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The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers, are a
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious organization, religious, social, or political party, political group or Social movement, movement in a coming fundamental Social transformation, transformation of society, after which ...
restorationist
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
sect A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...
founded in England and then organized in the United States in the 1780s. They were initially known as "Shaking
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
" because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. Espousing
egalitarian Egalitarianism (; also equalitarianism) is a school of thought within political philosophy that builds on the concept of social equality, prioritizing it for all people. Egalitarian doctrines are generally characterized by the idea that all h ...
ideals, the Shakers practice a
celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...
and communal utopian lifestyle,
pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...
, uniform charismatic worship, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1780s. They are also known for their
simple living Simple living refers to practices that promote simplicity in one's lifestyle. Common practices of simple living include reducing the number of possessions one owns, depending less on technology and services, and spending less money. In addition t ...
, architecture, technological innovation, music, and
furniture Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...
. Women took on spiritual leadership roles alongside men, including founding leaders such as
Jane Wardley Jane Wardley, also known as Mother Jane Wardley, was a founding leader of what became the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as Shakers. Personal life Little is known about Wardley's personal life. S ...
,
Ann Lee Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing following her death. She was born during ...
, and
Lucy Wright Lucy Wright (February 5, 1760 – February 7, 1821) was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, from 1796 until 1821. At that time, a woman's leadership of a religious sect was a rad ...
. The Shakers emigrated from England and settled in Revolutionary
colonial America The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen British Colonies and creation of the United States in 1776, during the Re ...
, with an initial settlement at
Watervliet, New York Watervliet ( or ) is a City (New York), city in northeastern Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, New York, Albany, the capital city, ...
(present-day Colonie), in 1774. During the mid-19th century, an Era of Manifestations resulted in a period of dances, gift drawings, and gift songs inspired by spiritual revelations. At its peak in the mid-19th century, there were 2,000–4,000 Shaker believers living in 18 major communities and numerous smaller, often short-lived communities. External and internal societal changes in the mid- and late 19th century resulted in the thinning of the Shaker community as members left or died with few converts to the faith to replace them. By 1920, there were only 12 Shaker communities remaining in the United States. , there is only one active Shaker village:
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shakers, Shaker village near New Gloucester, Maine, New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members .Jordan Kisner.There Are Only ...
, in
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
. Consequently, many of the other Shaker settlements are now
museums A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...
. there are three members.


History


Origins

The Shakers were one of a few religious groups which were formed during the 18th century in the northwest of England; originating out of the Wardley Society. James and
Jane Wardley Jane Wardley, also known as Mother Jane Wardley, was a founding leader of what became the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, more commonly known as Shakers. Personal life Little is known about Wardley's personal life. S ...
and others broke off from the
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
in 1747 at a time when the Quakers were weaning themselves away from frenetic spiritual expression. The Wardleys formed the Wardley Society, which was also known as the "Shaking Quakers". Future leader
Ann Lee Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing following her death. She was born during ...
and her parents were early members of the sect. This group of "charismatic" Christians became the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (USBCSA). Their beliefs were based upon
spiritualism Spiritualism may refer to: * Spiritual church movement, a group of Spiritualist churches and denominations historically based in the African-American community * Spiritualism (beliefs), a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at leas ...
and included the notion that they received messages from the
Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...
which were expressed during religious revivals. They also experienced what they interpreted as messages from God during silent meditations and became known as "Shaking Quakers" because of the ecstatic nature of their worship services. They believed in the renunciation of sinful acts and that the end of the world was near. Meetings were first held in Bolton, England, where the articulate preacher, Jane Wardley, urged her followers to: Other meetings were then held in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, Meretown (also spelled Mayortown),
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
and other places near Manchester. As their numbers grew, members began to be persecuted, mobbed, and stoned; Lee was imprisoned in Manchester. The members looked to women for leadership, believing that the second coming of Christ would be through a woman. In 1770, Ann Lee was revealed in "manifestation of Divine light" to be the second coming of Christ and was called Mother Ann.


Mother Ann Lee

Ann Lee joined the Shakers by 1758, then became the leader of the small community. "Mother Ann", as her followers later called her, claimed numerous revelations regarding the fall of
Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...
and
Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...
and its relationship to
sexual intercourse Sexual intercourse (also coitus or copulation) is a sexual activity typically involving the insertion of the Erection, erect male Human penis, penis inside the female vagina and followed by Pelvic thrust, thrusting motions for sexual pleasure ...
. A powerful preacher, she called her followers to confess their sins, give up all their worldly goods, and take up the cross of celibacy and forsake marriage, as part of the renunciation of all "lustful gratifications". She said: Having supposedly received a revelation, on May 19, 1774, Ann Lee and eight of her followers sailed from
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
for colonial America. Ann and her husband Abraham Stanley, brother William Lee, niece Nancy Lee, James Whittaker, father and son John Hocknell and Richard Hocknell, James Shephard, and Mary Partington traveled to colonial America and landed in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Abraham Stanley abandoned Ann Lee shortly thereafter and remarried. The remaining Shakers settled in
Watervliet, New York Watervliet ( or ) is a City (New York), city in northeastern Albany County, New York, United States. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, New York, Albany, the capital city, ...
, in 1776. Mother Ann's hope for the Shakers in America was represented in a vision: "I saw a large tree, every leaf of which shone with such brightness as made it appear like a burning torch, representing the Church of Christ, which will yet be established in this land." Unable to swear an Oath of Allegiance, as it was against their faith, the members were imprisoned for about six months. Since they were only imprisoned because of their faith, this raised sympathy of citizens and thus helped to spread their religious beliefs. Mother Ann, revealed as the "second coming" of Christ, traveled throughout the eastern states, preaching her gospel views.


