About the Collection
Frances Elizabeth Caroline Willard (1839–1898) was an educator and social reformer dedicated to the causes of temperance and women's suffrage. In 1859, Willard graduated from North Western Female College in Evanston, Illinois, as valedictorian of her class. The following year she joined the Methodist Episcopal Church.
She worked for evangelist Dwight L. Moody organizing women's meetings prior to becoming president of the Illinois Woman’s Christian Temperence Union. From 1879 until her death, she served as president of the national WCTU. In 1883 she founded the World Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
Frances Willard traveled and lectured widely. Her interest in politics led to the organization of the National Council of Women, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and the Prohibition Party.
To honor the memory of Frances Willard, the Methodist Episcopal Church General Conference of 1936 adopted a resolution describing Willard as "that able champion of the rights of women and the cause of total abstinence, that fearless and mighty enemy of the American liquor trade" and urging all Methodists to study "the life and work of Frances E. Willard, and the contribution she made to the moral progress of America and the world."
