Sara Jane Crafts (born as Timanus; used the name Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts; August 15, 1845 – May 2, 1930) was an American social reformer, author, lecturer, and teacher. She gave speeches and taught at Chautauquas, and also spoke at State and International Sunday school conventions. Crafts worked as an editor and wrote for many magazines, and she published several books between 1876 and 1911. She was a social reformer who traveled around the world to promote Sunday schools, temperance, and efforts against the use of opium. She was also one of the first women in the United States to lead sessions at conventions.

Early life and education

Sara Jane Timanus was born on August 15, 1845, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She had two younger siblings named John and Fannie. Her parents were Jesse and Jane (Means) Timanus. She received her education in the public schools of Cincinnati, at Ohio Wesleyan Female College, and at Iowa University, Grinnell.

Career

From about 1865 to 1870, she taught in public schools. From 1870 to 1874, she worked as a teacher at the Minnesota State Normal School.

On May 1, 1874, in Plainfield, New Jersey, she married Rev. Wilbur Fisk Crafts (1850–1922).

After her marriage, she worked with her husband on Sunday school union projects and created materials for social reform. She taught at different Sunday school training programs, state meetings, and Chautauqua events. In 1895, she was appointed as the leader of the Sunday school Department of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). She also organized and was an honorary president of the International Primary Union of Sunday school teachers.

Between 1880 and 1913, she traveled widely across Europe and Asia to support temperance, anti-opium, and reform efforts. In 1904, she visited the Orient and Palestine. In 1907, she traveled to Australia, China, Japan, and Korea. In 1910, she visited Norway and Sweden. She organized Sunday schools in Iceland in 1913. Her travels also included visits to Holland, Switzerland, and Italy.

In 1895, Crafts founded and led the International Reform Bureau. From 1896, she was the chief editor of the 20th-Century Quarterly. From 1901 to 1903, she was also the chief editor of the Christian Statesman, the official publication of the National Reform Association, which was a monthly journal focused on Christian principles in government. For many years, she wrote temperance lessons for the National Temperance Society and Publishing House, the Christian Herald, and other religious and temperance publications. She also edited the Esperanto column of the Christian Herald.

Crafts wrote several books, including Childhood, The Textbook of the Age, Open Letters for Primary Teachers, Primary Normal Outlines, The Infant Class (with Edward Eggleston), Songs for Little Folks and Little Pilgrim Songs (with Jenny B. Merrill), Plain Uses of the Blackboard (with W. F. Crafts), 1881; Course in Esperanto; Intoxicants and Opium (with W. F. Crafts); and World Book of Temperance (with W. F. Crafts), 1908.

Crafts served as vice-president of the Woman’s Esperanto League of North America. She was also a member of the National Geographic Society, British Esperanto Association, and the Archaeological Institute of America.

Personal life

Handmade items were favored by women's suffrage groups. She was a Presbyterian.

The Crafts moved to Washington, D.C., in 1896. She died at Garfield Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on May 2, 1930. She was buried in Westerly, Rhode Island.

Selected works

• Open Letters to Primary Teachers: With Suggestions for Intermediate Class Teachers, 1876 (Text)
• Primary Normal Outlines
• Course in Esperanto

• Childhood, The Text Book of the Age, 1874 (Text)
• Plain Uses of the Blackboard, 1881
• Intoxicants and Opium, 1900 (Text)
• Intoxicants & Opium in All Lands and Times, A Twentieth Century Survey of Intemperance, Based on a Symposium of Testimony from One Hundred Missionaries and Travelers, 1904
• World Book of Temperance, 1908 (Text)
• Intoxicating Drinks and Drugs in All Lands and Times, A Twentieth Century Survey of Temperance, Based on a Symposium of Testimony from One Hundred Missionaries and Travelers, 1911

• The Infant Class: Suggestions on Primary Religious Instruction, 1870

• Songs for Little Folks and Little Pilgrim Songs