American Studies Commons^™

The Harvard Shakers’ Mill On Bennett’S Brook, Ned Quist

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Built in by the Church Family in 1806 as a grist mill, the mill on Bennett’s Brook and its associated buildings supported the Harvard Shaker community’s industrial efforts for over one hundred years, almost until the community’s closing in 1918. The mill buildings no longer stand, and all that remains are the foundation structures, a reconstructed dam, and a magnificent granite tailrace. Fortunately, the mill buildings were photographed by a number of amateur and professional photographers and over a dozen images survive from the 1890s through 1925. Surviving documentary evidence about the mill and what went on inside it comes …

Shaking The Faith At Twenty-Five: Reflections On Shaker Research In The Digital Age, Elizabeth Dewolfe

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Starting my dissertation research today with the abundance of online resources would no doubt save time and money, and there are few humanities grad students out there who couldn’t use more of both. I could have so much at my fingertips that I could more quickly determine if I had a project worth doing and could see the scholarly gaps into which my work could fit. With digitization, we can research more deeply, recover more voices, and tell more stories.

But the bounty of the digital age comes with cautions. An online search does not eliminate the necessity to look …

The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Vs. The Harvard Shakers, Cynthia Barton

American Communal Societies Quarterly

In the spring of April, 1826, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts concluded court proceedings against Elder John Warner and others of Harvard’s Shakers. The trial took place in Worcester and had been continued from the previous fall. According to a local newspaper, the head men of the Society were indicted and charged with "having falsely imprisoned one Seth Babbit, from the year 1823 to the finding of the indictment, and with having, at sundry times during that period, violently assaulted and beaten him."

Testimony at the trial made it clear that the Shakers were taking care of one of their own …

The South Family Of The Hancock Shakers, Circa 1818–1849, Stephen J. Paterwic

American Communal Societies Quarterly

On July 17, 2021, Hancock Shaker Village will open the site of the former South Family to visitors for the first time in the museum’s history. Historian of Shakerism Stephen J. Paterwic, a member of the museum’s Collections Committee, was asked to research this little studied Shaker family. The results of his efforts will be used by Hancock Shaker Village staff to interpret the site, they are published in full below.

Elwin E. Damkohler’S Account Of The Koreshan Unity

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Lyn Millner’s excellent history of the Koreshan Unity, The Allure of Immortality: An American Cult, a Florida Swamp, and a Renegade Prophet, made use of many heretofore inaccessible primary sources about the Koreshans. One of these was Elwin E. Damkohler’s scarce pamphlet Estero, Fla., 1882: Memoirs of the First Settler (Fort Myers Beach, Florida: Island Press, 1967). As Millner recounts, Elwin and his father Gustave were convinced by Teed and the Koreshans to legally sign the title to their lands over to the community. This reprint is Elwin’s bitter memories of the Koreshans, excerpted here from his extremely rare …

“A Great Blessing To Mankind”: The Medicated Vapour Bath At The Shaker Community Of New Lebanon, Kerry Hackett

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Shaker diaries and journals show that over the years brethren and sisters experimented with numerous treatment forms such as humoural medicine, Thomsonianism, hydrotherapy, Grahamism, medical electricity, sea air cure, and taking the waters at various medicinal springs. Yet despite the informal and often inconsistent use of these therapies, one invention appears to have inspired an official commitment between the Society and the “world” (non- Shakers): the “medicated vapour bath.”

This commitment was recorded in an 1826 letter between Union Village (O.) and South Union (Ky.). Like many Shaker Ministry communications, it opened with a report from New Lebanon that detailed …

Mothers And Daughters At White Water Shaker Village, Thomas Sakmyster

American Communal Societies Quarterly

One of the core beliefs of the Shakers was that only by making a firm commitment to a life of purity and piety as a member of a community of Believers could an individual escape the sinfulness of the world and properly prepare for salvation. This required that individuals sever ties with their natural, biological families and become a member of a new spiritual family, which would offer the love and emotional support that natural family members had formerly provided.

It must also have been difficult for some to abide fully and faithfully by the rules designed to break down …

Six Scenes From The Sixties, Tom Fels

American Communal Societies Quarterly

As a veteran of the 1960s, I have been interested, over the years, to investigate the significance of those times, to look at the background from which they emerged, and to assess—to the extent possible after such a relatively short time—the effects of the political and social turmoil with which we associate them. In the essay that follows, I explore six experiences of my own, looking at how a time of activism and change affected the post-World War II generation, and might influence the world of today.

