Frederic B.
Farrar
Frederic Farrar was
born July 24, 1918, in New Jersey, the only member of his family, he says, to
be born a Yankee in 300 years. Historically, his family is from Virginia.
Farrar graduated
from Washington and Lee University in 1941 with a bachelor’s degree in
journalism. During his years at W&L, he was a member and president of the Beta
Theta Pi fraternity. He was also a member of two honor societies – Omicron
Delta Kappa, a national leadership and service organization, and Sigma Delta
Chi, a national professional journalism fraternity. He was also a member of
the first lacrosse team, which was started his sophomore year. The team
remained conference champions throughout Farrar’s time at the university.
Farrar served in
the United States Air Force for four years during World War II.
He then became a
newspaper advertising executive for the next 34 years, representing The Los
Angeles Times, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and many other papers
in the United State, Canada and England.
After five years of
attending Monday night classes at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y.,
Farrar received his master’s degree in history in 1975 at the age of 57. The
same year, he was elected to the American Antiquarian Society, based in
Worcester, Mass.
His master’s thesis
became a book, This Common Channel to Independence: Revolution and
Newspapers 1759-1789, which was published in 1975 and used by high school
history teachers to interest students in the U.S. Bicentennial. In addition,
Farrar has written for The Dictionary of Literary Biography, and
Media History Digest, Editor & Publisher, and Historic Preservation
magazines. He has been interviewed on “Good Morning, America” and Fox News.
In 1980, Farrar
joined the faculty at Temple University in Philadelphia, teaching advertising
and the history of journalism to both graduate and undergraduate students.
Farrar now holds Professor Emeritus status at the university, where a Frederic
B. Farrar Advertising Scholarship was set up in 1990.
That year, he moved
to Florida, where he became a consultant to The St. Petersburg Times
and taught Elderhostel courses at Eckerd College, also in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Farrar travels
widely, searching for additional historical newspapers and books and giving
talks to various groups. He currently resides in Tarpon Springs, Fla.
He is in the
process of donating his lifetime collection of historical newspapers and books
to the Washington and Lee University Special Collections.
Steph Wiechmann
Steph Wiechmann,
’07, was given the Clark R. Mollenhoff Award to bring “bibliographical
control” to the Farrar Collection and create its web home in the summer of
2005.
Wiechmann, of
Channahon, Ill., is a journalism major at Washington & Lee University with a
concentration (minor) in public speaking. She is a 2003 graduate of Minooka
Community High School in Minooka, Ill.
At W&L, Wiechmann
produces “Equal Time,” a news/talk show on WLUR 91.5 FM, and is involved in
many activities, including the General’s Christian Fellowship and the
Gay-Straight Alliance.
Email
Steph Wiechmann
Farrar
Collection
of
Historical
Newspapers
Doug
Cumming is an assistant professor of journalism at W&L with an interest in the
history of American journalism. He is supervising the work done on the Farrar
Collection.