Alcohol, Temperance & Prohibition

The digitized items in the Alcohol, Temperance and Prohibition Collection are from the Alcoholism and Addiction Studies Collection, as well as from various collections in the Brown University Library — broadsides, sheet music, pamphlets and government publications. The items have been collected at Brown for over three centuries for researchers and scholars at Brown and worldwide interested in American history, including the history of alcoholism, how the media was used for spreading ideas and information, and in how the arts presented various movements. The purpose of this digital collection is to give researchers and interested individuals a glimpse into the rich and diverse resources at Brown's library. All of the digital items are in the public domain. The digitized pamphlets were published by various groups leading up to prohibition, during the prohibition era, and ending with the 21st amendment in 1933, which repealed the 18th amendment from 1919 prohibiting the manufacturing, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors.
This collection is part of Brown University Library, hosted by Brown University.

Items in this collection

An ingenious production

An ingenious production

Brown University

Poetry and prose. Within border of type ornaments printed in two columns divided first by curvilinear and then single line. Prose piece is testimonial to William C. Brown's temperance poem "Ode to Rum" and urges temperance editors to publish ode at least once a year. A later ed. (Boston?, 1851?) is recorded as NUC pre-1956 NB 0867658.

An honest rumseller's advertisement

An honest rumseller's advertisement

Brown University

Rumseller promises to make drunkards, paupers and beggars, to shorten lives and train young customers in every vice. Rumseller promises to make drunkards, paupers and beggars, to shorten lives and train young customers in every vice. Within border of type ornament sections. Type-signed at end with pseudonym: "Judas Heartless." Suggested range of publication dates from internal evidence.

An Eulogium on rum

An Eulogium on rum

Brown University

Broadsheet. Poetry. Printed in two columns; verso printed in three columns. Printed vertically beside title: 1837. 1839. At end of text on recto: Printed for the benefit of the Mass. Legislature. Subtitle of third poem: This monster ... was executed at Doyelstown [i.e. Doylestown] Penn. June 21, 1832: for the murder of ... Chapman. Not in Checklist Amer. imprints, 1830-1839. Imprint information from Howe bibliography in Proceedings Amer. Antiquarian Society, n.s. 60 (1950), p. 217-223. Solomon Howe, printer, son of Baptist minister and author Solomon Howe (1750-1835), printed with his brother John (1783-1845) in Greenwich and Enfield, Mass. and published broadsides with his imprint in the 1830's. The town of Enfield was separated from Greenwich, Mass. and incorporated in 1816. Another broadside has The gray mare, with imprint "Printed by S. Howe, Enfield" on recto, Baily's poem and Apostrophe on verso. First line: Arise! ye pimpled, tippling race arise! First line of second poem: At length the cholera is come. First line of third poem: Mina! thy guilty race is run.