1957 August 10

End of an Era in Censorship – Boston Watch and Ward Society Gives Up

 

The Boston Watch and Ward Society, leader of censorship campaigns in Boston since its founding in 1878, changed its name to the New England Citizens Crime Commission on this day, abandoned its traditional censorship crusade, and refocused its efforts on gambling and other crimes.

Today marked the end of an era in Boston.

The activities of the Society over the years gave rise to the well-known phrase “Banned in Boston.” For some of the chapters in that history, see the ban on birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger on April 16, 1929, and the arrest of journalist H. L. Mencken on April 5, 1926.

Learn more: Neil Miller: Banned in Boston: The Watch and Ward Society’s Crusade Against Books, Burlesque, and the Social Evil (2010)

Learn more at the National Coalition Against Censorship here.

Digitized records of the Watch and Ward Society are now available on line here.

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

Topics

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!