hope you've enjoyed our content this year, and we're excited to share more in 2025!

Starting A Search in the State Library of Massachusetts Digital Collections

By Emily Crawford, Technical Services Librarian

Compiling a Legislative History: M.G.L. ch.6 §39B (Part 1)

By Maryellen Larkin, Government Documents & Reference Librarian

The Hunt for Transcripts

By April Pascucci, Legislative Reference Librarian

Jolly Jane Toppan, Massachusetts’ Victorian Era Serial Killer

By Alyssa Persson, Special Collections Processing Archivist

250 Years Ago This Month: The Convening of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress

By Elizabeth Roscio, Preservation Librarian

General Resources at the State Library

By Jessica Shrey, Legal Research Reference Librarian

Season's Greetings from the State Library!

From the State Library to you, our digital greeting card with wishes for a wonderful holiday season!

Looking for some holiday reading? Catch up on some of our past seasonally appropriate posts:

Christmas Eve on Beacon Hill

New England's Flying Santa Tradition

Books as Gifts are Always a Hit

A Puritan "Christmas"

Holiday Traditions and Library Finds

Special Collections New Acquisition: The Last 240-Member House

A segment of the 52-inch-wide photograph taken inside the House Chamber.

Special Collections recently received a piece of Massachusetts General Court history: a photograph of the last 240-member House of Representatives. Former Representative Karen Swanson graciously donated the photograph, which was taken inside the House Chamber during the 170th Legislative Session (1977-1978) and identifies members in an index by their seated location.

In June 1973, the Massachusetts legislature voted 166-93 to cut the size of the House by one third, following five years of battling on the subject. As a result, the issue was put to the voters on the 1974 state ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment, where it won overwhelming approval. At the time of the vote, the Massachusetts House of Representatives was the second largest in the nation. As a result of the amendment, the House has consisted of 160 members since 1979.

For more information about Massachusetts legislative history, check out this guide compiled by State Library staff; also check out State Legislators’ Papers Collections at the State Library.


Alyssa Persson
Processing Archivist

. . . And a Partridge in the Library!

They aren't in a pear tree, they're in our library! This month, visit our reading room to see Audubon's Californian Partridge on display (plate 413). The print shows the male and female partridge together in a landscape scene that we can guess is California, given their name.

The Californian Partridge is one of many types of partridges, and while it isn't definitively known which specific partridge is referenced in the "Twelve Days or Christmas," it likely isn't the California Partridge since the carol was written in England in the 1780s. Nonetheless, we wanted to share this print since the male partridge looks so festive, with his plume and colorful feathers. You can read more about the California Partridge in the Birds of America Field Guide.

Stop by the library from December 10 through January 8 to see the partridges on display. For the past few Decembers, we've displayed other birds featured in the "Twelve Days of Christmas" and you can read about them here: Blackbirds (a.k.a. colly birds, or "calling birds") and Turtle Doves.

Elizabeth Roscio

Preservation Librarian