Anthony Comstock, the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, and the YMCA

A selected list of books on YMCA and Anthony Comstock (focusing primarily on the American YMCA movement's role) is below. For more information, search the University of Minnesota Library's online catalog or contact the Kautz Family YMCA Archives.

Note: The titles listed here are available either at the University of Minnesota Libraries or via Interlibrary loan

• Annual Report. Vices of the city and need for new building to counteract them, 1865, p. 13 (11)
• Annual Report. Need for branch for German-speaking young men, 1865, p. 17 (15)
• Annual Report. Report of study: A Memorandum Respecting New York as a Field for Moral and Christian Effort Among Young Men, and Report of the Lecture Committee, 1865, p. 34 (32)
• Annual Report. Need for new building to counteract vice, and Efforts of Board members to support anti-vice legislation in Albany, 1865, p. 18 (16)
• Annual Report. Report of Committee on Printing and Publishing, 1865, p. 33 (31)
• Annual Report. Comstock as member of Committee for the Visitation of the Sick assigned to visit Seamen’s Retreat on Staten Island, 1866, p. 40 (40)
• Annual Report. Report of efforts to obtain New York State law suppressing obscene literature, 1867 p. 20 (18)
• Annual Report. Comstock listed as member of Committee for the Visitation of the Sick, 1867, p. 8 (6)
• Annual Report. Benefits of new building to prevent men from succumbing to temptation, 1869-1870, p. 33-35 (33-35)
• Annual Report. Observations on causes of vice, 1869-1870, p. 38 (38)
• Annual Report. Vice is assuming a bolder front in our community,1871, p. 21 (19)
• Annual Report. How young men are led astray in boarding houses, 1872, p. 22 (18)
• Annual Report. Committee on the Suppression of Vice,1872, p. 77 (5)
• Journal of Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Convention of Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States and British Provinces, 1873 , p. 53. (49) Christian Associations of the United States and British Provinces: Resolutions and reports regarding vice, 1873, p. 59 (55), p. 57-58 (53-54), p. 61 (57), p. 126 (122), p. 147 (XIX)
• Annual report.  Report describing obscene items seized, 1874, p.17-18 (15-16)
• Annual report. Report of gift of periodical from the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice to YMCA library, 1879, p. 45 (44)
• Annual report. Comstock gives an address to the Student’s Branch, 1892, p. 143-144 (139-140)
• Annual report. Comstock listed as speaker at Student’s Branch meetings, 184, p. 68 (110)

Note: Items listed here are linked to the finding aids of the Kautz Family YMCA Archives.

• Biographical Files Box 38, Anthony Comstock.
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 179. Includes printed cover letter from Morris K. Jesup for the report, "Private and Confidential, detailing the work of the Committee for the Suppression of Vice. Also included is a fundraising appeal from the newly formed New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. 
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 179  Included are materials related to the branch's association with other organizations, including the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. 
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 309. Includes advertising material for lectures by Anthony Comstock and Booker T. Washington.
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 333. Includes material regarding controversy between YMCA and artist William Granville Smith about his production of "lewd and obscene" art while occupying a studio at the 23rd Street YMCA. Also includes a letter from Anthony Comstock of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 383. Includes correspondence and pamphlets related to the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 386. Includes "Obscene Literature", an address by the Hon. Clinton Merriam to the US House of Representatives. Also includes annual reports of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (1875-1886). Also includes Act of Incorporation of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (1873).
• YMCA of Greater New York Collection, Box 1564. Contains materials related to Comstock’s efforts to prosecute feminist Virginia Woodhull and other secondary sources

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General Surveys

• Wikipedia
• Encyclopedia Britannica
• Encyclopedia.com
• This Day in History

YMCA and Anthony Comstock

• Wikipedia
• Literary Hub
• Notable Names Database (NNDB)

• Hopkins, Charles Howard. History of the Y.M.C.A. in North America. NY: Association Press, 1951.

The 1868 New York State Obscene Literature Bill

• New York Times, February 15, 1868, p. 4. Editorial decrying the efforts to suppress reading
• New York Times, February 12, 1868, p. 5. Inquiry to determine the legislation needed to suppress the issue and sale of obscene publications
• New York Times, April 22, 2868, p. 5.  Bill for the suppression of obscene literature passed the Assembly

The 1872 Change to the 1865 Post Office Law

• Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1872, p. 1.  Passage of the Post Office Appropriation bill

Passage of the 1873 Comstock Law

• New York Times, March 15, 1873, p. 3. Speech of the Hon. Clinton Merriam  regarding obscene literature
• New York Times, March 12, 1873, p. 4. Consequences of proposed law
• New York Times, February 28, 1873, p. 2.  Full text of 1873 law
• New York Times, February 14, 1873, p. 5. Reporting of Bill from Committee of Post Offices and Post Roads
• Text of the 1873 Comstock Law

Writings of Anthony Comstock

• Comstock, Anthony, Traps for the Young (1884)
• Comstock, Anthony, Morals Versus Art (1887) 
• Comstock, Anthony, Gambling Outrages (1887) 
• Comstock, Anthony, Frauds Exposed; or, How the People are Deceived and Robbed, and Youth Corrupted (1880)
• Comstock, Anthony, and O. B. Frothingham and J. M. Buckley. The Suppression of Vice.  North American Review, vol. 135, November 1882, pp. 484-501. 

  The North American Review
  Vol. 135, No. 312 (Nov., 1882), pp. 484-501

Anti-Comstock Writings

• Walker, Edwin C., Who is the Enemy; Anthony Comstock or You (1903) 

Note: Newspaper and magazine items are linked to Proquest Historical Newspapers and JSTOR. Individual access may differ.