I just got David Fahey's re-introduction for the list, so I figured since
I've been listening in for a couple months, I should introduce myself.  My
name is Ben Leff, and I am a graduate student at the University of Chicago
Divinity School.  I've been interested in temperance since I got here and
Recovery since well before that, because I see in these movements (and in the
language Americans have used to speak about drink and addiction) a powerful
annunciation of themes of human responsibility and control (or the lack
thereof).  I'm currently writing a paper about the Washingtonian movement as
a site at which issues of masculinity and domesticity were grappled with (and
creative constructions produced).  many historians have pointed to a
fundamental change that took place in the conceptualization of fatherhood
(and masculinity) in the first third of the nineteenth century (most link it
to urbanization, industrialization, and other aspects of modernity).  But I
thginbk there is insufficient work dome that explores the places and
languages that were actually used to negotiate that change.  I think that the
temperance movement was an especially powerful site of that activity.  (This
is even more true about negotiations of woman-ness)
        I'd really be happy to discuss any of these issues with anyone who is
interested by them in this space. I hope I've said enough so what I've said
is comprehensible, without saying so much that it's boring.
        In addition, one of my sources for the paper I'm currently writing is
Washingtonian songbooks.  If anyone has any information about how songs were
used (specifically in Washingtonian meetings) or has a source to point me to,
that would be great.  Also, some of the songbooks say that they are meant to
be sung at home too.  Does anyone have any information about if they really
were?  (I know, that's not easy information to get.)
        I've really been enjoying this list so far.
-- Ben Leff ([log in to unmask])