Two Decades A History of the First Twenty Years' Work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the State of New York

This volume offers a vivid snapshot of the first two decades of a statewide crusade against liquor, tracing how a network of women in New York organized, recruited and rallied across urban streets and rural towns. Written at the request of the twenty‑fifth annual convention, it reads like a collective diary, filled with names, letters and minutes that reveal the everyday determination behind the movement’s public face.

The narrative follows the early meetings in modest churches, the drafting of constitutions and by‑laws, and the energetic conventions that produced portraits of leaders such as Mrs. Esther McNeil and Mrs. Allen Butler. Illustrated sketches and personal anecdotes bring the activists to life, showing how they balanced household duties with campaigns, lectures, and petitions that reached from Albany to the frontier villages of the Adirondacks.

Listening to this history provides a window into late‑nineteenth‑century reform, illustrating how a group of committed “white‑ribboners” built a social network that shaped public policy and laid groundwork for future women’s movements.