Joseph Meacham and communalism

After Ann Lee and James Whittaker died, Joseph Meacham (1742–1796) became the leader of the Shakers in 1787, establishing its New Lebanon headquarters. He had been a New Light
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
minister in
Enfield, Connecticut Enfield is a New England town, town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, first settled by John and Robert Pease of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. ...
, and was reputed to have, second only to Mother Ann, the spiritual gift of revelation. Joseph Meacham brought
Lucy Wright Lucy Wright (February 5, 1760 – February 7, 1821) was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, from 1796 until 1821. At that time, a woman's leadership of a religious sect was a rad ...
(1760–1821) into the Ministry to serve with him and together they developed the Shaker form of communal living ( religious communism). By 1793 property had been made a "consecrated whole" in each Shaker community. Shakers developed written covenants in the 1790s. Those who signed the covenant had to confess their sins, consecrate their property and their labor to the society, and live as celibates. If they were married before joining the society, their marriages ended when they joined. A few less-committed Believers lived in "noncommunal orders" as Shaker sympathizers who preferred to remain with their families. The Shakers never forbade marriage for such individuals, but considered it less perfect than the celibate state. In the 5 years between 1787 and 1792, the Shakers gathered into eight more communities in addition to the Watervliet and New Lebanon villages: Hancock,
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
, Shirley, and Tyringham Shaker Villages in Massachusetts; Enfield Shaker Village in Connecticut;
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
and Enfield in New Hampshire; and Sabbathday Lake and Alfred Shaker Village in Maine.


Lucy Wright and westward expansion

After Joseph Meacham died, Lucy Wright continued Ann Lee's missionary tradition. Shaker missionaries proselytized at revivals, not only in New England and New York but also farther west. Missionaries such as Issachar Bates and Benjamin Seth Youngs (older brother of Isaac Newton Youngs) gathered hundreds of proselytes into the faith. On April 12 of 1805, Benjamin Youngs and two companions held the first ceremony west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was held a
the cabin of James Beedle
East of Lebanon, Ohio. In 2019, the cabin was relocated, by the Warren County Historical Society, to its current site next to Harmon Museum in Lebanon, Ohio. Mother Lucy Wright introduced new hymns and dances to make sermons more lively. She also helped write Benjamin S. Youngs' book ''The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing'' (1808). Shaker missionaries entered Kentucky and Ohio after the Cane Ridge, Kentucky revival of 1801–1803, which was an outgrowth of the Logan County, Kentucky, Revival of 1800. From 1805 to 1807, they founded Shaker societies at Union Village, Ohio; South Union,
Logan County, Kentucky Logan County is a county in the southwest Pennyroyal Plateau area of Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,432. Its county seat is Russellville. History The county is named for Benjamin Logan, who had been s ...
; and
Pleasant Hill, Kentucky Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, United States of America, USA, is the site of a Shakers, Shaker Religion, religious community that was active from 1805 to 1910. Following a Historic preservation, preservationist effort that began in 1961, the site, no ...
(in
Mercer County, Kentucky Mercer County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,772. Its county seat is Harrodsburg. The county was formed from Lincoln County, Virginia in 1785 and i ...
). In 1806, a Shaker village, named Watervliet, after the New York town that was the site of the first Shaker settlement, was established in what is today
Kettering, Ohio Kettering is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. It is an inner suburb of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton. The city had a population of 57,862 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous suburb in the Dayton metr ...
, surviving until 1900 when its remaining adherents joined the Union Village Shaker settlement.''Ohio roadside historical marker #6–57, Watervliet Shaker Community''.
"Beavercreek Living" website article on "Watervliet, Vale of Peace...", with photo of and text from roadside historical marker (retrieved March 2, 2022).
In 1824, the Whitewater Shaker Settlement was established in southwestern
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. The westernmost Shaker community was located at West Union (called Busro because it was on Busseron Creek) on the Wabash River a few miles north of Vincennes in Knox County, Indiana.


Era of Manifestations

The Shaker movement was at its height between 1820 and 1860. It was at this time that the sect had the most members, and the period was considered its "golden age". It had expanded from New England to the Midwestern states of
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
and
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
and Southern state of
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
. It was during this period that it became known for its furniture design and craftsmanship. In the late 1830s a spiritual revivalism, the Era of Manifestations was born. It was also known as the "period of Mother's work", for the spiritual revelations that were passed from the late Mother Ann Lee. The expression of "spirit gifts" or messages were realized in "gift drawings" made by Hannah Cohoon, Polly Reed, Polly Collins, and other Shaker sisters. A number of those drawings remain as important artifacts of Shaker folk art.David A. Schorsch and Ruth Wolfe
''A Cutwork Tree of Life in the manner of Hannah Cohoon.
AFANews. February 23, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
File:Shakers Dancing.jpg, ''Shaker dance and worship'', during the Era of Manifestations File:Polly Ann Reed, A present from Mother Lucy to Eliza Ann Taylor, 1851.jpg, Polly Ann Reed, ''A present from Mother Lucy to Eliza Ann Taylor'', 1851 File:Hannah Cohoon, Tree of Life or Blazaing Tree, 1845.jpg, Hannah Cohoon, ''The Tree of Light or Blazing Tree'', 1845 File:Jacob Skeen Genealogical Chronological and Geographical Chart 1887 Cornell CUL PJM 2085 03.jpg, A two-sheet religious chart intended to further Shaker education, by Jacob Skeen, 1887 Isaac N. Youngs, the scribe and historian for the New Lebanon, New York, Church Family of Shakers, preserved a great deal of information on the era of manifestations, which Shakers referred to as Mother Ann's Work, in his Domestic Journal, his diary, Sketches of Visions, and his history, A Concise View of the Church of God. In addition, Shakers preserved thousands of spirit communications still extant in collections now held by the Berkshire Athenaeum, Fruitlands Museums Library,
Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...
Library, Hancock Shaker Village,
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
,
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
,
New York State Library The New York State Library is a research library in Albany, New York, United States. It was established in 1818 to serve the state government of New York and is part of the New York State Education Department. The library is one of the large ...
, the Shaker Library at
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shakers, Shaker village near New Gloucester, Maine, New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members .Jordan Kisner.There Are Only ...
, Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon, Western Reserve Historical Society,
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
Archives, Winterthur Museum Library, and other repositories.


