May 2, 2023
We're back for Season 2!!! Hannah and Easton take a trip back to 1882 when a group of women from the town of Westfield, IN took their frustration with the opening of a local saloon into their own hands. Our discussion explores what motivated their unusually forceful actions, the consequences of their decisions (and the decisions of women like them across the country) and how the actions during the Temperance Movement still impact us today. Buckle up, we’re going Saloon Smashing!
Our Sources:
Primary Sources-
“The Westfield Saloon,” Hamilton County Democrat, Indiana (18 August 1882), p. 4.
“Vigorous Temperance Measures,” The Republic, Columbus, Indiana (28 July 1882), p. 1.
“Westfield ladies destroy saloon,” Hamilton County Democrat, Indiana (28 July 1882), p. 5.
“Women of Westfield,” The Noblesville Ledger, Noblesville, Indiana (28 July 1882), p. 1.
“Westfield: Saloon ruined twice,” in The Noblesville Ledger, Noblesville, IN (17 July 1998), p. 3.
Secondary Sources-
Cannup, Charles C. “The Temperance Movement in Indiana,” from Indiana Magazine of History (1920), accessed on JSTOR.
Haines, John F. History of Hamilton County: Her People, Industries and Institutions. Indiana University-B.F. Bowen & Company: Bloomington, IN, 1915.
Hamm, Thomas D. The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907. Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IN, 1988.
Heighway, David. Hidden Histories of Hamilton County. The History Press, Arcadia Publishing: Cheltenam, UK, 2021.
Lantzer, Jason S. “African Americans and the dry crusade in Indiana” in Traces of Indiana & Midwestern History. Vol. 22, Issue 1. Accessed on American History & Life.
Sanders, Paul D. “Temperance Songs in American School Songbooks, 1840-1860” in Journal of Historical Research in Music Education (October 2015). Vol. 37, No. 1. Pp. 5-23.
Tannenbaum, Jed. “The Origins of Temperance Activism and Militancy among American Women” in the Journal of Social History (Winter 1981), accessed on JSTOR.
Zaeske, Susan. “Hearing the silences in Lincoln’s temperance address: Whig masculinity as an ethic of rhetorical civility” in Rhetoric & Public Affairs Journal (Fall 2010). Vol. 13, Issue 3. Pp. 389-419. Accessible on America History & Life.