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Shaker communities grew and thrived during a period of tremendous social and cultural changes in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. While the Shakers have traditionally been seen as standing apart from these developments, more recent scholarship has emphasized the degree to which the Shakers were actively engaged with the world and times. One of the most vital areas of intersection was the economic realm, where the Shakers produced and marketed a wide variety of products. From Shaker La...

Among America's more interesting new religious movements, the Shakers and the Mormons came to be thought of as separate and distinct from mainstream Protestantism. Using archives and historical materials from the 19th century, Stephen C. Taysom shows how these groups actively maintained boundaries and created their own thriving, but insular communities. Taysom discovers a core of innovation deployed by both the Shakers and the Mormons through which they embraced their status as outsiders. Their...

Today, as the number of Shakers has dwindled to only a handful, the story of the Shakers has never been more important to record and understand. In this classic book featuring a brand new introduction, Flo Morse offers a stimulating, graceful summary of Shaker beliefs and the way of life that still endures among a chosen few.

The Shakers, once a radical religious sect whose members were despised and harassed by their fellow Americans, have in recent years become celebrated--and sentimentalized--for their communal way of life, the simplicity of their worship, their belief in celibacy, pacifism, and equality of the sexes, and not least their superb furniture and handicrafts. This monumental book is the first general history of the Shakers from their origins in eighteenth-century England to the present day. Drawing on w...

Shaker Fancy Goods tells the story of the Shaker Sisters of the nineteenth and early twentieth century who responded to the economic perils of the Industrial Revolution by inventing a lucrative industry of their own-Fancy Goods, a Victorian term for small adorned household objects made by women for women. Thanks to their work ethic, business savvy, and creativity, the tireless Shaker Sisters turned a seemingly modest trade into the economic engine that sustained their communal way of life, just...

Issachar Bates (1758-1837) was a Revolutionary War veteran in rural upstate New York who, at the age of forty-three, abruptly turned from his family life to become a celibate Shaker. He immediately became instrumental in Shakerism's westward expansion, and his personal charisma, persuasive preaching, and musical talent helped stimulate the movement's growth. Bates drew "western" converts in abundance, profoundly changing the character of Shakerism by increasing its geographic reach. He also help...