Woman's christian temperance union

Temperance organization founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1874. Campaigning against the use of alcohol and in favor of labor laws and prison reform, the W.C.T.U. became one of the largest and most influential women's organizations of the 19th century. It became global when the World W.C.T.U. was founded in 1883. The organization continued to exist through the 20th century, although membership declined after the passage of the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) in 1919.

The WCTU began in Delaware at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Wilmington in 1874. From this it grew into a number of local unions under the umbrella of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Delaware which was formed in 1880. The Federation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Wilmington and Near By Community, an association of unions in Wilmington, was formed in 1923 when the state WCTU membership was approaching its height. Although the primary interest of the WCTU was the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, it was also active in a variety of social reforms such as woman's suffrage, Americanization, prison reform, and campaigns against smoking and gambling.

Established in 1877, the Holland Chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was highly influential in petitioning state and national government to adopt legislation restricting the use and sale of alcoholic substances. These women promoted the principles of total abstinence from alcohol by sponsoring community events and by going to schools to warn the public of the dangers of alcohol.

Founded 1874 in Cleveland, Ohio; national headquarters moved to Evanston, Ill., in 1900; national temperance society which also became actively involved in political and social causes including the woman's suffrage movement,

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in 1873 in Evanston, Illinois and remains to be the oldest non-sectarian woman's organization in continuous existence in the world. It was organized by women who were concerned about the destructive power of alcohol and the harm it caused to their families and society. They felt that alcoholism led to larger social problems rather than just being a personal weakness or failing and believed that total abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs would reform society. In 1880, the WCTU established its first society in Georgia and by 1883 a statewide WCTU was organized. In 1888, a local chapter was formed in Savannah, Georgia to assist with the crusade for temperance and prohibition.

The collection centers around the two leaders of the Indiana Women's Christian Temperance Union and Anti-Saloon League, Sadie E. York and her husband Lewis E. York. Sadie Jackson married Lewis York in 1901 and moved to Worthington, Ind. They moved to Indianapolis in 1923. She held state office in the WCTU and was active in the Meridian WCTU. He was a member of the Illinois State Legislature (1904-1908); superintendent of Saline Co., Ill. schools (1908-1911) and superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of Indiana (1926-1947).

Edna Maine Spooner

Edna Maine Spooner, a lifelong resident of R.I., was born in 1891, in the White Rock area of Westerly. She resided in the Eden Park section of Cranston before settling in Kingston near the end of her life. She was the daughter of Reuben C. and Minnie M. Maine. She married Leroy A. Spooner and had one daughter, Lucille S. Votta, with whom she lived when she passed away in 1981.

Spooner, a music educator, was the director of the Hawthorne Music School in Cranston for several years where she taught voice and piano. She was also one of the original members of the Phillips Memorial Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday School, shared her musical expertise, helped organize charities, and assumed the office of church historian for many years. Later on in her life, she became a member of the Kingston Congregational Church.

Spooner was also a temperance reformer. She became an active member of the National Woman's Temperance Union and took on various leadership and administrative roles within the local chapter, the Roberts Union, based in Cranston, R.I. as well as within the state wide W.C.T.U. of R.I.

The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)

"The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in November of 1874. It grew out of the "Woman's Crusade" of the winter of 1873-1874. Initial groups in Fredonia, New York and Hillsboro and Washington Court House, Ohio, after listening to a lecture by Dr. Dio Lewis, were moved to a non-violent protest against the dangers of alcohol. Normally quiet housewives dropped to their knees in pray-ins in local saloons and demanded that the sale of liquor be stopped. In three months the women had driven liquor out of 250 communities, and for the first time felt what could be accomplished by standing together.

In the summer of 1874 at Chautauqua, preorganizational discussion was held by the women. They decided to hold a national convention that fall in Cleveland and the WCTU was formed. Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer was elected president; Miss Frances E. Willard, corresponding secretrary; Mrs. Mary Johnson, recording secretary; and Mrs. Mary Ingham, treasurer.

Behind the WCTU's temperance reform was "protection of the home." The slogan "For God and Home and Native Land" (later changed to "Every Land") expressed the WCTU's priorities. Through education and example the WCTU hoped to obtain pledges of total abstinence from alcohol, and later also tobacco and other drugs. The white ribbon bow was selected to symbolize purity, and the WCTU's watchwords were "Agitate - Educate - Legislate."

Local chapters were called "Unions" and were largely autonomous, but closely linked to the state unions and national headquarters. There were clear channels of authority and communication and the WCTU quickly became the largest woman's organization in the United States (and later, in the world.)"*

*from: Welcome to the WCTU, last modified Friday, June 14, 2013, http://www.wctu.org/earlyhistory.html