Temperance Collection, 1832-1987
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith CollegeNorthampton, MA
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Laura Cutter. 2003-06-12
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Temperance Collection
Creation of Temperance Collection
Time of Creation of Temperance Collection
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Temperance Collection encompasses a broad social movement in which American women played a prominent role from the early decades of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century. They participated in a variety of organizational settings on the local, state, national and international level. While the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is generally regarded to be the leading temperance organization from its beginnings in 1873, other local and national groups were active at different points in the Prohibition movement. That diversity is evident in this collection. Temperance postcard, April 1906 While the bulk of the material comes from the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Temperance Collection also contains material from as early as 1835. There is also a significant amount of material from the post-Volstead Act (the Eighteenth Amendment) period, reflecting the fight to ward off the immediate challenges to national prohibition once it became law in 1920. This struggle, much like the earlier temperance crusade, was carried out and led by women. Numerous secondary works address the American temperance movement and the critical role played by women in that movement. See, for example, Ruth Bordin, Woman and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900 (Rutgers University Press, 1990) and Janet Zollinger Giele, Two Paths to Women's Equality: Temperance, Suffrage, and the Origins of Modern Feminism (Twayne, 1995).
Prohibition--United States--History--Sources
lcsh
Temperance-History--Sources
Temperance--United States--Societies, etc.--History--Sources
Women social reformers--United States--History--Sources
Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice, 1820-1905
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Willard, Frances Elizabeth, 1839-1898
Anti-saloon League of America--History--Sources
Woman's Christian Temperance Union--History--Sources
series
SERIES I. ORGANIZATIONS (1835-1933, n.d.)
Series is divided into two subseries: Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and Other organizations such as the Anti-Saloon League and the Loyal Temperance Legion. Within the WCTU subseries can be found convention programs; addresses; local and state meeting minutes and correspondence; and a significant assortment of pamphlets. Temperance activities within the state of Maine are especially well documented.
SERIES II. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS AND PHOTOGRAPHS (1880s-1980s, n.d.)
Series contains published biographical articles, autobiographical writings, and photographs of leaders of the American and international women's temperance movements, in particular the life and career of Frances Willard.
SERIES III. MEMORABILIA (1916-40, n.d.)
Series consists of an impressive array of temperance-related postcards, most from the early part of the 20th century. Also included are songbooks and stamps from 1939 commemorating the 100th anniversary of Frances Willard's birth.
SERIES IV. OVERSIZE MATERIAL (1894-1918)
Series has a few oversize publications from national and state temperance organizations, mostly WCTU. There are additional oversize materials in the flat files.
Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
Annual Conventions
World's: programs, 1906, 1920
National
Programs, 1878-79, 1901-19
Annual presidential address, 1889-1915
State
New York and Connecticut WCTU Annual Conventions, 1901, 1933, 1941
Maine WCTU Annual Conventions, 1893-1916
Local
Melrose, Mass., WCTU programs, 1886-90
Pamphlets, publications, and speeches
International, 1892-1915, n.d.
National, 1889-1916, n.d.
State, 1904-34, n.d.
The Army Canteen, 1905
The Temperance Education Quarterly, 1910
To the Rescue of the Temple, 1898
Speech by Mrs. A. B. Satterlee, Lock Haven, PA, n.d.
Correspondence
General, international, national, 1920, n.d.
Mary A. Livermore to Mrs. Burr, Melrose, MA, 1885-98
Minutes, by-laws, and history
Western Washington WCTU: minutes, 1884-93
Mrs. John W. Gearhart, The Beginnings of the WCTU of Western Washington, 1883-87 (1955)
Other organizations
Anti-Saloon League, 1920-30, n.d.
Loyal Temperance Legion, 1906-07, n.d.
Ladies American Home Education Society and Temperance Union: Annals, 1852-71 (with gaps)
Massachusetts Woman's Committee for Law Enforcement, 1926-30
National Temperance Society, 1895-1902, n.d.
Sisterhood of Temperance Ladies in North America, Portland, Maine, n.d. (circa 1850s)
The Temperance Offering, 1853
Temperance Working Man's Club (London): letter, 1884
Women's National Committee for Law Enforcement, 1922-29, n.d.
Women's Organization for National Prohibition, 1932
Various state organizations, 1851-1930, n.d.
Yearbooks, 1909, 1912
Miscellaneous, 1869-1938, n.d.
Petitions, 1835, 1918
Gordon, Anna Adams: Anna Adams Gordon: A Story of Her Life, n.d.(circa 1929)
Lady Henry Somerset: Lady Henry Somerset, by Helen Hood, n.d. (circa 1899)
Livermore, Mary A.: Articles by and about, n.d.
Perkins, Sarah: Pioneer Work: Seventy Years of Temperance Work (Ohio, n.d.)
Stevens, Lillian M.N.: Photograph, n.d.
Willard, Frances E.
Articles about
Books: How to Win (1886); How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle (1895)
Photographs and slides, 1880s, n.d.
Miscellaneous clippings, 1950s-1980s, n.d.
Songbooks, 1916-28, n.d.
Postcards, pledge cards, and medallion, n.d.
Stamps, 1939-1940, n.d.
Newspapers and posters, 1892-1918
Posters: "The Kaiser's Ally in America"; Scientific Temperance Instruction, Maine Ratification Campaign (2), n.d.
BOOKS ON SHELF
Mary A. Livermore, The Story of My Life (1899)
Clara C. Chapin, ed., Thumbnail Sketches of White Ribbon Women (1895)