Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Rhode Island

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.) is described as the "oldest voluntary non-sectarian woman's organization in continuous existence" on the W.C.T.U. website.

The women of Fredonia, NY were the first local group to use the name "Woman's Christian Temperance Union" in 1873. The National W.C.T.U. was founded in Cleveland Ohio in 1874. Local Chapters are called "unions" and function autonomously but are linked to state unions and national headquarters. For further information, see Subject Files, folder 4, N.W.C.T.U. -- Organizational Structure. The W.C.T.U. advocates abstinence from alcohol, tobacco and other substances.

From the guide to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union Collection, 1922-1977, (University of Rhode Island Library Special Collections and Archives Unit)

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

From the guide to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union records collected by Edna Maine Spooner, (bulk 1920-1950), 1890-1974, (John Hay Library Special Collections)