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Prohibition and Temperence

These materials document the Prohibition movement in Indiana, or are related to the Temperance and Prohibition eras in Indiana history. A number of materials from the General Collections of the Indiana State Library are included to assist the researcher in placing the Indiana activities in perspective.

Books

I 817 A228o
Ade, George. The Old-Time Saloon. New York : Ray Long & Richard R. Smith, c1931.
The author attempts to illustrate to audiences that do not remember what a saloon was really like, that this type of establishment was the real target of Prohibition legislation.

I 178 A791
Artman, Samuel R. The Legalized Outlaw. Indianapolis, Ind. : Levery Bros. & Co., c1908
Legal discussion of liquor laws written by Artman, Judge of the 20th Judicial Circuit of Indiana.

I 178 B365
Beadle, J. H. Women's War on Whiskey: Its History, Theory, and Prospects. Cincinnati, Oh. : Wilstach, Baldwin & Co., c1874.
"A comprehensive account of the rise and progress of the Women's Temperance Movement, with scenes and incidents of the campaign, and a statement of the best mode of ensuring success "-t.p.

HV 5071 .B4 1923 (General Collections)
Bechtel, John H., ed. Temperance Selections: Comprising Choice Readings and Recitations in prose and verse from the ablest speakers and writers in England and America. Philadelphia: The Penn Pub. Co., c1893, c1921.

Gen. 178 S785c (General Collections)
Cherrington, Ernest Hurst, ed. Standard Encyclopedia of the Alcohol Problem. Westerville, Oh. : American Issue Pub. Co., c1925. Five volume encyclopedia.

Gen. 178.4 C522h (General Collections)
Cherrington, Ernest Hurst. History of the Anti-Saloon League. Westerville, Oh. : American Issue Pub. Co., c1913.

Gen. 178.5 F533p (General Collections)
Fisher, Irving. Prohibition at Its Worst. New York : Macmillan Co., c1926.
This is the book that Clarence Darrow refutes in his Prohibition Mania listed below.

I 178 H241s
Hanley, J. Frank and Oliver Wayne Stewart, eds. Speeches of the Flying Squadron. Indianapolis, Ind. : Hanley & Stewart, [1915?]
The Flying Squadron of America was a Temperance organization which staged a campaign to educate Americans of the evils of the liquor traffic. The Squadron consisted of three groups of speakers who visited cities from September 30, 1914 to June 6, 1915 delivering speeches. Those speeches are compiled here.

I 178 F648
The Flying Squadron of America. June 15, 1918.
Booklet containing photographs and biographies of the members of the Flying Squadron.

Gen. 178.5 H424p (General Collections)
Haynes, Roy A. Prohibition Inside and Out. New York : Doubleday, Page & Co., 1923.
Written by Harding's Prohibition Commissioner, with a forward by Harding.

I* 744 L257d
Landis, Frederick. Days Gone Dry. Indianapolis, Ind. : Bobbs-Merrill Co., c1919.  
Booklet of cartoons by Gaar Williams humorously illustrating how wonderful life will be under Prohibition.

I 178.4 R739s
Rohrer, Fred. Saloon Fight at Berne, Ind. Berne, Ind. : Berne Witness Co., c1913.

HV 5078 .W6 (General Collections)
Wheeler, Wayne B., comp. Federal and State Laws Relating to Intoxicating Liquor. Westerville, Oh. : American Issue Pub. Co., 1916.
Booklet compiled by Wayne Wheeler, Attorney and General Counsel for the Anti-Saloon League of America, summarizing laws relating to liquor traffic in the States.

And on the other side of the fence

Gen. 178.5 N227a (General Collections)
The Anti-Prohibition Manual: A Summary of Facts and Figures Dealing with Prohibition. Cincinnati, Oh. : National Association of Distillers and Wholesale Dealers. Library holds 1915-1918 editions.

HV 5089 .D285 (General Collections)
Darrow, Clarence and Victor S. Yarros. The Prohibition Mania: A Reply to Professor Irving Fisher and Others. New York : Boni and Liveright, c1927.
Yale Professor Fisher had written a book titled "Prohibition at Its Worst" that was hailed by Prohibitionists as the best possible defense for the 18th Amendment and the Volstead Act. Darrow and Yarros here present their arguments against the legislation.

Gen. 178.5 H763 (General Collections)
Homan, Rev. J.A. Prohibition: The Enemy of Temperance. Cincinnati, Oh. : Christian Liberty Bureau, [1910]

Gen. 178.1 M734t (General Collections)
Monahan, M., ed. and comp. A Text-Book of True Temperance. New York : United States Brewer's Association, 1911.

Gen. 178 R813L2 (General Collections)
Rosenbloom, Morris Victor. The Liquor Industry: A Survey of its History, Manufacture, Problems of Control and Importance. Braddock, Pa. : Ruffsdale Distilling Co., c1935, 1936.

Gen. 178.5 T978b (General Collections)
Tydings, Millard E. Before and After Prohibition. New York: MacMillan Co., 1930.
Written by a US Senator from Maryland who argues that the disadvantages of Prohibition far outweigh its advantages. The library holds three volumes of The Handbook Series, which are bibliographies on various topics:

Gen. 178.5 B455p2 (General Collections)
Beman, Lamar T., comp. Selected Articles on Prohibition of the Liquor Traffic. New York : H.W. Wilson Co., 2nd ed., 1917

Gen. 178.5 B455s (General Collections)
Beman, Lamar T., comp. Selected Articles on Prohibition: Modification of the Volstead Law. New York : H.W. Wilson Co., 1924.

