Temperance/prohibition

An important theme throughout American history has been the use and misuse of alcohol.  Of course other addictive or consciousness-altering drugs have enjoyed their turn in the spotlight in terms of changing history, but booze seems to have been a constant since the colonial times and continuing right up into the present.

When our summer interns in 2013 suggested that we ought to take a subject-matter cut at our catalog in addition to a geographic one, alcohol, its abuse, and attempts at its control was one of the themes that almost immediately stuck out as worthy of a separate category.  Hence this page.

Let it suffice to say that we were surprised at how much material we already published on alcohol-related subjects when we began this page.

Please check back frequently to see what new material we have added and to see links to material elsewhere in our catalog that relates to this topic.

Temperance/Prohibition themed material currently available from Between the Lakes Group:

• Speakeasy cards -- an artifact of Prohibition -- (free)

• What was really in Grandma's "tonic"? -- (free)

• The First 20 years of the WCTU in New York State (1894) 

The full title of this publication is Two Decades: A History of the First Twenty Years Work by the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in the State of New York 1874 – 1894.  Your publisher, when we began the project of digitizing this volume, viewed it as a document that would fit nicely in our Americana section along with the articles on speakeasy cards and “tonics” but came away from the project rather impressed with what these women (who did not yet have the right to vote) accomplished in their first 20 years.  Let it be clear that this is a history of a state WCTU organization, not a polemic, and while the authors assume a friendly audience, their discussion of tactics and their implementation are potentially useful to any disenfranchised group. 

 

We were also impressed to learn of an aspect of the work of the WCTU in a seemingly unrelated area:  until they got legislative action in 1887 raising the age of consent to 16 years, it was a mind-boggling 10 years old.  One pauses in wonder at what the sexual proclivities of a legislature that considered ten year old girls to be fair game must have been.  See our New York State Miscellany page for more information.