Robb Sagendorph

Notable work and positions

Yankee Magazine / Yankee Publishing, Inc. - founder and publisher (1935)
The Old Farmer's Almanac - owner and 11th editor (1939-1970)

Biography

Robb Sagendorph (1901-1970) was the founder of Yankee magazine and, from 1939, owner and editor of The Old Farmer's Almanac, the oldest continuously published periodical in North America. A Harvard-educated freelance writer frustrated by the lack of a magazine devoted to New England, Sagendorph launched Yankee with his wife, the illustrator Beatrix "Trix" Sagendorph, in September 1935 from Dublin, New Hampshire, publishing "for Yankee readers, by Yankee writers, and about Yankee-dom." In 1939 he purchased the publishing rights to The Old Farmer's Almanac from Little, Brown and Company and became its eleventh editor, restoring the almanac's traditional wit and folklore-driven style after a decline under his predecessor. During World War II, paper shortages forced Yankee into its distinctive 6-by-9-inch trim size, which the magazine retained for decades. Sagendorph served as the Almanac's editor for 30 years, expanding its weather forecasts to cover the continental United States and introducing the rhymed forecast "doggerel" that became one of its signatures. He brought his son-in-law, Rob Trowbridge, into the business as associate publisher in 1964, and groomed his nephew, Judson D. Hale Sr., to succeed him as the Almanac's editor. Sagendorph died of cancer on July 4, 1970.

Career highlights

• Founding Yankee magazine 1935 · Launched the magazine that grew into Yankee Publishing, Inc., today a 100% employee-owned New England media company.

• Acquiring The Old Farmer's Almanac 1939 · Purchased the publishing rights from Little, Brown and Company and became its 11th editor, reviving its traditional style.