Manuscripts Collection
The national Prohibition Party was formally organized at a mass convention in Chicago in 1869, giving large-scale political structure to a movement that had been notable in the United States since the early years of the nineteenth century. The party's central mission was to eliminate the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the United States. It later added other planks, including women's suffrage and currency reform, but prohibition remained its preeminent focus.
The work of the party was largely carried on through state committees, which worked both to build up voter support for the prohibition movement and to develop state-level slates of Prohibition Party candidates. The Minnesota state committee put forward its first slate of candidates in 1871, and continued to develop its organization after that. The Minnesota organization consisted of both a general Prohibition State Committee and a smaller, more powerful Minnesota Prohibition Executive Committee. Although the state organization was very active through 1919, it lost much of its force during and after the national 1919-1933 experiment with prohibition, and ceased as an active political organization.
The records give only a fragmentary picture of the structure and operations of the Minnesota Prohibition State Committee during its 1876-1919 heyday. They are dominated by routine monthly financial statements and by the minutes of the state Executive Committee. Those minutes are often sketchy and do not afford a comprehensive picture of the organization.
Accession number: 4699; 5284
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, April 1999
Catalog ID number: 09-00041285
This folder of unbound materials includes drafts of various resolutions and platform planks (largely undated); printed party ballots showing national and state Prohibition candidates; items agitating for Sunday closing of the Minnesota State Fair; and photocopied obituaries of a few longtime Minnesota party leaders.
The first folder contains a variety of miscellaneous financial statements and memoranda. The second folder consists largely of treasurer's monthly statements and reports for May-November 1900 and July-November 1910. A more complete set of treasurer's monthly reports are found interfiled within the minutes.
The minutes record meetings of the Executive Committee, as well as many of those of the State Central Committee and the Prohibition State Committee. Beginning in 1894 the minutes are accompanied by the treasurer's monthly financial statements and reports. Most of the minutes are fairly pro forma, but the descriptions below note especially significant or unusual content.
Largely pencilled drafts, fairly routine in content.
Formal minutes, somewhat more detailed than the earlier file. The financial reports become more detailed beginning in 1906. Topics or documents of particular note include: reports of the State Prohibition Committee conventions (July 1894, March 1900); fund raising successes (August 1896); membership list (1904); plans for the 1905-1908 political campaigns; articles of incorporation of the Minnesota Civic Reform Association (1906); summary of 1906 field work (June); and organization of the Intercollegiate Prohibition Association (December 1906).
Fairly brief minutes relating largely to staff, officers, and finances. They contain some information on relations with other temperance groups, especially the Women's Christian Temperance Union (1914). Notable entries include a report on the WCTU state convention (August 1915); a report on W. G. Calderwood's attendance at a meeting of temperance groups (Committee of 60) in Washington, D.C. and their work with Congress (December 1916); plans to organize a Minnesota Dry Federation of temperance groups; and hiring the Northern Information Bureau, a private security firm (February 1918). There is a June-August 1918 gap in the minutes.