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Title: Ruth Tibbits Tooze Papers, 1938-1940

ID: MSS Tooze

Primary Creator: Tooze, Ruth Tibbits, 1901-

Extent: 0.08 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The Ruth Tibbits Tooze Papers are arranged into one series: I: National Woman's Christian Temperance Union Records, 1938-1940.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The Ruth Tibbits Tooze Papers are comprised of materials collected by Ruth Tooze from 1938-1940 during her tenure as Vice President of the Oregon Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). The collection includes correspondence, notes, typescripts, budget records, meeting agendas, pamphlets and leaflets, press releases, educational planning documents, songsheets, event programs, and newsclippings.

The Ruth Tibbits Tooze Papers are comprised of materials collected by Tooze, Vice President of the Oregon Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), between 1938 and 1940. Included are administrative documents from the Oregon WCTU; materials documenting the WCTU's alcohol education initiatives; an extensive collection of press releases and published WCTU literature; and temperance and religious materials created by other organizations. Records include correspondence, manuscript notes, typescripts, budget records, meeting agendas, pamphlets and leaflets, press releases, educational planning documents, songsheets, event programs, and newsclippings.

The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded following a series of women-led anti-saloon protests in the early 1870s. At the 1874 New York Chautauqua Assembly, women temperance agitators planned the national convention in Cleveland, Ohio where the WCTU was officially formed. Under the guidance of Annie Turner Wittenmyer, the WCTU quickly grew to include thousands of members across the United States. Frances Willard succeeded Wittenmyer in 1879 and directed efforts toward increasing women's involvement in politics. Initially through the lens of temperance, the WCTU became deeply involved in U.S. moral reformation issues including immigration, poverty, and women's suffrage and founded the National Council for Women and the International Council of Women. The WCTU campaigned for prohibition of alcohol and tobacco, labor reform, purity education, women's rights, and social services through a robust publishing program, local and national demonstrations and events, child and adult educational outreach, and political lobbying.

The WCTU experienced aggressive growth throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reaching its peak in the late 1920s. The WCTU was instrumental in the success of the women's suffrage movement, the constitutional ban on alcohol in the United States (1920-1933), and the 20th century anti-tobacco movement. In the post-Prohibition era, the WCTU continued to campaign for legislation against alochol, tobacco, and other narcotics and remained supportive of social conservatism. The WCTU's presence in Oregon was evidenced by more than eighty local chapters and the construction of WCTU-sponsored drinking fountains in the communities of La Grande and Roseburg. The WCTU continues to operate today, identifying itself as the "oldest voluntary, non-sectarian woman's organization in continuous existence in the world."

Ruth Tibbits Tooze (born 1901) served as Vice President of the Oregon WCTU in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1959, she was elected to serve as the WCTU's ninth national president, a position she held until 1974. Tooze was active in the WCTU's outreach campaigns, targeting youth through educational opportunities and providing guidance for the WCTU's Loyal Temperance Legion (for children ages six to twelve) and the Youth Temperance Council (ages thirteen to twenty).

More Extent Information: 1 box

Statement on Access: The collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: The Ruth Tibbits Tooze Papers were acquired by the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2014.

Related Materials:

The Edwin T. Reed Papers (MSS Reed) include a 1913 address welcoming the Woman's Christian Temperance Union Convention to Oregon Agricultural College. Plans for the WCTU Children's Farm Home can be found in the Corvallis and Benton County, Oregon, Maps (MAPS Corvallis). Other materials related to the temperance movement in the United States are included in the U.S. Civil War Collection (MSS CivilWar), and the E. E. Wilson Papers (MSS WilsonEE).

Correspondence with Tooze can be found in the Delmar D. Gibbons Papers held at the University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library. Additional information on the WCTU's activities in Oregon can be found in the Oregon Historical Society's Temperance Collection, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Oregon, Cataskani Auxillary Records, the Beaverton Temperance Collection, and the Catherine Julia Adams Diary and Letter. The Sleeth Family Collection at Lewis & Clark College includes Oregon WCTU materials collected by Mattie Sleeth.

Preferred Citation: Ruth Tibbits Tooze Papers (MSS Tooze), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Tooze, Ruth Tibbits, 1901-
Loyal Temperance Legion
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Oregon
Youth Temperance Council

Alcoholism--Study and teaching--Oregon.
Prohibition.
Temperance--Oregon.
Temperance and religion.
Tooze, Ruth Tibbits, 1901-
United States. Constitution. 18th Amendment.
United States. Constitution. 21st Amendment.
Women--Political activity.