J. N. (John Newton) Stearns

John Newton Stearns (1829–1895) was an American temperance reformer, editor, and compiler whose name appears on a wide range of 19th-century publications connected with the National Temperance Society and Publication House in New York. Rather than being known mainly for a single literary title, he seems to have built his reputation through practical publishing work that supported the broader temperance cause.

His books include Foot-prints of Temperance Pioneers, The Temperance Speaker, The National Temperance Almanac, and the two-volume Temperance in All Nations, which he edited after the World's Temperance Congress held in Chicago in 1893. These works suggest an author deeply involved in gathering history, speeches, recitations, and reference material for activists, public speakers, and readers interested in social reform.

Stearns's surviving publications present him as a hardworking organizer of ideas as much as a writer—someone who helped document a movement and give it a public voice. For listeners interested in reform literature, his work offers a vivid window into the moral campaigns, public meetings, and print culture of late 19th-century America.