Publications

Shaker Studies, no. 13. 153 pages, 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-937370-25-1 ($20)

For some time there has been a consensus among scholars that the last substantial Shaker apostate account was that of Hervey Elkins, which appeared in 1853. In this book Professor Tom Sakmyster provides an analysis of a previously unknown apostate account written by Augustus Wager in 1872, shortly after he left Union Village, the Shaker society located near Lebanon, Ohio. Wager, who had lived for fourteen years at Union Village, was embittered by his experiences as a Shaker and determined to destroy the increasingly favorable public image of the Shakers, which he believed was based on ignorance and misconceptions. He wanted to alert Americans to the darker aspects of Shaker life and the fact that Shakerism was in its death throes. Wager’s apostate account, which appeared as a series of articles in a Cincinnati newspaper, is reprinted in this book. The account throws important new light on everyday life and economic activity in a Western Shaker village during the period of decline in the post-Civil War era.

Shaker Studies, no. 14. Volume 1: 519 pages, Volume 2: 539 pages, 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-937370-23-7 ($80)

For thirty-one years, Elder Rufus Bishop was at the top of the Shaker hierarchy. From 1821 until his death in 1852, Elder Rufus was one of the male members of the Ministry of New Lebanon, N.Y., overseeing the bishopric, hosting visitors from other Shaker communities, and traveling to both eastern and western congregations. From 1815 until his death, and daily starting in 1829, he kept a detailed record of the weather, visitors, deaths, problems, joys, and other happenings. These volumes contain the annotated journals of Elder Rufus, a fascinating look deep into the halcyon years of the Shakers. Isaac Newton Young’s journal for their 1834 western trip is also included, to ll in the gap in Elder Rufus’s records. So many Shakers are mentioned by Elder Rufus that there are about 1750 entries in the Appendix of Biographical Sketches. These volumes also include a survey of Elder Rufus’s life and a foreword by the editor, who is the third great-grandnephew of Elder Rufus. The hope is that these journals will aid Shaker scholarship and help with the understanding of this important period in Shaker history.

• From the Editor
• Perils, Gold and Yellow: Cyrus Teed’s The Great Red Dragon by Adam Morris
• Shrill Echoes from the Hollow Earth: Transgressive Intellectualism and Inner Earth Utopia by Holly Folk
• Document: Diary of Virginia H. Andrews of a visit to Mount Lebanon, New York, Shaker community, 1892
• Document: Certificate of Ordination of Cyrus Reed Teed in the Mount Lebanon, New York, Shaker community, 1892

Front cover illustration: Koreshans posing on the set of their play “The Yellow Peril,” 1908. Koreshan Unity collection N2009- 3, Papers, ca 1887-1990; Box 15, KOR1985A, State Library and Archives of Florida.

Rear cover illustration: Koreshan Unity Sculpture. Koreshan Unity collection N2009- 3, Papers, ca 1887-1990; Box 6, folder 2, KOR2259A, State Library and Archives of Florida.

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• From the Editor
• Abijah Alley of Long Hollow: Preacher, Shaker Apostate, and Backwoods Prophet of the American South by Nancy Gray Schoonmaker and Christian Goodwillie
• Hamilton College Library “Home Notes”

Front cover illustration: Know Thyself! Lectures on Phrenology by Dr. J. P. M’Lean… [New York]: Office of the “Phrenological Journal,” 389 Broadway. S. R. Wells, Publisher, [c. 1870]. See Home Notes section for more information.
Rear cover illustration: The front wrapper of the February 1879 issue of Phrenological Journal and Science of Health.

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• From the Editor  
• One Bound Volume, Two Shaker Sisters, and a  Liberal Preacher by Sandra A. Soule
• Awaiting the Second Coming in the Piney Woods:  The New House of Israel by Julieanna Frost 
• Hamilton College Library “Home Notes” 

Front cover illustration: Mazdaznan 14, no. 8 (August 1915). Communal Societies Collection, Hamilton College.

Back cover illustration: Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha’nish (born Otto Hanisch), founder of the Mazdaznan movement. Communal Societies Collection, Hamilton College.

