1874-1892: Teaching the Children
Meeting Minutes show that Frances Willard’s vision of “teaching the children…the ethics, chemistry, and hygiene of total abstinence” was the third item in the Plan of Work outlined at the first convention of the N.W.C.T.U. in Cleveland in 1874.
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Dr. Benjamin W. Richardson’s investigation into the effects of alcohol on the human body was published as the Temperance Lesson Book. In 1879, Mary H. Hunt, who had studied Richardson’s work, was appointed Chair of the WCTU’s Committee of Scientific Temperance Instruction. The Committee became the Bureau of Scientific Temperance Investigation and Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction in Schools and Colleges, and Hunt served as Director until her death. She campaigned tirelessly to make temperance instruction mandatory in public schools and to encourage the publication of appropriate textbooks—some examples of which are shown here. She also founded and edited the School Physiology Journal in 1892.
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Meanwhile, temperance education in Sunday Schools continued, as shown in this series of lesson books.
