She was a famed prohibitionist and suffragist, a renowned public speaker and the namesake for a residential college at Northwestern.
Now there’s a book of the writings and speeches of Frances E. Willard.
The book, “Let Something Good Be Said: The Speeches and Writings of Frances E. Willard,” was unveiled in front of about 60 people at the Willard Memorial Library & Archives in Evanston on Friday. Researchers Amy Slagell and Carolyn Gifford edited the book. Gifford is an NU alumna and current visiting scholar in the Gender Studies Department.
The book contains 22 texts from Willard’s speeches and personal writings, Gifford said.
Willard served as NU’s Dean of Women in 1873 and had a dormitory named after her in 1938.
She was famous for her efforts to extend voting rights to women and to outlaw alcohol consumption. Willard served as the president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union from 1879 to her death in 1898, NU assistant archivist Janet Olson said.
Willard was an activist for many reforms and had a motto of “Do Everything,” Slagell said.
“With her beliefs that she could make a difference and that she should make a difference mixed, we had the recipe for the interesting life of Frances Willard,” she said.
Willard was particularly concerned about poverty and she discussed the issue in her final address as president of the temperance union, Gifford said.
“I do not wish to know what the country does for the rich. They can take care of themselves,” Willard said in the speech. “But what it does for the poor determines the decency, not to say the civilization, of a government.”
Willard also was a famed orator who gave speeches in every U.S. city with a population greater than 10,000 in her lifetime, Stagell said. She gave an average of 400 speeches a year for more than 10 years.
But she spent most of her time in Evanston, Olson said. She moved to the city in 1865 and stayed for the rest of her life.
Indeed, Willard loved the city of Evanston, Gifford said.
“She was an incredible Evanston booster,” Gifford said. “She was once quoted as saying ‘When I get to heaven, I want to register from Evanston.’ “
Alcohol was illegal in Evanston from 1855 to 1972, originally as part of NU’s charter. Alcohol was banned at the university, though bars opened nearby in Skokie and on the Chicago border, according to NU’s Web site. The Evanston City Council decided to permit alcohol in 1972, to promote business during hard economic times, and NU ended its dry status in 1975 when students wanted to open a tavern in Norris University Center.
Evanston had already banned alcohol when Willard moved to the city, but she may have influenced its staying dry as long as it did, Gifford said.
“In the charter (of NU) it said you couldn’t serve alcohol within four miles of the university,” she said. “But the WCTU … certainly had an influence on keeping Evanston dry, probably right up until Evanston went wet in the 1970s.”
Despite her effect on the city, Willard is misunderstood by the university community, Gifford said.
“Most people, faculty, administrators and students don’t have a clue about who Frances Willard was,” she said. “Those who do probably think she was a joke in a way, because they think of her as a temperance crank, which is not true.”
Gifford also referenced the Frances Willard Party, a traditional event held at Willard Residential College. The party, held on the prohibitionist’s birthday, was characterized by residents’ heavy drinking. The university banned the event in 2003.
Stagell said Willard, the first woman senior administrator at any U.S. university, helped change the gender landscape at NU.
“She became prominent enough to help women who came here to feel empowered,” she said. “There was no argument whether women could be in the debating club.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at [email protected].
