The Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies had its roots in the decade following the repeal of National Prohibition. A group of scientists and physicians who were concerned about the rise in alcohol consumption and related consequences formed the Research Council on Problems of Alcohol in 1938. Their goal was to foster research about alcohol and its effects in order to provide a scientific basis for a new alcohol policy.
One of the members of that group, Howard W. Haggard from Yale University, began the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol in 1940 to serve as the official organ of the Research Council and to provide an outlet for publication of other significant alcohol research. By 1944 Haggard had established a Section of Alcohol Studies within his Laboratory of Applied Physiology at Yale. This Section, under the directorship of E. M. Jellinek, continued to grow through the 1940s, adding researchers from a wide range of disciplines to study the biomedical and psychosocial effects of alcohol use. In 1950 the Section was renamed the Center of Alcohol Studies.
One of the primary functions of the Center of Alcohol Studies throughout its history has been the documentation of the scientific and scholarly alcohol literature. The documentation of the literature has, in turn, become the foundation of the documentation of the alcohol studies field. As part of this documentation effort, the Center library has amassed a collection of over 7,000 books, 230 journal subscriptions and more than 40,000 documents (original articles, reprints, published and unpublished reports, dissertations, questionnaires) in special collections.
In addition, there are 134 file boxes (12-1/4”h x 4-1/4”w x 9-1/2”d) of materials from public and private organizations, including government agencies, that are not part of the library’s general or special collections but which have been saved over the years. These items include annual reports, conference announcements and programs, published and unpublished reports and surveys, miscellaneous publications (e.g., pamphlets, flyers, newsletters), minutes of committee meetings, directories, and posters and other promotional materials dealing with beverage alcohol, its use and misuse. Together these materials are referred to as the manuscript and archive collections of the Rutgers Center of Alcohol and Substance Use Studies.
- Quantity: 134 file boxes (approx. 47-1/2 linear feet)
- Annex Location Codes: C81A04 to C81B03
Recommended Reading
- Lender, M. E., & Karnchanapee, K. R. (1977). “Temperance tales”. Antiliquor fiction and American attitudes toward alcoholics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 38(7), 1347–1370.
- Page, P. B. (1987). Archives and Manuscripts at the Rutgers University Center of Alcohol Studies. The American Archivist, 50(3), 405–407.
- Page, P. B. (2005). The Alcohol History Collection at the Center of Alcohol Studies: A Valuable Resource on American Temperance And Prohibition. The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries, 61.
From the Digital Alcohol Archives
- Description in an updated Finding aid to the collection
- Finding aid to Series A (United States) of the collection
- Browse documents related to Temperance in RUcore, the Rutgers University Community Repository
- Browse images related to Temperance in RUcore, the Rutgers University Community Repository