Libraries

The Lily, A ladies' journal devoted to temperance and literature, began publication in January 1849, first edited by Amelia Bloomer. In the initial issue, she wrote:

"It is WOMAN that speaks through the LILY. It is upon an important subject, too, that she comes before the public to be heard. Intemperance is the great foe to her peace and happiness. It is that, above all, which has made her home desolate, and beggared her offspring. It is that above all, which has filled to brim the cup of her sorrows, and sent her mourning to the grave. Surely she has a right to wield the pen for its suppression. Surely she may, without throwing aside the modest retirement, which so much becomes her sex, use her influence to lead her fellow mortals away from the destroyer's path. It is this which she proposes to do in the columns of the LILY."

The Lily focused on temperance, although it eventually contained items concerning the broader issue of women's rights as well as other content that ranged from recipes to moralist tracts, from marriage law reform to higher education for women.