American Civil War period

As pacifists, the Shakers did not believe that it was acceptable to kill or harm others, even in time of war. During the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, both Union and Confederate soldiers found their way to the Shaker communities. Shakers tended to sympathize with the Union but they did feed and care for both Union and Confederate soldiers. President Lincoln exempted Shaker males from military service, and they became some of the first
conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
s in American history. The end of the Civil War brought large changes to the Shaker communities. One of the most important changes was the postwar economy. The Shakers had a hard time competing in the industrialized economy that followed the Civil War. With prosperity falling, converts were hard to find.


20th century to the present

By the early 20th century, the once numerous Shaker communities were failing and closing. By mid-century, new federal laws were passed denying control of adoption to religious groups. Today, in the 21st century, the Shaker community that still exists—The Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community—denies that Shakerism was a failed utopian experiment. Their message, surviving over two centuries in the United States, reads in part as follows:
Shakerism is not, as many would claim, an anachronism; nor can it be dismissed as the final sad flowering of 19th century liberal utopian fervor. Shakerism has a message for this present age–a message as valid today as when it was first expressed. It teaches above all else that God is Love and that our most solemn duty is to show forth that God who is love in the World.
In 1992, Canterbury Shaker Village closed, leaving only Sabbathday Lake open. Eldress Bertha of the Canterbury Village closed their official membership book in 1957, not recognizing the younger people living in other Shaker Communities as members. On January 2, 2017, Sister Frances Carr died aged 89 at the Sabbathday community, leaving only two remaining Shakers: Brother Arnold Hadd, age 58, and Sister June Carpenter, 77. A profile of the Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake, published in ''The New York Times'' in September 2024, described Brother Arnold, aged 67 and Sister June, aged 86, preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Ann Lee's arrival in New York. Brother Arnold said: “We’ve survived 250 years. We are looking forward as much as our ancestors did to the next — whatever that involves. All we have to do is be ready.” The Shakers at Sabbathday Lake "stressed the autonomy of each local community" and therefore do accept new converts to Shakerism into their community. This Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community receives around two enquiries every week.


Leadership

Four Shakers led the society from 1772 until 1821. # Mother
Ann Lee Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing following her death. She was born during ...
(1772–1784) # Father James Whittaker (1784–1787) # Father Joseph Meacham (1787–1796) # Mother
Lucy Wright Lucy Wright (February 5, 1760 – February 7, 1821) was the leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, from 1796 until 1821. At that time, a woman's leadership of a religious sect was a rad ...
(1796–1821) After 1821, there was no one single leader, but rather a small nucleus of Ministry elders and eldresses with authority over all the Shaker villages, each with their own teams of elders and eldresses who were subordinate to the Ministry. The Shaker Ministry continued to build the society after Lucy Wright died in 1821: * Elder Ebenezer Bishop (1768–1849), Elder Rufus Bishop (1774–1852), Eldress Ruth Landon (1775–1850), Eldress Asenath Clark (1821–1857). Subsequent members of the Shaker Ministry included: * Elder Daniel Boler (1804–1892), Elder Giles Avery (1815–1890), Eldress Betsy Bates (1798–1869), and Eldress Eliza Ann Taylor (1811–1897). * Eldress Polly Reed (1818–1881) was also known as an artist who created Shaker gift drawings such as "A present from Mother Lucy to Eliza Ann Taylor", 1851 (above) in the 1840s and 1850s. * Eldress Harriet Bullard (1824–1916) * Elder Frederick William Evans (1858–?) * Eldress Frances Hall (1947–1957) * Eldress Emma King (1957–?) * Eldress Gertrude Soule and Eldress Bertha Lindsay (?–early 1990s) * Elder Arnold Hadd & Eldress June Carpenter (? – present)


Theology


Dualism

Shaker theology is based on the idea of the dualism of God as male and female: "So God created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). This passage was interpreted as showing the dual nature of the Creator.


First and second coming

Shakers believed that Jesus, born of a woman, the son of a Jewish carpenter, was the male manifestation of Christ and the first Christian Church; and that Mother Ann, daughter of an English blacksmith, was the female manifestation of Christ and the second Christian Church (which the Shakers believed themselves to be). She was seen as the Bride made ready for the Bridegroom, and in her, the promises of the
Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...
were fulfilled.


Nature of God

Because of the adoptionist view of Christ only becoming divine during his baptism and the dualist idea that God was to be expressed in male and female genders, Shakers are sometimes viewed as being
nontrinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ( ...
. However, modern-day Shakers profess the divinity of Christ and claim that Shaker dualism is because "God has no sex in our human understanding of the term; yet being pure spirit He may best be thought of by man with his limited power of comprehension as having the attributes of both maleness and femaleness". The Trinity is not viewed as being false. Instead, Shakers argue that the Trinity has been misinterpreted for being completely masculine. Ann Lee's embodiment of Christ thus completed the Trinity by fulfilling the female aspect of God.


