Michigan Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
Biographical notes:
With the assistance and encouragement of an Ohio women's temperance union, local Michigan women's temperance groups met in Lansing in February 1874 for the purpose of forming a state organization of their own. Later in 1874 this organization took the name Michigan Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The group's main purpose was to work for the outlawing of liquor sales in the state of Michigan. Like other burgeoning state organizations, the Michigan WCTU was organized in part to assist in the formation of local unions which would then mobilize grass-roots support for various prohibition legislation and local option campaigns. In addition, their membership campaigned for woman suffrage and protective legislation for women and children.
The WCTU's greatest influence was in the years leading up to the passage of the eighteenth amendment. With the repeal of this amendment in 1933, the organization lost much of its focus. While continuing to support prohibition legislation, the organization also began to stress education campaigns about related issues, such as drug abuse and drunken driving. By the early 1970s many unions were disbanding because of declining membership and lack of interest; this trend continued through the 1980s and 1990s, although the WCTU continued its work of educating the public about alcohol and drug abuse.
For more detailed histories of the Michigan WCTU, the researcher should consult A Brief History of Michigan Woman's Christian Temperance Union, compiled by Mrs. J.P. Howard and Mrs. Julia R. Parish (1912) and Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Temperance and Prohibition Papers, edited by Randall C. Jimerson, Francis X. Blouin and Charles A. Isetts (1977).
From the guide to the Michigan Woman's Christian Temperance Union records, 1874-2006, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
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Subjects:
- Social reformers
- Social reformers
- Temperance
- Temperance
- Women
- Women
Occupations:
Places:
- Upper Peninsula (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Allegan County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Branch County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Macomb County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Cass County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Livingston County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Williamston (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Copemish (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Alma (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Highland Park (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Marlette (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Copemish (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Flushing (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Highland Park (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Saint Louis (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Huron County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Lansing (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Pontiac (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Alma (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Otsego (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Flushing (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Pontiac (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Gratiot County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Easton (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Portage (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Redford (Detroit, Mich.) (as recorded)
- Williamston (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Swartz Creek (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Detroit (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Menominee (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Calhoun County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Allegan County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Dowagiac (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Pickford (Mich.) (as recorded)
- East Lansing (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Kalamazoo (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Kent County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Mount Clemens (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Willard (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Swartz Creek (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Ionia (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Niles (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Holland (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Michigan (as recorded)
- Bad Axe (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Woodland (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Boyne City (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Muskegon County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Columbiaville (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Nashville (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Monroe County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Macomb County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Petoskey (Mich.) (as recorded)
- East Lansing (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Eaton County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Fremont (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Pickford (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Columbiaville (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Coopersville (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Fremont (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Coats Grove (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Drayton Plains (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Kent County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Shiawassee County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Marlette (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Coopersville (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Hastings (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Branch County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Easton (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Dowagiac (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Huron County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Oceana County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Buchanan (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Vassar (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Portage (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Ithaca (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Ingham County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- North Adams (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Oceana County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Eaton County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Vassar (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Hastings (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Redford (Detroit, Mich.) (as recorded)
- Woodland (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Buchanan (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Shiawassee County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Detroit (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Oakland County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Bronson (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Monroe County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Ithaca (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Genesee County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Grand Rapids (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Upper Peninsula (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Ingham County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Lansing (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Owosso (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Mount Clemens (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Muskegon County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Grand Rapids (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Nashville (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Barry County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Boyne City (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Kalamazoo (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Saint Louis (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Bad Axe (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Holland (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Gratiot County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Hillsdale (Mich.) (as recorded)
- La Salle (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Oakland County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Genesee County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Drayton Plains (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Ionia (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Owosso (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Willard (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Cass County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Hillsdale (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Barry County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Livingston County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Menominee (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Calhoun County (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Bronson (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Niles (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Otsego (Mich.) (as recorded)
- Petoskey (Mich.) (as recorded)
