The Union Signal

The Union Signal (formerly, The Woman's Temperance Union and Our Union) is a defunct American newspaper. It was the organ of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union (National WCTU), at one time, the largest women's organization in the United States.

Established in 1874 as The Woman's Temperance Union, it was later renamed in 1877 as Our Union.

When Our Union merged with another temperance paper, The Signal, in 1883, the organ's name was changed to The Union Signal.

Published in Chicago, Illinois, it focused on the women's temperance movement in the U.S. Initially, a weekly 16-page illustrated newspaper, it shifted location (Evanston, Illinois) and publishing schedule (to bi-monthly to monthly to quarterly) before it ceased publication in 2016.

The last edition of the National WCTU's quarterly journal, titled The Union Signal, was published in 2015, the main focus of which was current research and information on drugs.

At the first annual convention of the National WCTU, held at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1874, a committee was appointed to consider the establishment of a paper as the organ of the union. This committee consisted of Annie Turner Wittenmyer, Pennsylvania; Susan J. Swift Steele, Wisconsin; Susan A. Gifford, Massachusetts; Elizabeth Eunice Smith Marcy, Illinois; Emma Janes, Oakland, California, and Mary Coffin Johnson, New York. Being unable to formulate definite plans before the close of the convention, the committee was given full power to act.

At the second annual convention, held at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1875, Mrs. E. E. Marcy, secretary of the Committee on Publication Interests, reported that, after overcoming the various hindrances incident to such an enterprise, the project of publishing an official organ had been inaugurated the previous June at New York. The paper was called The Woman's Temperance Union, and six numbers had been issued up to the time of the convention. Wittenmyer, as chairman of the committee, was the active publisher, with Jennie Fowler Willing as editor and Johnson and Frances Willard as contributing editors. This report included resolutions drafted by the Committee on Publication Interests, one of which was as follows:—

It was recorded that "much discussion followed", and an amendment was adopted eliminating the financial responsibility on the part of the states, but there was a generous pledging of subscriptions, Maine leading off with a pledge of US$100. Johnson became the publisher at this time, with Mary Towne Burt as her assistant, and, later, her successor.