Publications

Shaker Studies, no. 18. 242 pages, 2022.
ISBN: 978-1-937370-30-5 ($65)

In the mid-nineteenth century, both Shaker sacred texts and gift drawings were rich with theological arguments for the millennial vision of a heaven celebrating the Heavenly Father and Holy Mother Wisdom and of a communal society embodying its teachings in celibacy and peace. This richly-illustrated, full color volume, explores these Shaker visions of the divine. (Click title for more)

• From the Editor
• An Uncharted Union: The Shakers and the Amana Inspirationists by Peter Hoehnle Shaker Correspondence with the Amana Society: Charles Julius Preter and Ezra T. Stewart
• Mother Elinor and the God House by Julienna Frost

Front cover illustration: Ann O’Delia Diss Debar, who used various aliases during her life of crime, including “Mother Elinor.” Back cover illustration: Middle Eben-Ezer, one of the four communal villages established by the Inspirationists in New York State, as it appeared around the time of their first contact with the Shakers. Hand colored lithograph by Joseph Prestele, Sr. (Amana Heritage Society)

Buy Now

• From the Editor
• Earliest Known Photograph of Zoar Separatists by Wm. B. Becker
• Facsimile: The Childhood Days of Salwt, the Messenger to the 7th Church in Israel, and the Only 7th Messenger in the World by Daniel Salwt, [ca. 1925]

Front cover illustration: Unidentified photographer, Michael, Joseph, and Johanna
Miller, Zoar Separatists. Sixth-plate daguerreotype (2.75 x 3.25 inches), Wm. B.
Becker Collection Back cover illustration: J. C. Haring (active Masillon, Ohio), Michael J. Miller
late in life, reading. Cabinet card, 1880s. Courtesy Ohio History Connection,
number 3236.

Buy Now

• From the Editor
• Reconsidering the Shaker Tree of Life: Cultural Antecedents & Fresh Interpretations by Carol Medlicott
• An Attempt to Have a Law Enacted by the General Court in Boston to Allow Heirs to Inherit Property Previously Dedicated to the Shakers by Stephen J. Paterwic
• Document One: Citizens of York County, Maine, Petition to the General Court of Massachusetts, May 1817
• Document Two: Sabbathday Lake, Maine, Shakers’ Letter to the General Court of Massachusetts, January 2, 1818
• Document Three: Massachusetts’ Shaker Communities’ Letter to the General Court of Massachusetts, January 1818

Front cover illustration: The Tree of Life (New York: Kelloggs & Thayer, 1845 or 1846). Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. Back cover illustration: “Central Part of Pittsfield, Mass,” Drawn by J. W. Barber, Engraved by S. E. Brown, Boston. From John Warner Barber, Massachusetts Historical Collections (Worcester: Published by Dorr, Howland & Co., 1839).

Buy Now

• From the Editor
• The Harvard Shakers’ Mill on Bennett’s Brook by Ned Quist
• Shaking the Faith at Twenty-Five: Reflections on Shaker Research in the Digital Age by Elizabeth DeWolfe
• The Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. the Harvard Shakers by Cynthia Barton
• The South Family of the Hancock Shakers, circa 1818-1849 by Stephen J. Paterwic
• Elwin E. Damkohler’s Account of the Koreshan Unity

Front cover illustration: Bennett’s Brook Mill in 1896. Detail of photo by William A. Wright, April 6, 1896. Courtesy of the Trustees of Reservations, Archives and Research Center. Back cover illustration: The Bennett’s Brook Mill looking northeast from the Mill Pond's south shore. Photo by Harrison E. Evans, June 1, 1907. Courtesy of the Ayer Library, Ayer, Mass.

Buy Now

Shaker Studies, no. 17. 321 pages, 2021.
ISBN: 978-1-937370-33-6 ($50)

Beech Hill traces the Elkins family's forty year Shaker journey using newly discovered journals and letters. Apostate Hervey Elkins is best known for publishing Fifteen Years in the Senior Order of Shakers, an insider's account of life at Enfield, New Hampshire. Although relations between the Shakers and apostates were often quite contentious, the Elkins family papers reflect a different reality. Out of sixteen members of the Elkins family who joined the Shakers eleven apostatized, while five died in the faith. Beech Hill examines the enduring bond between the Elkinses and the Shakers- within the community, and beyond Enfield’s boundaries- recounting the Shakers’ continued relationships with apostate Elkinses, welcoming their visits, lodging with them while traveling, and writing letters providing support and advice. Combining the official Shaker record with intimate details of one family’s interactions with the Shakers affords a more positive view of relations between Shakers and apostates.

• From the Editor
• "A great blessing to mankind!": The Medicated Vapour Bath at the Shaker Community of New Lebanon by Kerry Hackett
• Mothers and Daughters at White Water Shaker Village by Thomas Sakmyster
• Six Scenes from the Sixties by Tom Fels

Front cover illustration: Tony Matthews relaxing on the front steps, Montague Farm. Photo: Laura Bradley. Collection of the author. Back cover illustration: Milking time: writer Jesse Kornbluth and farmer Tony Matthews, Montague, 1969. Photo: Tom Fels. Collection of the author.

Buy Now

 July and October 2020

• From the Editor
• "The Price of Blood": Shaker Revolutionary War Veterans and Military Pensions by Christian Goodwillie.
• Shaker Revolutionary War Veterans: Pension Narratives and Related Documents

Front cover illustration: Nathaniel Draper's Discharge Certificate. M804, Record Group 15, Records of the Veterans Administration, National Archives. Back cover illustration: Carte Generale Des Colonies Angloises Dans L'Amerique Septentrionale, 1779.

Buy Now

• From the Editor
• The "Christian German Agricultural and Benevolent, Society of Ora et Labora" by Walter Brumm
• Document: "The Ora Labora Colony" by Emil Baur
• Plans Underway For Cabins From Ora Labora Colony To Be Restored by Mike Hardy
• Document: The Shakers. [A Visitor's Account of Hancock, Massachusetts, 1858]. by Therese Albertine Luise von Jakob Robinson

Front cover illustration: Ora et Labora Colony map. "The colored lands belong to the Ora Labora Colony." Manuscript Group 185: Harmony Society Papers, Business File. Courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Old Economy Village Archives. Back cover illustration: Ora Labora, Mish. Lithograph by Ehrgott, Fororiger & Co. Lithogr. Cinicinnati. Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Buy Now

Shaker Studies, no. 16. approx. 550 pages, 2020.
ISBN: 978-1-937370-29-9 ($55)

The Shaker community at Enfield, Connecticut, lasted from 1792 to 1914. Shaker founder Mother Ann Lee gathered converts there, and her successor Father Joseph Whittaker ministered to them before he died there in 1787. This is the first book devoted to telling the 130-year story of this relatively unknown celibate Christian community. Additionally, eighteen appendices provide rich primary source information for further research.