Ethics

Adam's sin was understood to be sex, which was considered to be an act of impurity. Therefore, marriage was abolished within the body of the Believers in the Second Appearance, which was patterned after the Kingdom of God, in which there would be no marriage or giving in marriage. The four highest Shaker virtues were
virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
purity, communalism,
confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...
of sin – without which one could not become a Believer – and separation from the world. Ann Lee's doctrine was simple: confession of sins was the door to the spiritual regeneration, and absolute celibacy was the rule of life. Shakers were so chaste that men and women could not shake hands or pass one another on the stairs.


Equality

Enshrined in Shaker doctrine is a belief in racial equality and gender equality.


Celibacy and children

Shakers were celibate;
procreation Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. There are two forms of reproduction: asexual and sexual. In asexual reprod ...
was forbidden after they joined the society (except for women who were already pregnant at admission). Children were added to their communities through indenture, adoption, or conversion. Occasionally a foundling was anonymously left on a Shaker doorstep. They welcomed all, often taking in orphans and the homeless. For children, Shaker life was structured, safe and predictable, with no shortage of adults who cared about their young charges. When Shaker youths, girls and boys, reached the age of 21, they were free to leave or to remain with the Shakers. Unwilling to remain celibate, many chose to leave; today there are thousands of descendants of Shaker-raised seceders.


Gender roles

Shaker religion valued women and men equally in religious leadership. The church was hierarchical, and at each level women and men shared authority. This was reflective of the Shaker belief that God was both female and male. They believed men and women were equal in the sight of God, and should be treated equally on earth, too. Thus two Elders and two Eldresses formed the Ministry at the top of the administrative structure. Two lower-ranking Elders and two Eldresses led each family, women overseeing women and men overseeing men. This allowed the continuation of church leadership when there was a shortage of men. In their labor, Shakers followed traditional gender work-related roles. Their homes were segregated by sex, as were women and men's work areas. Women worked indoors spinning, weaving, cooking, sewing, cleaning, washing, and making or packaging goods for sale. In good weather, groups of Shaker women were outdoors, gardening and gathering wild herbs for sale or home consumption. Men worked in the fields doing farm work and in their shops at crafts and trades.


Worship

Shakers worshipped in meetinghouses painted white and unadorned; pulpits and decorations were eschewed as worldly things. In meeting, they marched, sang, danced, and sometimes turned, twitched, jerked, or shouted. The earliest Shaker worship services were unstructured, loud, chaotic and emotional. However, Shakers later developed precisely choreographed dances and orderly marches accompanied by symbolic gestures. Many outsiders disapproved of or mocked Shakers' mode of worship without understanding the symbolism of their movements or the content of their songs.


Shaker communities

The Shakers built more than twenty communities in the United States. Women and men shared leadership of the Shaker communities. Women preached and received revelations as the Spirit fell upon them. Thriving on the religious enthusiasm of the first and second Great Awakenings, the Shakers declared their messianic, communitarian message with significant response. One early convert observed: "The wisdom of their instructions, the purity of their doctrine, their Christ-like deportment, and the simplicity of their manners, all appeared truly apostolical." The Shakers represent a small but important Utopian response to the gospel. Preaching in their communities knew no boundaries of gender, social class, or education.


Economics

The communality of the Believers was an economic success, and their cleanliness, honesty and frugality received the highest praise. All Shaker villages ran farms, using the latest scientific methods in agriculture. They raised most of their own food, so farming, and preserving the produce required to feed them through the winter, had to be priorities. Their livestock were fat and healthy, and their barns were commended for convenience and efficiency. When not doing farm work, Shaker brethren pursued a variety of trades and hand crafts, many documented by Isaac N. Youngs. When not doing housework, Shaker sisters did likewise, spinning, weaving, sewing, and making sale goods—baskets, brushes, bonnets, brooms, fancy goods, and homespun fabric that was known for high quality, but were more famous for their medicinal herbs, garden seeds of the Shaker Seed Company, apple sauce, and knitted garments (Canterbury). Some communities, especially those in New England, produced maple syrup for sale as well. Shakers ran a variety of businesses to support their communities; many Shaker villages had their own tanneries. The Shaker goal in their labor was perfection. Ann Lee's followers preserved her admonitions about work: Mother Ann also cautioned them against getting into debt. Shaker craftsmen were known for a style of
Shaker furniture Shaker furniture is a distinctive style of furniture developed by the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as Shakers, a religious sect that had guiding principles of simplicity, utility and honesty. Their beli ...
that was plain in style, durable, and functional. Shaker chairs were usually mass-produced because a great number of them were needed to seat all the Shakers in a community. Around the time of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, the Shakers at Mount Lebanon, New York, increased their production and marketing of Shaker chairs. They were so successful that several furniture companies produced their own versions of "Shaker" chairs. Because of the quality of their craftsmanship, original Shaker furniture is costly. Shakers won respect and admiration for their productive farms and orderly communities. Their industry brought about many
invention An invention is a unique or novelty (patent), novel machine, device, Method_(patent), method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It m ...
s like Babbitt metal, the rotary harrow, the
circular saw A circular saw or a buzz saw, is a power-saw using a toothed or Abrasive saw, abrasive disk (mathematics), disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an Arbor (tool), arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use ...
, the
clothespin A clothespin (US English) or clothes peg (UK English), also spelled "clothes pin" is a fastener used to hang up clothes for drying, usually on a clothes line. Clothespins come in many different designs. Design During the 1700s laundry was ...
, the
Shaker peg Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cock ...
, the flat broom, the wheel-driven
washing machine A washing machine (laundry machine, clothes washer, washer, or simply wash) is a machine designed to laundry, launder clothing. The term is mostly applied to machines that use water. Other ways of doing laundry include dry cleaning (which uses ...
, a machine for setting teeth in textile cards, a
threshing machine A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of agricultural machinery, farm equipment that separates grain seed from the plant stem, stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed ...
, metal pens, a new type of fire engine, a machine for matching boards, numerous innovations in waterworks, planing machinery, a hernia truss, silk reeling machinery, small looms for weaving palm leaf, machines for processing broom corn, ball-and-socket tilters for chair legs, and a number of other useful inventions. Even prolific Shaker inventors like Tabitha Babbit did not patent their inventions before or after putting them into practice, which has complicated subsequent efforts by 20th century historians to assign priority. Shakers were the first large producers of medicinal herbs in the United States, and pioneers in the sale of seeds in paper packets. Brethren grew the crops, but sisters picked, sorted, and packaged their products for sale, so those industries were built on a foundation of women's labor in the Shaker partnership between the sexes. The Shakers believed in the value of hard work and kept comfortably busy. Mother Ann said: "Labor to make the way of God your own; let it be your inheritance, your treasure, your occupation, your daily calling".


