The Temperance Cause - 1876
2/3/24 - I love this book from 1876 about the temperance movement.The imagery tells the story of both the dangers of drinking and the peacefulness of abstinence.I knew about the 18th amendment, passed in 1919, which gave us prohibition, as well as the 21st amendment in 1933, which repealed prohibition.What I didn’t realize was that the temperance movement started almost a century before the passage of the 18th amendment, in 1826 according to this book.The author of this book was Jane E. Stebbins and I wasn’t able to discover anything much more about her.My favorite images:The pair of images at the beginning. (#9,#10)The infoviz about the effects of alcohol. (#29)The deranged and the devil. (#30)The seated women silently protesting. (#37,#38)Two other images, included at the end of this exhibit, I found related to the temperance movement. (#42,#43)This exhibit reminded me of Clay Shirky and his modern-day concept of “Cognitive Surplus” and his correlation of this concept with free time created by the Industrial Revolution that was used for gin-drinking. (#44).
