Have you been watching the Prohibition documentary on PBS?
Would you like to know more about the movement to outlaw the sale of alcohol?
The Ohio Historical Society library holds collections related to the temperance movement in Ohio, the U.S., and even some material related to the international temperance movement. The materials include posters, song books, original manuscripts, visual images and many publications of organizations like the Anti-Saloon League, head quartered in Westerville, and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. There are original manuscript materials created by people and organizations active in the movement. The visual images primarily document the Women’s Temperance Crusade of 1873-1874 when women, beginning in Hillsboro, took to the streets to protest the sale of alcoholic beverages in their towns.
The illustration depicts the Ohio Whiskey War, more commonly known as the Women's Temperance Crusade, with the ladies of Logan singing hymns in front of bar rooms in aid of the temperance movement. From Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
Here is a select list of collections that are available to researchers.
Please search the Online Collections Catalog for more.
Manuscript Collections
MIC 113 Temperance Minute Books, Hillsboro, Ohio, 1873-1882
MIC 180 WCTU of Hillsboro (Ohio) Records, 1875-1990
MSS 164 Hopley Family Papers
MSS 249 Trimble Family Papers
MSS 474 Delia Thompson Papers
MSS 1270 Treasurer’s Book for Chillicothe W.C.T.U., 1908-1916
VFM 2025 Mary and Ann Dean Papers
VFM 2437 Membership Certificate for the Sons of Temperance of North America
VFM 4997 Sons of Temperance Travelling Card
VFM 4810 Sarah G. Innis Union WCTU Minutes, 1948-1965
VFM 5613 Constitution of the Champaign Temperance Society
VFM 5789 Prohibition Party of Pickaway County Papers, Circa 1890s
VOL 87 Women’s Christian Temperance Union (Maplewood, Ohio) Minute Book, 1915-1921
VOL 103 McConnelsville Band of Hope Constitution and Minute Book, 1868-1896
VOL 417 Sons of Temperance of North America, Grand Division of Ohio, Troy Division No. 20 Minute Book, 1845-1849
VOL 910 “Over the Sea,” Sarah Clinton Perkins Journal, 1895
VOL 1011 Ladies Temperance Band (Bainbridge, Ohio) Minute Book, 1874
VOL 1021 Eliza Jane Trimble Thompson Scrapbook, 1875-1903
VOL 1160 Band of Hope, Miamisburg, Ohio, Constitution and Minute Book, 1876-1879
Visual Images
P 156 Hopley Family Photograph Collection
SC 1102 Prohibition and Whiskey Crusade
SC 1337 Temperance
SC 1493 Women’s Christiam Temperance Union
SC 5354 Temperance Crusade
Publications, manuscripts and visual images are available for use in the Society’s Research Room on the third floor of the Ohio History Center.
L. Wood, Curator for Visual Resources
