New York Female Moral Reform Society

The New York Female Moral Reform Society (NYFMRS) was an American reformism organization based in New York. It was established in 1834 under the leadership of Lydia A. Finney, wife of revivalist Charles Grandison Finney.[1] The NYFMRS was created for the fundamental purpose of preventing prostitution in early 19th century New York. It launched its official organ, Advocate of moral reform (later renamed Advocate and Family Guardian) in 1835.[2]

Sarah R. Ingraham Bennett, editor, Advocate and Family Guardian
Margaret Prior, first missionary, New York Female Moral Reform Society
Mary Anne Hawkins, president, American Female Moral Reform Society

In time, the NYFMRS became one of the most well-known moral reform organizations of the period and even expanded its influence to other cities across America. Five years after its establishment, the NYFMRS already had 445 auxiliaries, and thus changed its name in 1839 to the American Female Moral Reform Society in the hopes that membership would expand even further.[3] This name change came just a year after the Boston Female Moral Reform Society became the New England Female Moral Reform Society due to a growing rivalry for support among auxiliary societies in the Northeast.[4]

By 1840, the society's goals evolved and with it came a name change to the American Female Guardian Society.[5]

  1. ^ Steven Mintz, Moralists and Modernizers: America’s Pre-Civil War Reformers, (Baltimore: JHU Press, 1995), 69
  2. ^ "Advocate and Family Guardian (1835–1941)". University of Wisconsin. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference auto1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Introduction. Included in What Was the Appeal of Moral Reform to Antebellum Northern Women, 1835-1841?, by Daniel Wright and Kathryn Kish Sklar. (Binghamton, NY: State University of New York at Binghamton, 1999).
  5. ^ "American Female Guardian Society by William Momberger, designer, engraver Samuel J. Pinkney on James E. Arsenault & Company". James E. Arsenault & Company. Retrieved 11 April 2024.