Teetotalers & Moonshiners: Prohibition in Virginia, Distilled
On display April 3– December 5, 2017, Teetotalers & Moonshiners told the story of Virginia Prohibition and its legacy, including the establishment of Virginia's Department of Alcohol Beverage Control and NASCAR. Newsreels of still-busting raids, music from the Jazz Age, and vintage stills complemented the archival record of the exploits of Virginia's Prohibition Commission.
This exhibition was supported in part by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. The traveling exhibition was sponsored in part by the Virginia Distillers Association. Style Weekly was the print media sponsor.
More than three years before national Prohibition was enacted, Virginians imbibed their last legal drink on Halloween night in 1916. The prohibition movement was not only part of a social reform movement. There were also economic and social costs. These included the closing of local businesses and conflict within communities as well as the rise of illegal alcohol production and sale as an underground culture and economy. The role of government in overseeing public health also changed as a result of national Prohibition.
Virginia Prohibition Commission Records
Spanning nearly 20 years from 1916 to 1934, this collection (Accession 42740) contains 203 boxes of documents and two volumes. The records provide valuable insight into the enforcement of Prohibition laws in Virginia, as well as a glimpse into significant societal changes occurring at that time. This collection is not digitized and is open for research at the Library of Virginia.
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The UncommonWealth Blog
Learn more about the history and impact of Prohibition in Virginia in our series of exhibition-related blog posts.
ReadGoodbye, Booze: The Music of Prohibition
From moral tales of family destruction by Temperance advocates to the sly political and comedic songs of Prohibition skeptics and opponents, music tracked the popular debate and mood of the era. Dr. Gregg D. Kimball, former director of Public Services and Outreach at the Library of Virginia, traces the musical legacy of Prohibition through spoken narrative, period images, and recorded music in this virtual presentation with the Russell County Public Library.
