Prohibition & Temperance Archive Documenting Religion and Politics Shaping Alcohol Regulation in the United States, 1886-1945

Woman's Christian Temperance Union

Date d'édition : 1886

A propos de cet article

Archive of Prohibition, temperance movement and alcohol regulation ephemera chronicling the political organizing, religious campaigns, and moral debates over alcohol consumption in the United States from the 1890s through the 1940s. Produced by temperance organizations, political advocates, physicians, government bodies, and reformers, the materials trace the public discourse surrounding alcohol from moral reform activism in the 1880s and 1890s to the political mobilization that culminated in the Eighteenth Amendment and Volstead Act, and finally to the regulatory systems established after repeal. These items document the stances of religious institutions, civic reform societies, political parties, and state authorities on public policy and social practices related to drinking. United States temperance and prohibition ephemera archive, 1886-1945. Collection contains twenty-four items including seven printed temperance handbills or pamphlets, six pledge cards for political or social organizations, three illustrated postcards, two physician-issued medicinal alcohol prescriptions, two legal reference volumes, one convention ribbon, one political ballot, one event invitation, and one directory booklet. Several items originate from prominent temperance organizations including the National Temperance Society and the Connecticut Temperance Union, while others are produced by the Prohibition Party and organized opposition to national prohibition through the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment. Geographic references across the archive include New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Oregon, California, and Washington, D.C., illustrating the nationwide reach of the movement and the varied institutional actors involved. Among the most notable items is an 1886 issue of Prohibition Bombs, a weekly tract distributed by the Prohibition Lecture Bureau and edited by prominent reformer W. Jennings Demorest, which frames the liquor industry as a powerful political force opposed to social reform. A late nineteenth-century statistical broadside titled "The Great Drink Waste" visually compares national expenditures on alcohol with spending on food, schools, and religious institutions, demonstrating the temperance movement's reliance on economic arguments alongside moral appeals. Religious reform literature is represented by several Connecticut Temperance Union pamphlets, including works by theologian Theodore L. Cuyler and University of Chicago president Lemuel Moss, both of which articulate the position that Christian institutions should actively oppose intoxicating drink. Political activism during the national prohibition era appears in a Prohibition Party campaign questionnaire postcard soliciting volunteers and funds for electoral organizing, while a 1921 voter enrollment card from Cattaraugus County, New York illustrates the party's attempt to compete alongside major political parties in local elections. A particularly revealing enforcement artifact is a 1918 physician-issued medicinal alcohol prescription, demonstrating one of the principal legal exceptions under prohibition law that allowed physicians and pharmacists to dispense alcohol as medicine. The archive concludes with statutory material from New York's Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, including the 1935 annotated legal text and a 1945 pocket-part update, documenting the regulatory system created after repeal to replace national prohibition with state-controlled alcohol licensing and oversight. Light to moderate edge wear, scattered toning, and occasional creasing across the archive consistent with age and handling; several items show small tears or minor staining, while pamphlets remain complete and legible. Overall condition good. A wide ranging archive illustrating the full arc of American temperance activism and alcohol regulation, from late nineteenth-century religious reform literature through prohibition politics and into the post-repeal legal framework in the United States.

N° de réf. du vendeur 23044

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Prohibition & Temperance Archive Documenting Religion and Politics Shaping Alcohol Regulation in the United States, 1886-1945
• Date de parution: 1886
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Archive
  • Law, Incarceration & Public Policy
  • American History by State