The collection contains forty-eight items connected to the Anti-Cigarette League of America, from 1911 to 1914, including: letters from Manfred P. Welcher, Field Secretary, trying to arrange the League's first convention; letters of approval for the League or the idea of the convention, from a variety of supporters; other League ephemera.

The Anti-Cigarette League of America, an anti-smoking advocacy group founded by Lucy Page Gaston in 1890, had substantial success until the early 20th century in passing anti-smoking legislation in American states. Gaston, a teacher, writer, lecturer and member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) maintained that cigarette smoking was a dangerous new habit, particularly threatening to the young. The League campaigned not only for smoking bans in public places but also for banning cigarettes themselves. With strong public support, between 1890 and 1930 fifteen states enacted laws to ban the sale, manufacture, possession, and use of cigarettes; twenty-two other states considered such legislation.

1 box (0.5 linear ft.)

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