Founded in 1873 by Anthony Comstock, the New York City Society for the Suppression of Vice monitored the compliance of New York State with state laws regarding morality with a special emphasis placed on what they perceived as obscenity. Chartered by the New York State Legislature, agents were given police powers including the power of search and seizure, and the power to make arrests. As part of their charter, the Society earned 50% of all fines levied on cases that they brought to light.

Among their most frequent demonstrations were book burnings.

Comstock was succeeded by John S. Sumner following his death in 1915. Sumner changed the name of the organization to The Society to Maintain Public Decency in 1947. It continued to function until 1950 when Sumner retired.

The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice’s noteworthy cases included:

• The successful banning of the following books:
  • Stanislaw Przybyszewski’s Homo Sapiens (1920)
  • Theodore Dresier’s The Genius (1916)
  • James Joyce’s Ulysses (1920)

• The attempted banning of the following books:
  • Jim Tully’s Ladies in the Parlor (1935)
  • James T. Farrell’s A World I Never Made (1937)
  • Edmund Wilson’s Memoirs of Hecate County (1946)

• Encouraging the arrests of:
  • Actress, Olga Nethersole, for her role in Clyde Fitch’s Sapho(1900)
  • Bookstore employee, Raymond D. Haley, for selling obscene novels.
  • Actress, Mae West, for her role in the play, Sex (1927); West spent 10 days in jail.

  Introduction ~ Anthony Comstock ~ The Comstock Act