Woman's Christian Temperance Union records collected by Edna Maine Spooner (Ms.Spooner)

This collection dates from 1890 to 1974, the bulk of which ranges from 1920 to 1950. It contains an assortment of materials, including business letters; a wide variety of administrative documents; a prodigious amount of printed materials (primarily in the form of booklets, brochures, and leaflets), along with a few scattered monographic and serial titles; a small strand of subject files; some ephemeral materials (primarily comprised of newspaper clippings); and a small, but quaint collection of artifacts.

Series 1: Correspondence includes business correspondence either originating from Edna Maine Spooner or sent to her, most of which documents her various administrative roles within the local chapter, the Roberts Union (of Cranston, R.I.) and the statewide Woman's Christian Temperance Union of R.I. The core of this series is the correspondence sent from the national W.C.T.U., to the W.C.T.U. of R.I.--a particularly strong set of letters, dating from 1926 to 1949 which document a wide-range of the W.C.T.U.'s corporate concerns, strategies, mission, and administrative procedures.

Series 5: Printed materials, is comprised of a substantial collection of printed materials published by the W.C.T.U. It includes a particularly strong and hefty assortment of booklets, pamphlets, and leaflets from national W.C.T.U.'s affiliate publishers--the National W.C.T.U. Publishing House and the Signal Press--as well as from other W.C.T.U. divisions, the Young People's Branch and the Youth Temperance Council. These files together with a smaller, but significant (and rare) assortment of W.C.T.U monographic and serial titles, form a comprehensive record of the W.C.T.U.'s intellectual history as a corporate body and as an agent for social, religious, and political change.

Series 6: Subject files, incorporates a small collection of topical files associated with the W.C.T.U. and the temperance movement, including materials referencing the political significance of 18th Amendment of the United States Constitution, as well as an interesting collection of materials associated with a local temperance organization, the Anti-Saloon League of R.I. It also includes files with assorted materials referencing a few prominent W.C.T.U. members from both the state and the national W.C.T.U.: Frances E. Willard, Edna M. Spooner, and Ethelyn H. Roberts.

Series 7: Ephemera, is relatively small in scope, consisting primarily of newspaper clippings arranged into broad topical files.

Series 8: Artifacts, is also small in scope, and includes paper envelopes and small cloth pouches that were made by hand and designed to be money holders for W.C.T.U. fund-raising endeavors, as well as a few W.C.T.U. convention paraphernalia, including ribbons, pins, and paper napkins.