COUNTY AND STATE FAIRS

Agricultural Fairs in America: Tradition, Education, CelebrationBy Julie A. Avery, eds.East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University,2000. p. 27.

The ACES Funk Library collection includes books on County and State Fairs. Fairs have had a symbiotic relationship to agriculture and have led to innovation and education in the field since the 19th century in America. Some of the items in the collection are the history of fairs in America, an old Illinois Directory from 1972 of County Fairs, and photography of the State Fairs of Missouri and Iowa. The Illinois State Fair will be held this August on 11th – 17th, 2016.

Agricultural Fairs in America: Tradition, Education, CelebrationBy Julie A. Avery, eds.East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University, 2000. pp. 11 & 38.

“Fairs have been associated with harvest festivals and celebrations. During the eighth and ninth centuries, market fairs appeared along European trade routes… In America, increased national interest in self-reliance popularized the agricultural enterprise… In 1804, Dr. William Thornton suggested a fair

for the sale of livestock and domestic products. For the next several years, the U.S.

Patent office held fairs at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Competitions and exhibits were added as mechanism to educate the

citizenry and improve agricultural.”

What Happens At A State Fair?

By Arthur Shay. Chicago: Reilly & Lee Books, 1973.pp. 2-3.

The Illinois State Fair

The Missouri State Fair: Images of a Midwestern Tradition

By Richard Gaskell. Columbia: University Of Missouri Press, 2000. p. 30.

Agricultural Fairs in America: Tradition, Education,

CelebrationBy Julie A. Avery, eds. East

Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University,

2000. p. 87.

Directory of Illinois Fair By Illinois Department of Agriculture division of county fairs. 1972. pp. 39-40.

Purebred & Homegrown: America's County FairsBy Drake Hokanson and Carol Kratz. Madison, Wis. Terrace Books, 2008. pp. 128-129.

The Missouri State Fair: Images of a Midwestern TraditionBy Richard Gaskell. Columbia: University Of Missouri Press, 2000. pp. 91 & 96.

“The carnival and the fair have had a symbiotic relationship

since the beginnings of American fairs… The Chicago fair [World’s Columbian Exposition 1893]

was spilt into two distinct spheres: the Court of Honor, or White City, with its classical architecture and high art; and the Midway Plaisance, with its Ferris wheel and

pavilions.” This tradition of separating the educational and the entertainment

has carried on to today’s fairs with the

carnival and the agricultural kept

separately.

Purebred & Homegrown: America's County FairsBy Drake Hokanson and Carol Kratz. Madison, Wis. Terrace Books, 2008. p. 128.

Check out the Illinois State Fair this year, August 11-17 in the state

capital of Springfield.

Agricultural Fairs in America: Tradition, Education, CelebrationBy Julie A. Avery, eds.East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University,2000. p. 26.

For more books and resources on County and State Fairs, visit

the Funk Library!