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Shakers: religion and art

• Dr D’Ann Campbell

• TAH 2008

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Geography: 1790-1840

National Park Service Guide

Center was in New England &New York

Additional colonies in Ohio & Kentucky

ShakersOriginatedIn EnglandBut all came To USA

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How Many?

• 1770s: under 20• 1800 a few thousand• 1840: 6,000 full members in 19

villages• New members? No babies

– Women age 18-40– Orphans; some joined and most left for

the world

• Today: small handful in Maine

4

Life Style

• The Shakers lived in community villages

• Everyone of all ages had a job to do

• Men and women lived apart

• No children were born there—but orphans were often brought in from outside

• When an orphan became 21 he or she could decide to stay on

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Hancock Village (Massachusetts)

Hancock website

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7

Canterbury NH

• They grew their own food

• They were famous for their seeds, which they sold all across the country

• They were pacifists and did not fight in Civil War, but set up hospitals

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Shaker design is famous because it is simple, it works, and it is beautiful

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Simplicity, Symmetry

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Functional, simple, clean design

more pictures

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Influential furniture

Lesson plan: furniture

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Shakers were a religious group; their ceremonies included songs and a sacred dance

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Religious Music

Learn More

more on music

Lesson plan for "Gift to be Simple" song (grade 5-8)

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Shaker Women: more equality than anywhere else in America

•Women in Utopia (Campbell)

•Mother Ann Lee (the founder)

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Sources

Ken Burns video for PBS

Timeline

Brief history

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On Line Sources

• Overview• Shaker Theology• 1859 Compendium• 15 Years a Shakeress (1872 memoir)• Autobiography (1869)• Travel account by novelist Howells (1876)• Interpretation by German scholar (1974)• Architecture & style (by Swank)