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Full-Text Articles in American Studies
The Tribulations Of The White Water Shakers: The Child Molestation Trial Of 1840, Thomas Sakmyster
The Tribulations Of The White Water Shakers: The Child Molestation Trial Of 1840, Thomas Sakmyster
American Communal Societies Quarterly
The historian who attempts to reconstruct the events surrounding the Shaker child molestation trial of 1840 faces a daunting task. Much of the relevant primary source material simply has not survived. White Water village lost many of its records in a devastating fire in 1907. As a result, almost no White Water diaries, journals, or other internal records are available to the researcher. Most nineteenth-century Cincinnati court records were similarly lost in courthouse fires. Curiously, most contemporary Cincinnati newspapers neglected to report on the Shaker trial, and only a single copy of the one that did cover it has survived. …
Peter Ayers, Defender Of The Faith, Galen Beale
Peter Ayers, Defender Of The Faith, Galen Beale
American Communal Societies Quarterly
The stories of Believers who fought for the freedom of their country and then dedicated the remainder of their lives to a faith based on communalism, celibacy and pacifism are inspiring. One of these stories is told by Elder Henry Blinn in his epic two-volume history of the Canterbury Shakers. In his history, Blinn highlighted one of the larger personalities from the founding generation—an unusual early Believer named Peter Ayers who had been fortunate enough to meet Mother Ann several times. Blinn’s journals took particular notice of the Believers who knew Mother Ann, and his stories of Ayers embedded him …
Free Press Of The House Of Israel: The First Publication Of Benjamin Purnell
Free Press Of The House Of Israel: The First Publication Of Benjamin Purnell
American Communal Societies Quarterly
The first publication by Benjamin Purnell, who, along with Mary Purnell, founded the House of David in Fostoria, Ohio, in 1902, and relocated the community to Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1903, was a four-page pamphlet published in 1894, titled Free Press of the House of Israel, New House or Body of Israel. We had not been able to locate a copy until we discovered that the House of David had reprinted it in Shiloh’s Messenger of Wisdom, in March 1911 (v. 8, no. 11). Below we print three items related to this publication. First is the accompanying article …
Making The Bible Argument: John H. Noyes’ Mission Statement For The Oneida Community, Anthony Wonderley
Making The Bible Argument: John H. Noyes’ Mission Statement For The Oneida Community, Anthony Wonderley
American Communal Societies Quarterly
In February of 1848, the man about to found one of America’s most successful utopias composed a plan to bring Christ and social reform to upstate New York entitled Bible Argument: Defining the Relations of the Sexes in the Kingdom of Heaven. The communitarian venture envisioned by John Humphrey Noyes aimed to duplicate life in Christ’s kingdom—a place of communal ownership and group marriage—in order to bring that kingdom to earth. At the same time, the community’s unconventional sexual practices would transform society and correct its ills. As a prospectus for an intentional community, the Bible Argument contains “almost …
Pilgrims And Martyrs: The Engraved Title Page Of Ephrata’S Martyrs Mirror, Jeff Bach
Pilgrims And Martyrs: The Engraved Title Page Of Ephrata’S Martyrs Mirror, Jeff Bach
American Communal Societies Quarterly
The largest book produced in colonial America, known in English as the Martyrs Mirror, was translated and printed by the celibate brothers of the Ephrata Community in Pennsylvania in 1748. The illustration that serves as a title page in some of the Ephrata volumes gives a pictorial allegory for the Christian life, featuring the baptism of Jesus by immersion at the center of the picture. After renouncing the world, believers bear the cross of Christ and arrive in heaven. It is likely that the title page was done by the Frankfurt engraver, Michael Eben.
The Story Of Brother Ricardo’S Song, Darryl Charles Thompson
The Story Of Brother Ricardo’S Song, Darryl Charles Thompson
American Communal Societies Quarterly
An account of how Charles "Bud" Thompson recorded the words and notes of a spirit song from Brother Ricardo Beldon, the last male member of the Hancock Shaker community and of the Hancock Bishopric. Includes transcription.
Two Early Photographs Of Amana, Peter Hoehnle
Two Early Photographs Of Amana, Peter Hoehnle
American Communal Societies Quarterly
Two carte de visite albumen prints of scenes of the Amana Society in Iowa have been located among the papers of an Amana family. The two images depict the Amana calico print works and the Amana woolen mill and date to the early 1870s. These photographs are the earliest datable images of any of the Amana villages and, as such, merit consideration. Both images bear the stamp of William H. Masters, a pioneering photographer whose career spanned the 1850s to 1880s and led him from Illinois to Iowa and, finally, to Kansas.
“Freedom Of The Press Is Guaranteed Only To Those Who Own The Presses”, Henry M. Yaple
“Freedom Of The Press Is Guaranteed Only To Those Who Own The Presses”, Henry M. Yaple
American Communal Societies Quarterly
In the late nineteenth century, Benton Harbor, Michigan, was little more than a sleepy small town located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. The arrival of Israelite preachers Benjamin and Mary Purnell in March 1903 ultimately made Benton Harbor the home of two extraordinarily prosperous communal societies and a thriving destination resort for the burgeoning city of Chicago just across the lake. It is my firm conviction that by the time of their arrival in southwestern Michigan the Purnells had learned how powerful the printed word could be. By December 1903, the Purnells’ nascent colony had established a print …
The Shakers In Eighteenth-Century Newspapers—Part Two: “Voyages Of The Shaker Ship And Other Adventures, Both Legal And Social”, Christian Goodwillie
The Shakers In Eighteenth-Century Newspapers—Part Two: “Voyages Of The Shaker Ship And Other Adventures, Both Legal And Social”, Christian Goodwillie
American Communal Societies Quarterly
In public papers before 1785, a kind word about the Shakers is rarely to be found. As the Shakers moved beyond the frenetic evangelism of their first years in America they were perceived as less of a threat to the general public welfare. Additionally, as they gathered into communities and set up manufacturing businesses for a wide variety of goods they slowly began to earn the respect of their neighbors.