{{no footnotes, date=September 2009 The Scientific Temperance Federation was founded in 1906 upon the death of

Mary Hunt Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

, head of the

Women's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction The Department of Scientific Temperance Instruction, the educational arm of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), was an important part of the temperance movement and played a significant role in generating support for prohibition of alco ...

. Mrs. Hunt had avoided accusations that she profited from her volunteer work by signing over to the Scientific Temperance Association the royalties from the temperance textbooks she wrote and edited for the WCTU. That association, which consisted of Mary Hunt, her pastor, and a few of her friends, used its income to maintain the national headquarters of the Department of Scientific Instruction. That building was also the very large home of Mrs. Hunt. Upon her death, this arrangement clouded ownership of her estate, which led to the creation of the Scientific Temperance Foundation. Mrs. Hunt's personal secretary, Cora Stoddard, headed the new organization. Because of the substantial fortune she had amassed in promoting compulsory temperance education, and the tens of millions of textbooks this required, the Scientific Temperance Federation was able to engage in a wide variety of activities to promote the temperance movement and prohibition. A major nation-wide project was an innovative "Education on Wheels" project that took temperance education directly to people at their homes and farms. With the repeal of prohibition and the decline of the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

, the Federation joined the Temperance Education Foundation in 1933.

Sources

*Scientific Temperance Federation. Westerville (Ohio) Public Library. Papers of the Anti-Saloon League. Scientific Temperance Federation