 Cover of theOld Farmer's Almanac | |
| Editor in Chief | Judson D. Hale Sr |
|---|---|
| Editor | Carol Connare[1] |
| Categories | Almanacs,weather,astronomy,calendar,gardening,cooking, advice |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Publisher | Yankee Publishing, Inc. |
| Founder | Robert B. Thomas |
| Founded | 1792 |
| First issue | 1793[2] |
| Company | Old Farmer's Almanac |
| Country | United States Canada |
| Based in | Dublin, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Website | almanac |
| ISSN | 0078-4516 |
| OCLC | 916592596 |
TheOld Farmer's Almanac is analmanac containingweather forecasts,planting charts,astronomical data, recipes, and articles. Topics includegardening, sports,astronomy,folklore, and predictions ontrends in fashion, food, home, technology, and living for the coming year. Published every September,The Old Farmer's Almanac has been published continuously since 1792, making it the oldest continuously published periodical in North America. The publication follows in the heritage of American almanacs such asBenjamin Franklin’sPoor Richard's Almanack.[3][4][5]
The firstOld Farmer's Almanac, then known asThe Farmer's Almanac, was edited byRobert Bailey Thomas, the publication's founder.[6]
There were many competingalmanacs in the 18th century, but Thomas's book was a success.[6] In its second year, distribution tripled to 9,000.[3] The initial cost of the book was six pence (about four cents).[7]
To calculate theAlmanac's weather predictions, Thomas studied solar activity,[8] astronomy cycles andweather patterns and used his research to develop a secretforecasting formula, which is still in use today.[7] Other than theAlmanac's prognosticators, few people have seen the formula. It is kept in a black tin box at theAlmanac offices inDublin, New Hampshire.[3]
Thomas also started drilling a hole through theAlmanac so that subscribers could hang it from a nail or a string.[9]
Thomas served as editor until his death on May 19, 1846. As its editor for more than 50 years, Thomas establishedThe Old Farmer's Almanac as America's "most enduring" almanac by outlasting the competition.[6]
In 1832, with his almanac having survived longer than similarly named competitors, Thomas inserted the word "Old" in the title,[3] later dropping it in the title of the 1836 edition. After Thomas's death, John Henry Jenks was appointed editor and, in 1848, the book's name was permanently and officially revised toThe Old Farmer's Almanac.
In 1851, Jenks made another change to theAlmanac when he featured a "four seasons" drawing on the cover by Boston artistHammatt Billings, engraved byHenry Nichols. Jenks dropped the new cover for three years and then reinstated it permanently in 1855. This trademarked design is still in use today.
In 1858,Abraham Lincoln may have used a copy ofThe Old Farmer's Almanac to argue the innocence of his client,William "Duff" Armstrong, who was on trial for murder inBeardstown, Illinois.[10] Lincoln used an almanac to refute the testimony of Charles Allen, an eyewitness who claimed he had seen the crime by the light of the moon[11] on August 29, 1857.
The book stated that not only was the Moon in the first quarter, but it was riding "low" on the horizon, about to set. Because the actual almanac used in the trial was not retained for posterity, there exists some controversy as to whetherThe Old Farmer's Almanac was the one used. In 2007, a competing almanac, theFarmers' Almanac, based in Lewiston, Maine, ran an article claiming that the almanac in question may have been theirs.[12]
In 1861,Charles Louis Flint became editor and provided his readers with a heavier emphasis on farming. The next two editors, John Boies Tileston and Loomis Joseph Campbell, served short terms and made no format changes.[13]
Robert Ware took over as the book's sixth editor in 1877 and served for 23 years before his brother, Horace, was named to the position in 1900.
During Horace Everett Ware's 19 years as editor, he began to orient the book toward a more general audience by replacing the scientific agricultural articles with general features on nature and modern life.[13]
The eighth and ninth editors, Frank B. Newton and Col. Carroll J. Swan, keptThe Old Farmer's Almanac tradition alive through wartime and theDepression.[13]
Roger Scaife was appointed editor in 1936.[3] His term coincided with the only time in the history ofThe Old Farmer's Almanac that its distribution declined and the book's financial stability fell into question. The 1938 edition had a circulation of less than 89,000, compared with 225,000 in 1863.[13]
During his tenure, Scaife also committed the greatest of all blunders inAlmanac history. In the 1938 edition, he dropped the weather forecasts.[3] In their place, he substituted temperature and precipitation averages.[14] The public outcry was so great that he reinstated the forecasts in the next year's edition,[3] but the decision had already destroyed his reputation.[13]
In 1939, Robb Sagendorph, founder and president of Yankee, Inc., later renamed Yankee Publishing, Inc., acquired the publishing rights toThe Old Farmer's Almanac and became its editor.[14] Sagendorph had moved his family to Dublin, New Hampshire in 1930, and started the magazineYankee in 1935.[15]
Feeling that tradition wasThe Old Farmer's Almanac's strongest suit, Sagendorph immediately reestablished its format and editorial style to reflect the interests of the general populace much as it had a century earlier.[14] He was fond of quoting Robert B. Thomas, who wrote in 1829 that the Almanac "strives to be useful, but with a pleasant degree of humor."[16][17] Under Sagendorph's leadership,The Old Farmer's Almanac thrived and readership grew each year.[14]
DuringWorld War II, a German spy was apprehended in New York with a copy of the 1942Old Farmer's Almanac in his pocket.[3]
From 1943 through 1945, to comply with the U.S.Office of Censorship's voluntaryCode of Wartime Practices for press and radio,The Old Farmer's Almanac featured weather indications rather than forecasts.[18][19][20] This allowed it to maintain its perfect record of continuous publication.