Architecture and furnishings

The Shakers' dedication to hard work and perfection has resulted in a unique range of architecture, furniture and handicraft styles. They designed their furniture with care, believing that making something well was in itself an act of prayer. Before the late 18th century, they rarely fashioned items with elaborate details or extra decoration, but only made things for their intended uses. The ladder-back chair was a popular piece of furniture. Shaker craftsmen made most things out of
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
or other inexpensive woods and hence their furniture was light in color and weight. The earliest Shaker buildings (late 18th – early 19th century) in the northeast were timber or stone buildings built in a plain but elegant New England colonial style. Early 19th-century Shaker interiors are characterized by an austerity and simplicity. For example, they had a "peg rail", a continuous wooden device like a pelmet with hooks running all along it near the
lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...
level. They used the pegs to hang up clothes, hats, and very light furniture pieces such as chairs when not in use. The simple architecture of their homes, meeting houses, and barns has had a lasting influence on American architecture and design. There is a collection of furniture and utensils at Hancock Shaker Village outside of
Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...
, that is famous for its elegance and practicality. At the end of the 19th century, however, Shakers adopted some aspects of Victorian decor, such as ornate carved furniture, patterned linoleum, and cabbage-rose wallpaper. Examples are on display in the Hancock Shaker Village Trustees' Office, a formerly spare, plain building "improved" with ornate additions such as fish-scale siding, bay windows, porches, and a tower.


Culture


Artifacts

By the middle of the 20th century, as the Shaker communities themselves were disappearing, some American collectors whose visual tastes were formed by the stark aspects of the
modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
movement found themselves drawn to the spare artifacts of Shaker culture, in which "
form follows function Form follows function is a principle of design associated with late 19th- and early 20th-century architecture and industrial design in general, which states that the appearance and structure of a building or object ( architectural form) should p ...
" was also clearly expressed.
Kaare Klint Kaare Klint (15 December 1888 – 28 March 1954) was a Danish architect and furniture designer, known as the father of modern Danish furniture design. His style was epitomized by clean, pure lines, use of the best materials of his time and ...
, an architect and furniture designer, used styles from Shaker furniture in his work. Other artifacts of Shaker culture are their spirit drawings, dances, and songs, which are important genres of Shaker
folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...
. Doris Humphrey, an innovator in technique, choreography, and theory of dance movement, made a full theatrical art with her dance entitled Dance of The Chosen, which depicted Shaker religious fervor. The largest collection of Shaker artifacts is the Robert and Virginia Jones Shaker collection at Harmon Museum, in Lebanon, Ohio.


Music

The Shakers composed thousands of songs, and also created many dances; both were an important part of the Shaker worship services. In Shaker society, a spiritual "gift" could also be a musical revelation, and they considered it important to record musical inspirations as they occurred. Scribes, many of whom had no formal musical training, used a form of music notation called the letteral system. This method used letters of the alphabet, often not positioned on a staff, along with a simple notation of conventional rhythmic values, and has a curious, and coincidental, similarity to some ancient Greek music notation. Many of the lyrics to Shaker tunes consist of syllables and words from unknown tongues, the musical equivalent of
glossolalia Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is an activity or practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid voc ...
. It has been surmised that many of them were imitated from the sounds of Native American languages, as well as from the songs of African slaves, especially in the southernmost of the Shaker communities, but in fact the melodic material is derived from European scales and modes. Most early Shaker music is monodic, that is to say, composed of a single melodic line with no harmonization. The tunes and scales recall the folksongs of the British Isles, but since the music was written down and carefully preserved, it is "art" music of a special kind rather than folklore. Many melodies are of extraordinary grace and beauty, and the Shaker song repertoire, though still relatively little known, is an important part of the American cultural heritage and of world religious music in general. Shakers' earliest hymns were shared by word of mouth and letters circulated among their villages. Many Believers wrote out the lyrics in their own manuscript hymnals. In 1813, they published '' Millennial Praises,'' a hymnal containing only lyrics. After the Civil War, the Shakers published hymnbooks with both lyrics and music in conventional four-part harmonies. These works are less strikingly original than the earlier, monodic repertoire. The songs, hymns, and anthems were sung by the Shakers usually at the beginning of their Sunday worship. Their last hymnbook was published in 1908 at Canterbury, New Hampshire. The surviving Shakers sing songs drawn from both the earlier repertoire and the four part songbooks. They perform all of these unaccompanied, in single-line unison singing. The many recent, harmonized arrangements of older Shaker songs for choirs and instrumental groups mark a departure from traditional Shaker practice. '' Simple Gifts'' was composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett, on or about the time he moved to the Shaker community at
Alfred, Maine Alfred is a town in York County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,073. Alfred is the seat of York County, and home to part of the Massabesic Experimental Forest. National Register of Historic Places has tw ...
. English poet and songwriter Sydney Carter used the song as the basis for a hymn in 1963 " Lord of the Dance", also referenced as "I Am the Dance". Some scholars, such as Daniel W. Patterson and Roger Lee Hall, have compiled books of Shaker songs, and groups have been formed to sing the songs and perform the dances. The most extensive recordings of the Shakers singing their own music were made between 1960 and 1980 and released on a 2-CD set with illustrated booklet, ''Let Zion Move: Music of the Shakers''. Other recordings are available of Shaker songs, both documentation of singing by the Shakers themselves, as well as songs recorded by other groups (see external links). Two widely distributed commercial recordings by The Boston Camerata, "Simple Gifts" (1995) and "The Golden Harvest" (2000), were recorded at the Shaker community of Sabbathday Lake, Maine, with active cooperation from the surviving Shakers, whose singing can be heard at several points on both recordings.
Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...
's 1944 ballet score ''
Appalachian Spring ''Appalachian Spring'' is an American ballet created by the choreographer Martha Graham and the composer Aaron Copland, later arranged as an orchestral work. Commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, Copland composed the ballet music for Gra ...
'', written for
Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over s ...
, uses the Shaker tune " Simple Gifts" as the basis of its finale. Given to Graham with the working title "Ballet for Martha", it was named by her for the scenario she had in mind, though Copland often said he was thinking of neither Appalachia nor a spring while he wrote it. Shakers did, in fact, worship on Holy Mount in the Appalachians. ''Laboring Songs,'' a piece composed by Dan Welcher in 1997 for large wind ensemble, is based upon traditional shaker tunes including "Turn to the Right" and "Come Life, Shaker Life".


