My name is Renee Raduechel.  My full-time job involves developing a small
technical library.  One of my part-time jobs is as a bookseller.  The other
part-time job I hold is that of costumed interpreter at a living history
museum.  In the last couple of years we've begun holding temperance rallies
a couple of times a week (in the context of 19th century [1870's] Wisconsin),
and I don't feel that I really know enough yet to make me comfortable playing
my part, especially since it's still such a sensitive subject.  I don't know
which was tougher:  the day that brewery employees came to tour (we held the
rally anyway), or the day that a temperance organization toured.
 
There are quite a number of subjects on my "study list":
-  Religious support for the temperance movement
-  Moral duty/reform v. woman's sphere/cult of domesticity
-  The "public face":  what did women do physically & vocally during
     temperance rallies
-  Relationship between temperance & woman suffrage/women's rights movements
-  Anti-suffragism
-  Status of women (married/single/widowed/divorced) under the law in
     19th century Wisconsin and in some of the other states, and in the U.S.
     as a whole
-  What was happening in temperance movements in Europe at the same time,
     especially in England, Ireland, and Germany
-  Yankee support of the temperance movement v. immigrant threshing crews
     and day laborers
-  Alcohol and health (benefits of alcohol v. water when out in the fields)
-  Breweries as business in Wisconsin & U.S. in 19th century
-  Local, county, and state-wide prohibition in Wisconsin
 
I'm probably going to keep my mouth shut much of the time on this list, since
I'm not sure how much I have to contribute yet.  I am, however, hoping to learn
a lot from this list, and am always willing to hear suggestions for articles or
texts I should obtain.
 
Thanks for your time,
Renee Raduechel
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