Title: Independent Order of Good Templars. Grand Lodge of Wisconsin: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1856-1931

Creator:

• Independent Order of Good Templars. Grand Lodge of Wisconsin

Call Number: Wis Mss JT

Quantity: 21.0 c.f. (21 archives boxes and 38 volumes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of the Wisconsin state affiliate of the Independent Order of Good Templars, an international temperance society, established in Wisconsin in 1856. The unbound material consists of letters received by secretary H. A. Larson of Waupaca, 1894-1902, miscellaneous correspondence, and institution returns giving statistics on membership and organization of Wisconsin lodges, 1868-1903.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000jt

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Records of the Wisconsin Lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars include bound financial and membership records and unbound material consisting of ten boxes of letters received by H. A. Larson of Waupaca, 1894-1902, while he was secretary of the organization, two boxes of miscellaneous correspondence, and eight boxes of “institution returns” which were applications for charters, showing date of organization, membership, and officers, dated 1868-1903.

The correspondence consists of letters from organizers throughout the state, lodge executives in other states, and local, district, and state officers of the Good Templars. Many of the letters deal with queries and complaints; those from organizers show an excellent picture of the development of the movement; there is some correspondence with the Prohibition Party, particularly during election years, some letters concerning the management of the quarterly Camp Cleghorn Assembly Herald and the Epworthian, for both of which Larson served as editor, and many details of arrangements for the annual summer encampment of the Good Templars at Camp Cleghorn, near Waupaca. The 45 volumes, no series of which is complete, show elaborate and minute records of financial accounts with juvenile, subordinate, and district lodges, as well as membership returns of these lodges from 1856 to 1901.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Wisconsin Grand Lodge via Edwin Kerswill and Una Miller, August 1937, and Mrs. Edwin Kerswill, Waukesha, Wisconsin, November 1947.

	General correspondence
Box   1	1894 Jan. 23-1897 Jan. 31
Box   2	1897 Feb. 1-Dec. 31
Box   3	1898 Jan. 1-Aug. 31
Box   4	1898 Sep. 1-1899 Mar. 15
Box   5	1899 Mar. 16-Dec. 31
Box   6	1900 Jan. 2-Nov. 15
Box   7	1900 Nov. 16-1901 Jan. 31
Box   8	1901 Feb.-Apr.
Box   9	1901 May 1-July 31
Box   10	1901 Aug. 1-1902 Sep. 30
Box   11	1902 Oct. 1-1913 June 14
Box   12	1913 June 18-1931; undated; miscellaneous
	Institution Returns
Box   13	1868-1876
Box   14	1877-1882
Box   15	1883-1886
Box   16	1887-1888
Box   17	1889-1890
Box   18	1891-1895
Box   19	1896-1899
Box   20	1900-1903
Box   21	Bound Stock Certificates, July 11, 1890-Aug 6, 1901 Note: This volume not assigned a number.
Box   21	Constitutions and By-Laws of the International Order of Good Templars of Wisconsin, Grand Lodge, District Lodge, Subordinate Lodge, and Junior Branches, Including a Digest of Decisions of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin with Amendments to 1912. Published by the Grand Lodge B.F. Parker, G.S., Milwaukee, Wis., 1912 Note: This booklet not assigned a number.
Box   21	Good Templar Training School Articles of Incorporation Note: This booklet not assigned a number.
	Quarterly Membership Returns of Subordinate and Juvenile Lodges
Volume   1	1856-1864
Volume   2	1864-1868
Volume   3	, 1868-1876 (part A)
Volume   4	, 1868-1876 (part B)
Volume   5	, 1876-1881 (part 1)
Volume   6	, 1876-1881 (part 2)
Volume   7	1878-1881
Volume   8	1874-1888
Volume   9	, 1881-1886 (part 2)
Volume   10	, 1881-1886 (part 1)
Volume   11	, 1886-1889 (part 1)
Volume   12	, 1886-1889 (part 2)
Volume   13	1887-1888
Volume   14	District 9, 1887-1892; Monthly Statistical Reports of Organizers, , 1887-1898
Volume   15	District 1 Reports of Organizers, 1887-1894
Volume   16	1888-1891
Volume   17	Districts 7 and 8, 1889-1891
Volume   18	Districts 5 and 6, 1889-1891
Volume   19	Districts 3 and 4, 1889-1891
Volume   20	Districts 9, 10, and 11, 1889-1891
Volume   21	Districts 1 and 2, 1889-1891
Volume   22	1890-1891
Volume   23	1892-1894
Volume   24	1895-1901
Volume   25	1895-1901
	Journal of Daily Cash Receipts
Volume   26	1872-1875
Volume   27	1875-1885
Volume   28	1885-1890
Volume   29	1890-1896
Volume   30	1896-1902
	Miscellaneous Minutes, 1879-1900
Box   21 Volume   31	Minutes book of the 1st District Lodge, Nov. 25, 1879-June 25, 1885; Minutes Book of the 1st District Lodge, , Sept. 16, 1885-June 29, 1887
Volume   32	Minutes book of the 1st District Lodge, Dec. 20, 1887-Mar. 1, 1894; By-laws of the 1st District Lodge; Cash book records of the 1st District Lodge, , 1887-1894; Cash orders issued by the 1st District Lodge, , 1887-1894
Box   21 Volume   33	Minutes of the Annual Sessions, Oct. 1, 1890-Oct. 4, 1895
Volume   34	Minutes Book of the 9th District Lodge, Oct. 12, 1885-Sept. 27, 1899; Cash book record of the 9th District Lodge, , 1887-1898; Cash orders issued by the 9th District Lodge, , 1887-1898
Box   21 Volume   35	Minutes book of the 8th Sub-District Lodge of Instruction of the 9th District Lodge [comprising lodges listed on page one], Oct. 2, 1897-May 5, 1900
	Ledgers
Volume   36	Ledger showing orders and payments for lodge supplies, and degress by subordinate lodges, 1863-1868
Volume   37	Ledger showing orders and payments for lodge supplies, and degress by subordinate lodges, 1860-1863; Miscellaneous memoranda, , 1879-1882
Box   21 Volume   44	Financial Secretary's Ledger, 1904-1920
Volume   38	List of supplies [Purchased for resale to Subordinate Lodges?], 1893-1897
Volume   39	Lodge supplies sold and delivered, 1889-1896
Box   21 Volume   40	Grand Secretary's Expense Account, 1880-1887; List of Lodges Organized and Instituted, , 1882-1887; Account of Receipts from the Sale of Temperence Literature, , 1881-1883; List of “Effective Card Members”, , 1883-1906
Volume   41	Mail book showing names and addresses of persons [to whom] letters and packages [were sent] and amounts of postage [charged for same?], 1894-1900
Volume   42	Grand Secretary's financial accounts with each of the eleven district lodges, 1887-1900
Box   21 Volume   43	Subscription Lists and Relative Statistics for The International Juvenile Templar, 1892-1893; Register of Members to Whom Clearing [Transfer?] Cards Have Been Granted, , 1897-1901
Box   21 Volume   45	History of the organization of the Good Templars' training school [from the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge I.O.G.T. of Wisconsin and from its annual reports]