Banner

Object Name:

Banner

Object ID:

2026.004

Place of Origin:

Gilford, NH

Date:

circa 1846

Description:

Banner. Gilford Village Cold Water Army Temperance Parade Banner, Gilford, NH, c. 1846. Unbleached muslin panel stencil painted with "GILFORD VILLAGE / COLD WATER / ARMY" in black paint with blue paper and red twill daisies flanking the bottom line, retaining cotton ties to sides and corners. There is a border of red and green fabric tape.

Material:

Textile

Dimensions:

H-34.5 W-37 inches

Provenance:

The Cold Water Army was a children's temperance organization founded by Reverend Thomas Poage Hunt of Pennsylvania in 1839. It spread nationwide in the 1840s. Hunt himself spoke at a third annual meeting of the Total Abstinence Society of Cheshire County on February 4, 1846. This banner appears to also date from 1846, when the Dover-based Free Will Baptist newspaper The Morning Star ran an article on the second page of the July 29 edition about a Fourth of July celebration in Gilford that begins with "The anniversary of our Nation's Independence was celebrated at Gilford Village by the Washington Total Abstinence Society, the Martha Washington Society, the Cold Water Army, and the citizens generally, under the direction of Capt. C. Marston, Marshall of the day, and T. J. Hunt, assistant marshall."

Credit Line:

Gift of William W. Upton

Subjects:

Temperance, Parades and processions