My experiences are drawn from the trajectory created, over the course of some …

Appendix 5: Copy Of Statement Presented To The Legislature Of Massachusetts On Behalf Of The Societies Of Shakers In Harvard And Shirley In Said State In February 1840.

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Appendix 4: [Memoranda Concerning Military Pensions Submitted By The New Lebanon And Watervliet, New York, Shaker Communities To The New York State Legislature, 1825.]

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Appendix 7: A Few Remarks On The Subject Of Military Pensions. By Freegift Wells

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

“The Price Of Blood”: Shaker Revolutionary War Veterans And Military Pensions, Christian Goodwillie

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Many Shakers fought in the Revolutionary War. Research for this article has yielded the names of more than one hundred individuals (see Appendix 1). There are surely more to be discovered. Future Shakers were present from the first battles of the war through to the last. Autobiographical narratives given later in life as evidence for pension applications, as well as stories passed down by communities, allow for the reconstruction of the Revolutionary War service of many Shaker veterans.

Appendix 8: Names Of Pensioners Who Served In The War Of The Revolution And War Of 1812 … Shaker … Societies Of New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, And Maine. With Amounts Of Pensions And Bounty Lands Which Each One Relinquished To Government For Conscience Sake.

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Shaker Revolutionary War Veterans: Pension Narratives And Related Documents

American Communal Societies Quarterly

The pension narratives and associated documents published in this issue are held in M804, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration, National Archives. Goodwillie and Cook here present selected documents from each file in annotated transcription, rendered exactly as written. We made sure to include a service narrative if one existed, as well as any testimonials that revealed additional detail about the veteran’s service. We have also included any affidavits and correspondence from Shakers who wrote in support of a pension application, or at least referenced them in the headnote.

Altogether, this special issue of ACSQ contains 28 pension …

Appendix 2: [Petition Of Massachusetts Shakers To The State Legislature, 1788.]

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Appendix 3: [Father Joseph Meacham’S Statement On Conscientious Objection.]

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Appendix 6: [Richard Mcnemar’S Memorial To The New Lebanon Ministry Concerning Military Pensions, 1833.]

American Communal Societies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Document: The Shakers. [A Visitor’S Account Of Hancock, Massachusetts, 1858], Therese Albertine Luise Von Jakob Robinson

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Therese Albertine Luise von Jakob Robinson (January 26, 1797–April 13, 1870) was a German-American author, linguist and translator, and second wife of biblical scholar Edward Robinson. Robinson visited the Hancock, Massachusetts, Shaker community in 1858. Her account of this visit was published in Westermann’s Jahrbuch der illustrirten deutschen Monatshefte [Westermann’s Yearbook of Illustrated German Monthly Journals] no. 48 (1860): 587-91. Robinson’s account has been translated by Ariel Godwin with assistance from Joscelyn Godwin.

The “Christian German Agricultural And Benevolent Society Of Ora Et Labora”, Walter A. Brumm

American Communal Societies Quarterly

New insights into the “Christian German Agricultural and Benevolent Society of Ora et Labora,” or simply Ora Labora (pray and work), are coming to light through Hamilton College’s acquisition of a rare manuscript recently added to its Communal Societies Collection. The 1862 communal settlement was on property adjoining Wild Fowl Bay in Huron County, Michigan. The community identified itself as culturally German and religiously Christian, with a Methodist twist; a benevolent society; and economically agrarian, organized as a joint-stock company.

The manuscript letter book contains the correspondence of Emil Gottlieb Baur (1831-1894), the inspiration behind Ora Labora and one of …

Document: “The Ora Labora Colony”, Emil Bauer

American Communal Societies Quarterly

This account of the history of Ora et Labora was written by the community’s founder. It is contained in one of Baur’s manuscript copybooks in the Brumm Collection, Communal Societies Collection, Burke Library, Hamilton College. It was transcribed for publication by Mark Evans Tillson Jr.

Plans Underway For Cabins From Ora Labora Colony To Be Restored, Mike Hardy

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Planning is underway by the Pigeon Historical Society to relocate and restore two cabins originally located in the Christian German Agricultural and Benevolent Society of Ora et Labora. The colony was located near the tip of Michigan’s Thumb on Wild Fowl Bay just north of present-day Bay Port in McKinley Township. The community lasted from 1861 until 1871. At its height, the colony had over 288 German-speaking residents and about seventy-five buildings and structures.

