I got to sober up and get back to work -- if I can get back in. I guess I can, they call me a good letter cutter. It'll take a few days to get onto my feet. It'll take a lot of suffering -- but I'll do it. I always have done it. God, when I think of the time I've wasted in my life. Wasted my whole damn life, I guess... But I'm through this time, all through -- for awhile. I'm going to sober up and cut plenty of stone. You wait and see.

Before you go will you open another bottle of beer for me?

1944 - Stonecutter

Throughout U.S. history, beer drinking has provided a common recreation for millions of Americans from diverse backgrounds and dissimilar social circumstances. Citizens as celebrated as George Washington and as quotidian as wage laborers have incorporated beer into various and sundry rituals varying from religious gatherings to sporting events.

The beer industry itself was built by workers for workers and provided literally thousands of jobs for blue-collar Americans. But despite the universal appeal of the product, the beer industry has met with various attempts by moralists and politicians to restrict its consumption in the United States. Temperance activists in the nineteenth century as well as prohibitionists in the twentieth all attempted, unsuccessfully, to stop Americans from enjoying their favorite beers. With thousands of Americans dying each year in alcohol-related automobile accidents at the end of the twentieth century, various "Against Drunk Driving" groups have lent their respective voices to a modern temperance movement not altogether different from the earlier campaigns.

These images and documents reveal America's enduring passion for beer. Using these documents, CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

• Why did early colonists often prefer beer to its alternatives?
• Why did the U.S. government and various social organizations feel that citizens needed to regulate their consumption of beer?
• What does the renaissance of craft brewing at the end of the twentieth century tell us about American popular culture?

1. View: Tree of intemperance by A. D. Fillmore in 1855.
2. View: Kegs of beer being transported on horse-drawn wagons at brewery of Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee, 1900.
3. View: A cigar, Spain, and a mug of beer.
4. View: With compliments of Anheuser-Busch Brewg. Assn.
5. View: View in brewery of Schlitz Brewing Company, Milwaukee.
6. View: Aging beer in caves, 1820-1840 -- Langeneckert.
7. View: Advertisement for Schlitz beer.
8. View: Fresh and cold--Direct from the North Pole 1877.
9. View: The High Rollers Extravaganza Co. 1899.
10. View: Woman's holy war.
11. View: Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle seated on keg being pulled by goats.
12. View: Saloon with swinging door and sign above door.
13. View: Gilmore & Leonard in their Irish nonsensicality.
14. View: Solid comfort--view of seated man drinking a bottle of Schlitz beer.
15. View: Firing the brew kettle, 1840-1860 Langeneckert.
16. View: Centennial Exhibition (Philadelphia, Pa.).
17. View: Beer parlor, Birney, Montana.
18. View: dudes harmonizing in back of beer parlor.
19. View: Getting ready on the morning of the barbecue, Sunday, June 18, 1978.
20. View: Five men sitting on the porch of a building that has Anchor Lager Beer signs.
21. View: Beer hall, Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
22. View: Interior of a crowded bar moments before midnight, June 30, 1919, when wartime prohibition went into effect New York City.
23. View: Ph. Best Brewing Co., Milwaukee Bar maid in Bavarian costume.
24. View: A cross roads store, bar, juke joint, and gas station.
25. View: Cowboys in beer parlor. Alpine, Texas.
26. View:  Beer parlor. Detroit, Michigan.
27. View: Beer parlor. Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
28. View: Having a beer at the World's Fair in Tunbridge, Vermont.
29. View: Steelworkers in beer parlor. Ambridge, Pennsylvania.
30. View: Lumberjacks in beer parlor. Craigville, Minnesota.
31. View: Brewery. Workers inspecting beer vats.
32. View: Indian women hop pickers, Snoqualmie Hop Ranch, ca. 1895.
33. View: Coors truck.
34. View: Beer wagon.
35. View: Old woman with hop basket, ca. 1900.
36. View: Indian men, women and children working in Kent hop field, ca. 1895
37. View:  Truck loads of beer enroute to Chicago, which were waylaid and captured at Zion City, Ill. ... all bottles were destroyed.
38. View: The "Hooch Hound" in Action.
39. View: Counting the Vote.

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1. Read: George Washington. "To Make Small Beer." From his 1757 notebook.
2. Read: Statement by the President Announcing Emergency Measures To Relieve the World Food Shortage.
3. Read: He wants the revenue--Is the game worth the bait?
4. Read: In war or peace which needs it most? For the money represented by three ten cent drinks a day for a year ...
5. Read: "They'll keep having rounds of beer till closing time. Beer and chips."
6. Read: Stonecutter--Drunk
7. Read: JUST HANGING AROUND
8. Read: "The Quality of American Beers". From Manufacturer and builder / Volume 14, Issue 7, July 1882.
9. Read:  "Refrigerating Ships, Breweries, etc.." From Manufacturer and builder / Volume 10, Issue 6, June 1878.
10. Read: History of Craft Brewing
11. Read: A concise timeline of beer history by Prof. Linda Raley, Texas Tech University.

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Prohibition comedy.

"A lot of saloons used to be in Paterson." NOTES Interview with Angelo Basileo at his home in Haledon, New Jersey. Summary of audio segment: In the bars, used to be able to get a bucket of beer and big pretzels. Used to be lots of saloons down around Paterson. Used to play shuffle board. Watson had a bowling team at one time.

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