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• From the Editor
• Our Thriving Neighbors. A Shaker Elder Tells of the Success of His Colony Adjoining St. Cloud. By Ezra J. Stewart 
• Shaker Testimony. 
• Pineapples in Florida. The Shakers Have Made a Great Success with This Delicious Fruit. By Ezra J. Stewart
• Banana Culture. The Splendid Fruit Grows Naturally in Florida–How to Cultivate.
• St. Cloud. Plat of the Surveys and Lines for the Town and Farming Tracts.
• The Five-Acre Tracts.
• The Subdivision.
• Stop the Seining. Our Lakes are Being Depleted and Future Profits Discounted. By Ezra J. Stewart
• The Pineapple. Destined to Be a Leading Crop of Florida. 
• The American Eagle…. 
• The Shakers…. 
• A Tribute to Benjamin Gates. By Ezra J. Stewart
• There are openings…. 
• Hunting and Fishing. South Florida a Paradise for Hunters and Fishermen. By Ezra J. Stewart
• Pineapples.
• Citrus Groves in Florida. Practical Information Relating to Planting, Cultivating, Gathering and Marketing Oranges, Grapefruit, etc. By Ezra J. Stewart
• The Shaker Community.
• Cassava and Arrowroot. Two Prolific Plants Which Promise Great Profits in the Coming Industrial Development of Florida. By Ezra J. Stewart
• Yule-tide Meditations. By Ezra J. Stewart
• The Shakers….
• Nut-Bearing Trees. Pecans, Walnuts, Chestnuts and Almonds of Many Varieties Can Be Profitably Produced in Florida. by Ezra J. Stewart.
• News from the Shaker Colony.
• Winter Strawberries. A Great Money Crop, but One Requiring Care, Skill and Industry. By Ezra J. Stewart

Front cover illustration: “Shaker Orange Grove. St. Cloud, Fla.” Postcard, Communal Societies Collection, Hamilton College.

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Shaker Studies, no. 12. 277 pages, 2017.
ISBN: 978-1-937370-22-0 ($40)

Shaker Brother Isaac Newton Youngs served his community at New Lebanon, New York, as a tailor, clockmaker, mapmaker, mechanic, inventor, musician and hymn writer, lens-grinder, stonecutter, button maker, bookkeeper, journalist, tinsmith, printer, pipe fitter, joiner, and blacksmith. He built a sundial, made tools including a weaver’s reed, turned clothespins, made knitting needles, and laid floors. He was also an architect and roofer. Few aspects of life at New Lebanon were outside of Youngs’s sphere of activity. Therefore, it is fitting that he undertook to write a comprehensive history of his community, systematically treating all facets of Shaker life and culture. Youngs’s A Concise View Of the Church of God and of Christ, On Earth is printed here for the first time in unabridged form. The editors have carefully transcribed and annotated the text, and have selected illustrations to complement Youngs’s descriptive text.  Additionally, appendices supplying vital statistics,  and information on the occupations of New Lebanon Shakers (many of which were compiled by Youngs) are included. Finally, a selection of Youngs’s poetry rounds out a rich portrait of the lives and talents of Brother Isaac Newton Youngs, and his beloved Shaker brethren and sisters, as they labored humbly in the creation of a unique world where work was worship, and heaven was all around them.

American Communal Societies Series, no. 13. 175 pages with illustrations, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-937370-24-4 ($25)

The first work of its kind, the Annotated Bibliography of Inspirationist Imprints catalogs the considerable body of literature published by the Community of True Inspiration during its three hundred year history, both in Europe and the United States of America. There are 312 separate imprints listed, many identified as Inspirationist for the first time, complete with English translations of their titles and notes about their contents. Sixty-seven illustrations provide visual evidence of the stunning typography, and iconography, employed by Inspirationist authors and printers.

About the author:
Lanny Haldy served from 1983 to 2016 as Executive Director of the Amana Heritage Society, a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and interpret the cultural heritage of the Amana Colonies National Historic Landmark. His roots in the community go back to 1748 when Christian Haldy, a minister from Westerich and Billigheim near Strasbourg, joined the Inspirationist community in Gelnhausen.

• From the Editor
• “For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace”: The Spiritual Travails of a Cochranite Woman by David Newell
• The Dealings of a Few of the Church at York who Call themselves Christians, with Samuel Junkins and his Wife: Together with a Short Sketch of Her Own Christian Experience, Written by Her Own Hand. by Olive Junkins
• Reminiscences of the Shakers and Shaker Collecting by Robert and Hazel Belfit by Robert Belfit, Lynn Crabtree, and Patricia Williams
• Hamilton College Library “Home Notes” 

Front cover illustration: W. W. Dunn. Evolution and True Light. Fort Worth: Texas Print. & Lithographing Co., 1889. Communal Societies Collection, Hamilton College. See also “Home Notes,” pp. 227-[28].

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• From the Editor
• George Darrow, an Early Shaker who “Turned Away” by Marilyn Cassidy
• The West Family of the Hancock, Massachusetts, Shaker Community by Dirk Langeveld
• Hamilton College Library “Home Notes”
• Communal Societies Collection: New Acquisitions

Front cover illustration: “I AM” Mighty Victory’s Decrees, Communal Societies Collection, Hamilton College.

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