author
Frances W. Graham
A reformer, singer, editor, and historian, she helped shape the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in New York and later chronicled its story in book form. Her work offers a close-up view of the ideals, energy, and organizing spirit behind a major reform movement of her time.
1 Audiobook
Two Decades A History of the First Twenty Years' Work of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the State of New York
by Frances W. Graham, Georgeanna M. Gardenier
About the author
Born Frances Hamilton in 1857, she became an American temperance leader closely tied to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She served as president of the New York State WCTU, worked as musical director for the national organization, and was also connected with the paper Women's Temperance Work as an editor.
Alongside her organizing work, she became one of the movement's key record-keepers. She co-wrote Two Decades, a history of the first twenty years of the New York State WCTU, and later wrote Sixty Years of Action, extending that record across a much longer stretch of the organization's life.
She died in 1940, but her books remain useful for readers interested in reform history, women's public leadership, and the culture of the temperance movement. Rather than writing from a distance, she documented a cause she had helped build from within.