Works inspired by Shaker culture

For a Shaker Seminar held in Massachusetts in 1981, composer Roger Lee Hall wrote a pageant of original Shaker poetry and music titled, "The Humble Heart", featuring singing and dancing by "The New English Song and Daunce Companie". Shaker lifestyle and tradition is celebrated in Arlene Hutton's play '' As It Is in Heaven'', which is a re-creation of a decisive time in the history of the Shakers. The play is written by Arlene Hutton, the pen name of actor/director Beth Lincks. Born in Louisiana and raised in Florida, Lincks was inspired to write the play after visiting the Pleasant Hills Shaker village in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a restored community that the Shakers occupied for more than a century, before abandoning it in 1927 because of the inability of the sect to attract new converts. In the early 1960s, American folklorist Robin Evanchuk, after trips to Shaker communities including Sabbathday Lake, created a stage reproduction of a Shaker worship service. It included both the a cappella songs and also the dance-like movements traditionally used in the Shaker worship service. It was performed by the Westwind Dance Ensemble of Los Angeles, the AMAN Folk Ensemble of Los Angeles, and her own dance group, The Liberty Assembly. Performances by the AMAN Folk Ensemble continued until at least 1989, when the Shaker service was included in a concert tour of the AMAN Folk Ensemble that included concerts in the American mid-west, east, and New York City. Robert Newton Peck's 1972 book, '' A Day No Pigs Would Die'', depicts a family that lives by the "Book of Shaker". They are clearly not traditional Shakers, however, as they live in a family unit separate from others, strive for individual success, and have children. Novelist
John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. After leaving Oxford Uni ...
wrote in 1985 '' A Maggot'', a
postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...
historical novel culminating in the birth of Ann Lee, and describing early Shakers in England. Janice Holt Giles depicted a Shaker Community in her novel "The Believers". In 2004 the Finnish choreographer Tero Saarinen and Boston Camerata music director Joel Cohen created a live performance work with dance and music entitled "Borrowed Light". While all the music is Shaker song performed in a largely traditional manner, the dance intermingles only certain elements of Shaker practice and belief with Saarinen's original choreographic ideas, and with distinctive costumes and lighting. "Borrowed Light" has been given over 60 performances since 2004 in eight countries, recently (early 2008) in Australia and New Zealand, and most recently (2011) in France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In addition to Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham and Tero Saarinen cited above, choreographers
Twyla Tharp Twyla Tharp (; born July 1, 1941) is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the compa ...
("Sweet Fields", 1996) and Martha Clarke ("Angel Reapers", 2011) also set movement to Shaker hymns. Playwright
Alfred Uhry Alfred Fox Uhry (born December 3, 1936) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He is the recipient of the two Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for '' Driving Miss Daisy'', as well as the Academy Award for the 1989 film adaptat ...
collaborated with Martha Clarke on "Angel Reapers" and used Shaker texts as source material. The music of "Angel Reapers" was successfully and uniquely arranged by Music Director Arthur Solari. In 2009, Toronto-based, American-born poet Damian Rogers released her first volume of poetry, ''Paper Radio''. The lifestyle and philosophy of the Shakers and their matriarch Ann Lee are recurring themes in her work.


Education

New Lebanon, New York, Shakers began keeping school in 1815. Certified as a public school by the state of New York beginning in 1817, the teachers operated on the Lancasterian system, which was considered advanced for its time. Boys attended class during the winter and the girls in the summer. The first Shaker schools taught reading, spelling, oration, arithmetic and manners, but later diversified their coursework to include music, algebra, astronomy, and agricultural chemistry. Non-Shaker parents respected the Shakers' schooling so much that they often took advantage of schools that the Shaker villages provided, sending their children there for an education. State inspectors and other outsiders visited the schools and made favorable comments on teachers and students.


