The Muckrakers

Ida M. Tarbell (1857-1944)
Oil War of 1872."
Chapter III of the History of the
Standard Oil Company
McClure's Magazine, January, 1903
Page 2
Volume 20 no. 3
General Collections (56.1)

At the turn of the century, a group of hard-hitting crusading journalists examined what they considered the evils of the day, and, in periodicals like McClure's Magazine, which featured articles such as this recording of Standard Oil's predatory pricing tactics and political corruption in Minneapolis. Theodore Roosevelt tagged such writers "muckrakers" after John Bunyan's man with a muckrake, who raked up "filth." These exposés led to social and economic reforms during the Progressive Era.