The United States banned alcohol for thirteen years and generated a natural experiment nobody designed. Consumption fell substantially and the policy still collapsed - which is the part worth teaching.
ON THE FLOOR
Charles Horton Cooley
Theorist designate - flagged from the theory registry (#8494)
“You learned who you are by watching what other people reflected back at you. The mirror, it turns out, was people all along.”
ON THE FLOOR
Edward Soja
Theorist designate - flagged from the theory registry (#8494)
“Space is not the stage the story happens on - it is one of the actors. Ask WHERE, and half the mystery answers itself.”
ON THE FLOOR
George Herbert Mead
Theorist designate - flagged from the theory registry (#8494)
“The self is a conversation: the I speaking, the Me listening with everyone else's ears. You rehearse society every time you think.”
LAB3-016 · Prohibition — Open the drawer
A copper pot still with attached condensing coil, typical of illicit distillation equipment seized by federal agents during Prohibition enforcement raids. Represents the technological response to alcohol ban and evidence of enforcement effort.
LAB3-017 · Prohibition — What is this thing?
A single-blade axe used by Prohibition enforcement agents to destroy illegal stills and confiscated alcohol. Standard issue for raids on speakeasies and clandestine distilleries across the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s.
LAB3-018 · Prohibition — Read the source
A standard medical prescription form authorizing alcohol dispensation under the Volstead Act's medical exemption clause, revealing how legal loopholes and physician discretion undermined enforcement during Prohibition.
LAB3-019 · Prohibition — Map it / time it
A choropleth map showing U.S. county-level cirrhosis death rates before, during, and after Prohibition, revealing geographic variation in policy impact and enforcement intensity across regions.
LAB3-020 · Prohibition — Two sources disagree
Annual U.S. death-rate statistics for cirrhosis of the liver, compiled from state vital records and published by the Public Health Service, spanning the pre-Prohibition, Prohibition, and post-Repeal decades.
LAB3-021 · Prohibition — State the claim
Annual federal health statistics showing cirrhosis death rates per 100,000 population, documenting a sharp decline during Prohibition (1920–1933) and a rebound after repeal—the quantitative core of the hall's claim that consumption fell measurably.
LAB3-022 · Prohibition — Take the other side
A representative federal ledger documenting annual appropriations to the Prohibition Bureau reveals chronic underfunding relative to enforcement scope, anchoring the counterclaim that inadequate resources prevented genuine policy implementation.
LAB3-023 · Prohibition — Weigh it
A representative page from federal budget records showing annual appropriations for Prohibition enforcement. Reveals the gap between statutory mandate and funded capacity, anchoring the counterclaim that enforcement was systematically underfunded relative to the task.
LAB3-024 · Prohibition — Build the answer
A page from federal appropriations records showing annual funding allocated to Prohibition enforcement, 1920–1933, revealing the structural underfunding that undermined the policy's capacity to succeed.
LAB3-025 · Prohibition — For the file
A period photograph documenting federal alcohol enforcement under the Volstead Act (1920–1933), showing a revenue agent and seized copper distillery equipment. This image anchors the empirical question: did enforcement intensity match policy ambition?
LAB3-026 · Prohibition — Go and look
A documentary photograph of a U.S. Prohibition enforcement agent standing beside seized alcohol barrels or a dismantled still, capturing the material reality of enforcement capacity during the 1920s–1933 experiment.
LAB3-027 · Prohibition — Now, today
A representative copper pot still with glass bottles of illegally produced spirits, typical of clandestine operations during Prohibition (1920–1933). Demonstrates the enforcement gap between policy intent and street reality.
LAB3-028 · Prohibition — Teach it back
A physician's prescription pad authorizing alcohol dispensation under Volstead Act exemptions. Represents the legal loophole that undermined Prohibition's enforcement and reveals the gap between policy intent and real-world compliance.
LAB3-029 · Prohibition — The other place
A representative enforcement density map showing the stark contrast between urban Detroit and rural Upper Peninsula during Prohibition's middle years, revealing how geography and resources shaped compliance patterns across a single state.
LAB3-030 · Prohibition — One object, close
A single-bladed axe used by Prohibition enforcement agents to destroy illegal alcohol stocks, representative of the federal government's visible, destructive approach to enforcement between 1920 and 1933.
From the gallery’s own wall — “LAB3-016 · Prohibition — Open the drawer”.