Gen. 178.4 J65s (General Collections)
Johnsen, Julia E., comp. Selected Articles on the Problem of Liquor Control. New York : H.W. Wilson Co., 1934.

More recent studies

I 178 F987L
Furnas, J. C. The Life and Times of the Late Demon Rum. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, c1965.

HV 5287 .A64 K47 1985 (General Collections)
Kerr, K. Austin. Organized for Prohibition: A New History of the Anti-Saloon League. New Haven, Conn. : Yale University Press, c1985.

HV 5089 .L4 (General Collections)
Lee, Henry. How Dry We Were: Prohibition Revisited. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice-Hall, c1963.

Biographies

HV 5293 .G6 A1 (General Collections)
Gough, John B. An Autobiography. Boston : Gould, Kendall, & Lincoln, 1850.

HV 5293 .G6 A1 (General Collections)
Gough, John B. Autobiography and Personal Recollections of John B. Gough. Springfield, Mass. : Bill, Nichols & Co., 1870.

HV 5293 .M2 A3 (General Collections)
Marsh, John, D.D. Temperance Recollections: Labors, Defeats, Triumphs. An Autobiography. New York : Charles Schribner & Co., 1866.
Written by the "Secretary of the first three National Temperance Conventions, and thirty years Corresponding Secretary and Editor of the American Temperance Union."

HV 5232 .N3 A7 (General Collections)
Asbury, Herbert. Carry Nation. New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1929.

I 920.7 W692w
Willard, Frances E. Glimpses of Fifty Years: The Autobiography of an American Woman. Chicago : Woman's Temperance Publication Association, c1889.

HV 5232 .W6 G7 (General Collections)
Gordon, Anna A. The Beautiful Life of Frances E. Willard: A Memorial Volume. Chicago : Woman's Temperance Publication Association, c1898.

HV 5293 .W4 S8 (General Collections)
Steuart, Justin. Wayne Wheeler, Dry Boss; An Uncensored Biography of Wayne B. Wheeler. New York : Fleming H. Revell Co., c1928.

Periodicals

HV 5285 .U55 (General Collections)
The Union Signal: Official Organ of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Library holds from Vol. 55, no. 30 (Aug 10, 1929) through Vol. 120, no. 2 (March-April 1994)

I 178 M583
The Message: Official Organ of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana
Library holds from Vol. 25, no. 7 (June 1921) through Vol. 79, no. 4 (May/June 1977)

I 178.06 W872c
Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana Reports / Yearbooks Library holds issues from 1885-1991.

Gen. 178.4 A631s (General Collections)
Cherrington, Ernest Hurst, comp. and ed. Anti-Saloon League Year Book: An Encyclopedia of Facts and Figures Dealing With the Liquor Traffic and the Temperance Reform. Westerville, Oh.: Anti-Saloon League of America. Library holds 1908 to 1933 editions.

Gen. 178.06 A633p (General Collections)
Anti-Saloon League of America: Proceedings Library holds 1909-1925, 1930, 1932.

Pamphlets

The Indiana Division holds more than 100 pamphlets in the Ip 178 call number range alone, with others located at other points in the collection. These include numerous sermons, addresses, constitutions and by-laws of various organizations, pamphlets detailing laws and enforcement. A few examples are listed below:

Ip 178 no. 12
Program from the 28th Annual Convention of the Women's Christian Temperance Union held in Kokomo, Indiana, October 4-9, 1901.

Ip 178 no. 14
Shumaker, E. S. "Indiana Wet and Dry." 26 p. [1925?] Discussion of Indiana's dry law written by the Superintendent of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League.

Ip 178 no. 91
Sunday, Rev. William Ashley. "Get On the Water Wagon." 32 p., c1908. Billy Sunday's famous "Booze Sermon."

Ip 178 no. 66
Wheeler, Wayne B., LL.D. "How to Enforce National Prohibition." 16 p. Address delivered by Wheeler before the Congress of the World League Against Alcoholism, on Sunday, August 21, 1927, at Winona Lake, Indiana.

Ip 178 no. 67
Maguire, W., Dr. "A Night's Entertainment, in Familiar Conversation Between a Prohibitionist and an Anti, on the Subject of Intemperance, and Other Matters Therewith Connected." 41 p. 1854.

Ip 178 no. 25
Carr, M. W. "A Criticism of Fanatical Temperance." 66 p. c1895. In addition, the General Collection also holds 5 volumes of bound Temperance pamphlets dating from 1839 to about 1900. (178 I385)

Oral Histories - Transcripts that mention Prohibition

  • Evans, William P., pp. 3-4, 7-8.
  • Freightner, Harold C., pp. 7-11, 33-34, 45, 51-56, 132-139
  • Gemmecke, Dr. Richard H., pp. 24-32
  • Jenkes, Virginia Ellis, pp. 6-7, 78-79
  • Lewis, Olive B., pp. 55-60

Manuscript Collections

L56
Foulke, William Dudley -- speeches and clippings, 1926-1931.

Mfilm
Robinson, Frederick M. - 4+ reels contain notes and records of William O. Holman, Prohibition agent, 1921-1940.

Mfilm
Sons of Temperance, New Harmony Journal, 1855

4th floor
Prohibition Party of Indiana - 1943-1973. Records, correspondence, pamphlets.

Newspaper Index Subject Headings

The Indianapolis Newspapers Index (1898-1979) provides citations to articles from the major Indianapolis daily newspapers of the time. Headings to check include:

  • Prohibition
  • Temperance
  • Anti-Saloon League
  • Liquor
  • Local Option
  • Woman's Christian Temperance Union
  • WCTU
  • Indianapolis Liberty League
  • Indiana Dry Federation

IN MH 5-20-2020