The White Water, Ohio, Shaker Community: A Newly Discovered 1877 Visitor’S Account, Thomas Sakmyster

American Communal Societies Quarterly

White Water Village, located about twenty-five miles northwest of Cincinnati, was one of the smaller Shaker societies and was often overlooked by those seeking to learn more about the communal movement that practiced celibacy and held religious services that featured elaborate dance movements. Only three substantial accounts of visits to White Water are known to historians.

The article reprinted here by an author identified only as "Kim" was published in 1881 in the Westliche Blätter, a newspaper that catered to Cincinnati’s large community of German-Americans. The Westliche Blätter was the Sunday addition of a popular daily, the Volksblatt, …

The Shakers. A Day With The Communists Of The Whitewater Valley

American Communal Societies Quarterly

White Water Village, located about twenty-five miles northwest of Cincinnati, was one of the smaller Shaker societies and was often overlooked by travelers. The article reprinted here by an author identified only as "Kim" was published on May 22, 1881, in the Westliche Blätter, a newspaper that catered to Cincinnati’s large community of German-Americans.

A Photograph Of The 1908 Print Shop At The Israelite House Of David, Brian Ziebart

American Communal Societies Quarterly

A very important part of the early success of the Israelite House of David was the print shop. Benjamin and Mary Purnell utilized printed copies of the Star of Bethlehem to attract and convert followers of the Fifth (Wroeite) and Sixth (Jezreelite) churchs. Once they moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1903, setting up a print shop was a top priority to facilitate the growth of the colony.

Portraits: Sister Mary Purnell And Brother Benjamin Purnell

American Communal Societies Quarterly

These portraits of Mary Purnell and Benjamin Purnell were likely made around 1933 at Mary’s City of David. They are now in the collection of Hamilton College.

The Shaker Meetinghouse: 230 Years Of Worship, Tourism, And Preservation, Christian Goodwillie

American Communal Societies Quarterly

This article traces the construction, use, and ultimate fates, of the first generation of Shaker meetinghouses in New England and eastern New York State. Of eighteen documented structures six survive, only four in situ. Over the years, three temporarily vanished, and then reappeared—one sadly to vanish again. Most have vanished completely, but their influence and legacy loom large in New England’s built heritage.

The Shakers were iconoclasts, both spiritually and architecturally. It is ironic therefore that their meetinghouses, which were deliberately designed and built to be as different as possible from those of their non-Shaker contemporaries, became icons for both …

Why Historians Should Examine Shaker Novels And Short Stories, Richard Marshall

American Communal Societies Quarterly

Visitors to the villages often broadcast cautionary tales in late-eighteenth and nineteenth-century publications, tales that are remarkably similar to those of many authors of novels and short stories that appeared concurrently. Unfortunately, similar stories whose authors purport them to be historical novels continued to be disseminated in the twentieth century and indeed into the twenty-first century, well after most Shaker villages had closed. Thus a remarkably unvarying voice of anti-Shakerism has been kept alive for over two hundred years, a voice that threatens to obscure the legacy of the Shaker success in communal living.

Personal Visits And Observations: Charles Nordhoff’S Remarkable Tour Of American Communal Societies, Peter Hoehnle

American Communal Societies Quarterly

In 1873 and 1874 Charles Nordhoff, the former managing editor of the New York Evening Post, then working as a freelance descriptive writer, made a personal survey of the major communal societies in the United States. In a period of political and economic turmoil, Nordhoff wanted to observe how ordinary Americans, many of them European immigrants, formed cooperative communities to meet their spiritual, religious and physical needs. The result of his investigation was a book with the ponderous title, The Communistic Societies of the United States from Personal Visit and Observation. One hundred and forty years after its initial …

A Short History Of The Columbian Phalanx, Julieanna Frost

American Communal Societies Quarterly

The Columbian Phalanx was one of eight Fourierist communities established in Ohio during the nineteenth century. Formed between Dresden and Zanesville in 1844, it is uncertain as to when they disbanded, though it appears that this group was in existence for approximately two years.

Document: A Journal Of A Journey From Canterbury To Enfield [Connecticut], Stephen J. Paterwic, John Kaime

American Communal Societies Quarterly

"Journal in verse, of a visit to Enfield, Conn., in February by John Kaime” (Western Reserve Historical Society, V B-4). Introduced by Stephen J. Paterwic. The sixty octave poem grew out of a dialogue between prominent representatives of the Adventists and Shakers held at Enfield by one of the Shaker representatives.