Sagendorph served as theAlmanac's editor until his death in 1970. His nephew, Judson D. Hale Sr., took over and kept theAlmanac true to the vision of his uncle. In 2000, the editorial reins were passed to Janice Stillman, the first woman in theAlmanac's history to hold the position, and she was succeeded, in 2023, by Carol Connare.[21] Carol is the 14th person to hold the title of editor since it was first published in 1792.[22] Hale still acts as the publication's editor in chief. In 1992, theAlmanac's distribution passed the four million mark.[3] It is still headquartered inDublin, New Hampshire.
In the 1990s, the editors decided to discontinue drilling the hole in theAlmanac because it was costing them $40,000 a year and they felt that it was no longer needed. However, when they surveyed their subscribers, the response was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the holes, so the editors decided to continue drilling them.[9]
The Old Farmer's Almanac publishes four editions per year. Its annual circulation is 3 million copies.[23]
The only difference between the three U.S. editions is the city by which astronomical information is calculated and how tide times are presented. The National edition is fitted for Boston and the New England states;[24] the Southern edition is fitted for Atlanta and the southern states;[25] and the Western edition is fitted for San Francisco and the western states.[26] Each edition contains calculations to answer for all the United States.[24][25][26]
In 1982,The Old Farmer's Almanac began publishing an annual Canadian edition.[27] This edition is fitted for Ottawa, with calculations to answer for all the Canadian provinces,[28] and features provincial weather forecasts as well as stories that speak specifically to thehistory, traditions, andculture of the country.
Forecasts emphasize temperature and precipitation deviations from averages. These are based on 30-year statistical averages prepared by theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and updated every ten years. The most recent climatological normals tabulation spans the period 1971 through 2000.[29]
WhileThe Old Farmer's Almanac has always looked to Thomas's original formula to help with predictions, its forecasting methods have been refined over the years. Today, they also incorporate observations of sunspots and other solar activity. Weather trends and events are predicted by comparing solar patterns and historical weather conditions with current solar activity.[8]
Forecasts are prepared as much as 18 months in advance[8] and presented in each edition by region. There are 16 regions for the U.S.[30] and five for Canada[31] in their respective country editions. Four additional regions are available on theAlmanac's Web site, Almanac.com. These include Hawaii and Alaska for the U.S. and the Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories for Canada.[32]
In 2008, theAlmanac stated that the earth had entered aglobal cooling period that would probably last decades. The journal based its prediction on sunspot cycles. Said contributing meteorologist Joseph D'Aleo, "Studying these and other factor suggests that cold, not warm, climate may be our future."[33]
A number of analyses have concluded that the forecasts inThe Old Farmer's Almanac are not accurate.[34][35] For example,USA Today stated that "according to numerous media analyses neitherThe Old Farmer's Almanac nor theFarmers' Almanac gets it right."[34] John Walsh at theUniversity of Illinois reviewed five years' monthly forecasts and found 50.7% of the temperature forecasts and 51.9% of precipitation forecasts were in the correct direction, whereas a randomly generated forecast would be correct 50% of the time.[36][37]
In its bicentennial edition, theAlmanac stated "neither we nor anyone else has as yet gained sufficient insight into the mysteries of the universe to predict weather with anything resembling total accuracy."[3]
UnderThe Old Farmer's Almanac brand, Yankee Publishing also producesThe Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Guide, an annual gardening resource,[38] andThe Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids, an Almanac-inspired book designed for children ages 8 and up.[39] The latter is published every other year.
In addition to annual and biannual books, theAlmanac has inspired a line of themed calendars including Gardening, Weather Watcher's, and Country (all for wall display); Every Day (with advice, folklore, and quotes in a page-a-day format); and a spiral-bound Engagement calendar.
Over the years, theAlmanac has published several cookbooks, food-related magazines, and a guide for homeowners.
The Old Farmer's Almanac has also inspired a chain of retail locations called The Old Farmer's Almanac General Store. Some store locations includeMohegan Sun Casino inUncasville, Connecticut; theLouisiana Boardwalk shopping center inBossier City, Louisiana; and theTropicana Casino and Resort inAtlantic City, New Jersey,[40]Sparks, Nevada at the Legends at Sparks Marina shopping center, andThe Outlets at Wind Creek Bethlehem inBethlehem, Pennsylvania.
In 1996,The Old Farmer's Almanac launched Almanac.com.[41] This online presence features the same kind of information found in the print edition, including weather forecasts, astronomy, folklore, recipes, gardening advice, history, and trivia.
The Almanac Webcam was installed and launched in February 2003.[42] A second camera was installed and launched in September 2008.[43] New cameras were installed and launched on May 8, 2015,[44] giving a much clearer picture of the historical buildings in downtown Dublin, New Hampshire, and The John Pierce Memorial Garden.
In 2003,The Old Farmer's Almanac distributed a 32-pageAlmanac Just For Kids.[45] The positive response[45] led to the release ofThe Old Farmer's Almanac for Kids in 2005, and the Almanac launched Almanac4kids.com.[46] This site is dedicated to content for younger readers, their parents, and teachers, featuring interactive activities and exclusive articles that further explore topics found in the book.[45]
In addition to the official websites, the Almanac also maintains a large social media presence.[47] The Almanac can be found onPinterest,Instagram,Twitter, and several other social sites. In August 2015, The Almanac'sFacebook page reached one million fans.[48]
Accordingly in June or July, 1792, he went to Boston and entered the mathematical school kept by Osgood Carleton "in an unfinished building in Merchant's Row." Here he worked until the latter part of August, and made all the calculations for the first number of the Farmer's Almanack, that for 1793.
During the many years theFarmer's Almanack has been published, we have never relaxed to use our utmost endeavors to make it correct, amusing, and useful....Note that there are no page numbers, but the quoted passage appears on the second page of the almanac at the top in the section titled, "To Patrons and Correspondents."
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