Women's Christian Temperance Union Fountain, 1909 (whereabouts unknown). The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was the first mass organization among women devoted to social reform. Originally organized on December 23, 1873, in Hillsboro, Ohio, and officially declared at a national convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874. It operated at an international level and in the context of religion and reform, including missionary work as well as matters of social reform such as suffrage. The WCTU perceived alcoholism as a cause and consequence of larger social problems rather than as a personal weakness or failing. The WCTU also agitated against tobacco. WCTU was very interested in a number of social reform issues, including labor, prostitution, public health, sanitation, and international peace. At a time when suffragists still alienated most American women, who viewed them as radicals, the WCTU offered a more traditionally feminine and appropriate organization for women to join. They also wanted to aid immigrants coming into the United States. By the 1920s, it was in more than forty countries and had more than 766,000 members paying dues at its peak in 1927.
Management Restrictions apply. See application form at http://watertownlib.org/research/historic-watertown/photographs
Contact host institution for more information.
