American Studies Commons^™

Mother Lucy’S Last Visit To Watervliet: Introduction, David D. Newell

American Communal Societies Quarterly

The Shaker Ministry considered certain texts to have a substantial sacred value and esteemed them as pearls that were not to be “cast before swine.” These were intended to be read only by the various society and family elders and eldresses and never shared with “the world’s people.” The Hamilton College Library recently acquired one such Shaker manuscript, probably dating to 1821 or shortly thereafter. It bears a caption title: “Mother’s Last Visit to Watervliet” and consists of nine unnumbered pages (filled) within a twenty-four page booklet. It is an important and early work, and was never published by the …

The Road From Harmony, Eileen Aiken English

American Communal Societies Quarterly

The Harmony Society dissolved in 1905—one hundred years after its founding, and one hundred twenty years after Georg Rapp first drew a following in Germany. In 1992 an effort was made to compile a directory of its membership, including some demographic information; it was published as George Rapp’s Disciples, Pioneers, and Heirs: A Register of the Harmonists in America. Sadly, the work is incomplete and contains errors. This author has undertaken a revision, based on information from a variety of public and private records and a review of documents in the Harmonist archives.

In the amended edition, the Demographic …

A Sampling Of Rare Shaker Broadsides At Hamilton College Library, Christian Goodwillie

American Communal Societies Quarterly

The Hamilton College Library holds a large collection of imprints unrecorded in Mary Richmond’s authoritative bibliography Shaker Literature. Broadsides account for some of the more interesting examples. The following selection of five rare Shaker broadsides from the Communal Societies Collection illustrates that the Shaker (and sometimes non-Shaker) printer set his type for many different purposes, both sacred and profane. All five examples are exceptionally rare (none are located by OCLC WorldCat) and only one of these broadsides was noticed by Mary Richmond. Most of these selections are likely unique survivals. All are from the nineteenth century, and one example …

William Scales' 1789 "Mystery Of The People Called Shakers": Introduction, David D. Newell

American Communal Societies Quarterly

William Scales is an elusive and intriguing figure in the history of early Shakerism. Scales was not a typical Shaker convert - he was a graduate of Harvard University, had been an itinerant Congregational minister, and had published two works prior to his conversion to Shakerism in 1782 or 1783. It is known that he wrote about Shakerism, both when he lived with Mother Ann Lee "and the elders with her" as well as afterwards, but until recently, it was presumed that none of his works about the Shakers had been published or survived in manuscript form. Scales' "The Mystery …

The Mystery Of The People Called Shakers, Laid Open, And Their Ministration Exploded, For Its Falsities And Impositions, William Scales

American Communal Societies Quarterly

A reprint of an article appearing in the Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal. June 15, 1789. Issue 1810. Page 1.

"THIS piece is design'd for the conviction of the people called SHAKERS, and for the good of all generations; therefore I shall pretty much omit every thing else, and proceed directly to my great design, which I shall effect by a dialogue between the Elder of that people and myself the Author, and A will stand for Author, and E for Elder."