George B. Hillard papers

1884-1914

An 1889 supplement to The Voice - a prohibition newspaper - listing the attributes of Prohibition Party candidates for various offices describes Hillard, running for State Senator, as a carpenter. Printed material and a few small memorandum books relating to commercial parquet floor construction back this up. A business card describes Hillard as President, Local 2, Paper Box, Bag, and Novelty Workers International Union.

Additional printed material concerning paper box manufacturing and the union are included. Printed materials issued by various labor unions, and by New York City groups concerned about the South African Boer War suggest other interests. Letters to Hillard, 1897, from a representative of the New York Headquarters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans concerning his participation in their parade suggest that either he or his family might have come from the South. Letters, business cards, and other materials in the collection put him at several addresses in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

For the Prohibition Party, City and County of New York, Hillard served as a county organizer; poll watcher; delegate to New York City, New York State, and national Prohibition Party conventions; chairman of the Banquet Committee, Greater New York Campaign Committee, and Public Meetings Committee; and candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, Borough President of Manhattan, and State Senator (there is no evidence that he won any of these elections). He appears to have carried out sane of these activities for the Kings County (Brooklyn) Prohibition Committee as well. Manuscripts in the collection suggest that Hillard delivered speeches (an undated clipping mentions him as a speaker at a Young People's Prohibition League meeting). Letters, printed material, notes, and accounts show him arranging for the manufacture and distribution of Prohibition Party buttons, pins, pictures, and a banner; selling tickets to Party events; arranging for meeting halls, catering, and entertainment for Party banquets; organizing transportation and accommodations for Prohibition Party, Young People's Prohibition League, and other Prohibition groups travelling to conventions and other out of town events; and obtaining parade permits.

The Prohibition Party was in favor of woman's suffrage, and in its stance against "legalized vice" stood with other anti-"vice" movements of its time. The collection is a good source of information about where prohibition stood in the era's overall reform atmosphere, documenting its relation to the woman's suffrage and woman's rights movements particularly well.