Modern-day Shakers

Turnover was high; the group reached maximum size of about 5,000 full members in 1840, and 6,000 believers at the peak of the Shaker movement. The Shaker communities continued to lose members, partly through attrition, since believers did not give birth to children, and also due to economics; products hand-made by Shakers could not compete with mass-produced products and individuals moved to the cities for better livelihoods. There were only 12 Shaker communities left by 1920. In 1957, after "months of prayer", Eldresses Gertrude, Emma, and Ida, leaders of the United Society of Believers in Canterbury Shaker Village, voted to close the Shaker Covenant, the document which all new members need to sign to become members of the Shakers in Canterbury Shaker Village. In 1988, speaking about the three men and women in their 20s and 30s who had become Shakers and were living in the
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shakers, Shaker village near New Gloucester, Maine, New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members .Jordan Kisner.There Are Only ...
, Eldress Bertha Lindsay of the other community, the Canterbury Shaker Village, disputed their membership in the society: "To become a Shaker you have to sign a legal document taking the necessary vows and that document, the official covenant, is locked up in our safe. Membership is closed forever." However, Shaker covenants lack a "
sunset clause In public policy, a sunset provision or sunset clause is a measure within a statute, regulation, or other law that provides for the law to cease to be effective after a specified date, unless further legislative action is taken to extend it. Unli ...
" and today's Shakers of
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shakers, Shaker village near New Gloucester, Maine, New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members .Jordan Kisner.There Are Only ...
welcome sincere new converts to Shakerism into the society: On January 2, 2017, Sister Frances Carr died aged 89 at the Sabbathday community, leaving only two remaining Shakers: Brother Arnold Hadd, age 58, and Sister June Carpenter, 77. In the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of the Shaker newsletter ''The Clarion'', the current membership was given as Brother Arnold, Sister June, and Brother Andrew. These remaining Shakers still hope that sincere newcomers will join them. If one wishes to join, they can learn more and watch sermons on their website, maineshakers.com. In September 2024, the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
published an article about the last two remaining members of the community.


See also

*
Amish The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...
* Antisexualism *
Anti-Shaker Anti-Shakerism refers to negative attitudes concerning the Shakers. At their peak in popularity in the first half of the 19th century in the United States, the Shakers had approximately 4,000 to 6,000 members. , the Shakers currently have 2 active ...
* Antinatalism * Leman Copley * Corbett's electrostatic machine *
Heart in Hand The Heart in Hand or Heart-in-Hand is a symbol of a heart in an open palm, and is symbolic of charity, given from the heart. It is an easily recognizable symbol in the Northeastern United States and used by the Shakers as a pictorial reminder of ...
* '' It Beats the Shakers'' * New Forest Shakers *
Peace churches Peace churches are Christian churches, groups or communities advocating Christian pacifism or Biblical nonresistance. The term historic peace churches refers specifically only to three church groups among pacifist churches: * Church of the Breth ...
* Shaker Farm *
Simple living Simple living refers to practices that promote simplicity in one's lifestyle. Common practices of simple living include reducing the number of possessions one owns, depending less on technology and services, and spending less money. In addition t ...
* '' The Shakers: Hands to Work, Hearts to God'' * Shakertown Pledge * Shaker tilting chair * Shaker broom vise *
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...


