Martha McClellan Brown and The Good Templars

Martha McClellan Brown was the National Chancellor of the College of Good Templary, Master of Temperance Literacy. This college was attended by people who wished to join the Order of the Good Templars, where they will vow to be abstinent and for prohibition. The college was in Cincinnati, Ohio. This college has a curriculum like every other college and on the surface the curriculum seems familiar to most, but the college is for prohibition and abstinence. There are courses in history, science, civics, ethics, and citizenship. The history course covers the history of the International Order of the Good Templars. This is a course describing how the templars were created and why they were created. Their science course is focused on the human body. It zooms in on how alcohol affects the human body. It describes the anatomy of a person and the appropriate hygiene for people. Their literature class reads books that focus on past Templars and different types of alcohol. The rest of the courses focus specifically on the Good Templars in some way or another. There are cases to be read about alcohol related and the justice system.  Outside of the published curriculum, there was the Templar Educator. In the Templar Educator there was a Good Templar Course of Study. The Course of Study leaflets were published as supplemental readings. There were different types of readings that all had similar messages about the evils of alcohol and the greatness of the Good Templars. There was one story that went through the dialogue of a farmer changing his mind about alcohol. There were other stories about the templars and what they believe in. The National Chancellor was closely tied with the National Prohibition Party and the Women’s Christian Union. She was heavily involved in the temperance movement. That means that most of her important groups in her life were dedicated to the temperance movement and prohibition.

Curriculum and leaflets, Box 9, Files 2 and 3. MS-147, Martha McClellan Brown and Rev. William Kennedy Brown Papers, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio