Prohibition Exhibit on display at State Library and Archives and Online

It was the constitutional amendment that tried – often unsuccessfully – to put Americans on the path to sobriety and in the process created a booming market for Tennessee’s providers of illegal moonshine whiskey.

The 18^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which launched the Prohibition era in 1920, was called the country’s “noble experiment.” That experiment ended 13 years later with the ratification of the 21^st Amendment – the only amendment to repeal another amendment - which halted Prohibition and brought imbibing back out of the shadows.

These facts, and the societal results of Prohibition and its subsequent repeal are the focus of a new exhibit on display in the lobby of the Tennessee State Library and Archives building which chronicles the history surrounding the passage of both amendments.

This exhibit, entitled "The Saloon and Anarchy: Prohibition in Tennessee," surveys the brewing and distilling industries in Tennessee prior to Prohibition, chronicles the rise of the Temperance Movement in the state and the impact it had on the passage of the 18th Amendment, examines the effect that the 18th Amendment had on moonshining in the state, and recounts the passage of the 21st Amendment.

Drawing on the wealth of material in the Tennessee State Library and Archives' rich collections, this exhibit features items such as: 19th and 20th Century temperance literature (such as the 1902 temperance tract: The Saloon and Anarchy, the Two Worst Things in the World, Versus the United States of America), temperance songs from the Kenneth D. Rose Sheet Music Collection, the 1908 trademark registration by Lem Motlow (Jack Daniel's nephew and business partner) for the phrase "Old No. 7," and various pieces of Prohibition-related legislation from the records of the Tennessee General Assembly.

A group of men in front of the Silver Dollar Saloon on Broadway and 2nd Avenue.
Nashville, Tenn., ca. 1900.
Library Photograph Collection

The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library hours. The Tennessee State Library and Archives is open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. The exhibit will remain available for viewing until the end of September.

Read more about this exhibit at http://tnsos.org/Press/story.php?item=516

The online version of the exhibit is available at http://www.tn.gov/tsla/exhibits/prohibition/index.htm.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.