Explanatory notes


References


Further reading

;General * Andrews, Edward Deming. ''The People Called Shakers: A Search for the Perfect Society'' (1953) * Andrews, Edward Deming. '' The Gift to Be Simple: Songs, Dances and Rituals of the American Shakers'' (Dover, 1940) * Andrews, Edward D. and Andrews, Faith. ''Work & Worship Among the Shakers.'' Dover Publications, NY. 1982. * * Duffield, Holley Gene. ''Historical Dictionary of the Shakers.'' Scarecrow Press, 2000 * Garrett, Clarke. ''Origins of the Shakers''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987 and 1998. * Johnson, Theodore E., ed. "The Millennial Laws of 1821." '' The Shaker Quarterly''. Volume 7.2 (1967): 35–58. * Madden; Etta M. ''Bodies of Life: Shaker Literature and Literacies'' (1998
online
* McKinstry, E. Richard. ''The Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection''. New York & London: Garland Publishing, 1987. * Morgan, John H. ''The United Inheritance: The Shaker Adventure in Communal Life (Exemplified in Their Religious Self-Understanding)''. Bristol, IN: Quill Books, 2002. * Murray John E. "Determinants of Membership Levels and Duration in a Shaker Commune, 1780–1880". ''Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion'' 34 (1995): 35–48. . * Paterwic, Stephen J. ''Historical Dictionary of the Shakers''. Scarecrow Press, 2008. * Promey, Sally. ''Spiritual Spectacles: Vision and Image in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Shakerism''. Indiana University Press, 1993. * Stein, Stephen J. ''The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers'' (Yale University Press, 1992), a standard scholarly history * Wergland, Glendyne R. ''Visiting the Shakers, 1850–1899''. Clinton, N.Y.: Richard W. Couper Press, 2010. * Wergland, Glendyne R. ''Visiting the Shakers, 1778–1849''. Clinton, N.Y.: Richard W. Couper Press, 2007. ;Arts, crafts, music * Andrews, Edward D. ''The Gift to Be Simple: Songs, Dances & Rituals of the American Shakers. '' Dover Publications, NY. 1940. * Emlen, Robert P. "The Shaker Dance Prints." ''Imprint: Journal of the American Historical Print Collectors Society''. Volume 17.2 (Autumn 1992): 14–26. * Goodwillie, Christian. ''Shaker Songs: A Celebration of Peace, Harmony, and Simplicity''. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal, 2002. See also ''Millennial Praises''. * Gordon, Beverly. ''Shaker Textile Arts''. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1980. * Hall, Roger L. ''Invitation to Zion: A Shaker Music Guide''. PineTree Press, 2017. * Hall, Roger L. ''Simple Gifts: Great American Folk Song''. PineTree Press, 2014. * Hall, Roger L. ''Blended Together: Discoveries Along The Shaker Music Trail''. PineTree Press, 2011. * Hinds, William Alfred
''American Communities and Cooperative Colonies.''
902 __NOTOC__ Year 902 (Roman numerals, CMII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Adalbert II, Margrave of Tuscany, Adalbert II, margrave of March of Tuscany, Tuscany, revol ...
Second Revision. Chicago, IL: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1908. * Keith, John M. "The Early Manufacturing and Selling of the Shakers at South Union, Kentucky," ''Register of the Kentucky Historical Society'' 70#3 (1972), pp. 187–99
online
* Kelly, Andrew. ''Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture.'' University Press of Kentucky. 2015. * ''Millennial Praises: A Shaker Hymnal''. Christian Goodwillie and Jane Crosthwaite, eds. Amherst:
University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
, 2009. * * * * * Plummer, Henry. ''Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture'' (2009) * Rieman, Timothy D. & Muller, Charles R. ''The Shaker Chair; Line Drawings by Stephen Metzger'' (The Canal Press, 1984) This is the definitive work . * Rieman, Timothy D. & Buck, Susan L. ''The Art of Craftsmanship: The Mount Lebanon Collection'' (Art Services International, and Chrysler Museum, 1995). * Rotundo, Barbara. "Crossing the Dark River: Shaker Funerals and Cemeteries." ''Communal Societies'' Volume 7 (1987): 36–46. * Sprigg, June and Larkin, David. ''Shaker: Life, Work, & Art.'' 1987. ;Biographies * * * Mercadante, Linda A. ''Gender, Doctrine & God: The Shakers and Contemporary Theology''. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1990. * Thurman, Suzanne. Dearly Loved Mother Eunice': Gender, Motherhood, and Shaker Spirituality." ''Church History''. Volume 66.4 (1997): 750–61. . . * Wenger, Tisa J.. "Female Christ and Feminist Foremother: The Many Lives of Ann Lee." ''Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion''. Vol. 18, No. 2 (2002):5–32. . * Wergland, Glendyne R. ''One Shaker Life: Isaac Newton Youngs, 1793–1865''. Amherst:
University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
, 2006. ;Gender related topics * Brewer, Priscilla. Tho' of the Weaker Sex': A Reassessment of Gender Equality among the Shakers." ''Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society'' 17 (spring 1992): 609–35. . * Campbell, D'Ann. "Women's Life in Utopia: The Shaker Experiment in Sexual Equality Reappraised, 1810–1860." ''New England Quarterly'' 51 (March 1978): pp. 23–38. . * De Wolfe, Elizabeth. ''Shaking the Faith: Women, Family, and Mary Marshall Dyer's Anti-Shaker Campaign, 1815–1867'' (Palgrave 2002). * * Humez, Jean. "If I had to Study the Female Trait: Philemon Stewart, 'Petticoat Government' Issues and Later Nineteenth-Century Shakerism." ''Shaker Quarterly''. Volume 22, no. 4 (winter 1994):122–52. * Humez, Jean. "The Problem of Female Leadership in Early Shakerism." ''Shaker Design: Out of this World''. ed. Jean M. Burks. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2008. pp. 93–119. * Humez, Jean. Weary of Petticoat Government': The Specter of Female Rule in Early Nineteenth-Century Shaker Politics." ''Communal Societies''. Volume 11 (1991): 1–17. * Humez, Jean. ''Mother's First-Born Daughters: early Shaker writings on women and religion''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. * Kern, Louis J. ''An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community'' (University of North Carolina Press, 1981
online
* Wergland, Glendyne R. ''Sisters in the Faith: Shaker Women, 1780–1890''. Amherst:
University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...
, 2011. ;Theology * Deignan, Kathleen. ''Christ Spirit: The Eschatology of Shaker Christianity.'' Scarecrow Press / American Theological Library Association, 1992 * Francis, Richard. ''Ann the Word: The Story of Ann Lee Female Messiah Mother of the Shakers, The Woman Clothed with the Sun''. The Fourth Estate, London 2000. * Humez, Jean. Ye Are My Epistles': The Construction of Ann Lee Imagery in Early Shaker Sacred Literature." ''Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion''. Spring 1992. pp. 83–103. . * Sasson, Diane. ''The Shaker Spiritual Narrative''. Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1983. * Patterson, Daniel W. ''The Shaker Spiritual'' 2000. * Skees, Suzanne. ''God Among the Shakers''. New York: Hyperion, 1998. * Stein, Stephen. "Shaker Gift and Shaker Order: A Study of Religious Tension in Nineteenth-Century America." ''Communal Societies''. Volume 10 (1990): 102–13. ;Primary sources * * * * * * * * * * * * * ;Shaker periodicals *
The Shaker Manifesto
''. 1871–1899. United Societies of Shakers of America. *
The Shaker Quarterly
'. 1961–1975, 1987–1996.
Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is a Shakers, Shaker village near New Gloucester, Maine, New Gloucester and Poland, Maine, Poland, Maine, in the United States. It is the last active Shaker community, with two members .Jordan Kisner.There Are Only ...
.


External links


The United Society of Shakers at Sabbathday Lake (includes Museum and Library), Maine

Shaker Historical Society, Shaker Heights Ohio

Shaker Heritage Society, Watervliet, NY
*
Friends of the Shakers

Shaker collection
at Williams College Archives & Special Collections


Shakerpedia

Shaker members database
{{Authority control Apocalyptic groups Christian new religious movements Protestant denominations established in the 18th century Christian pacifism Communalism Simple living Millenarianism Restorationism (Christianity)