An Annotated Bibliography of Selected Sources for the Study of American Communal History

This annotated bibliography was compiled in the spring of 2004 and presented at the International Communal Studies Association Conference at Amana, Iowa in June 2004. Contributors were asked to provide annotated lists of useful sources for the study of specified communal groups. The goal of this bibliography is to provide a useful resource for the study of American communal groups, drawing upon the bibliographic knowledge of recognized authorities on particular communal groups.

Each bibliography reflects the expertise of the scholar/author who prepared it; therefore, each may look a little different. The bibliographies of the communal societies, in the order in which they appear below, are:

"Colonial Communal Settlements" by Donald F. Durnbaugh
"The Amana Society" by Peter Hoehnle
"Hutterites and the Bruderhof" by Rod Janzen
"The Oneida Community" by Marlyn McGary Klee
"Shaker Historiography: A Brief Introduction to Writings on Shaker History" by Elizabeth De Wolfe and Scott De Wolfe
"Soar" by Kathleen Fernandez

Selective Annotated Bibliography of Colonial Communal Settlements
By D. F. Durnbaugh

P. C. Plockhoy and the Valley of the Swans

Harder, Leland and Marvin Harder. Plockhoy from Zurik-zee: The Study of a Dutch
     Reformer in Puritan England and Colonial America. Newton, KS: [Mennonite]
     Board of Education and Publication, 1952.
A largely accurate, carefully-documented study that includes original sources.

Horst, Irvin. “Pieter Cornelisz Plockhoy: An Apostle of the Collegiants.” Mennonite
     Quarterly Review 23 (July 1949): 161-185.
Provides useful information on the Dutch background.

Leasa, K. Varden. “Setting the Record Straight on Peter Plockhoy: Delaware’s First
     Mennonite.” Mennonite Historical Bulletin 63 (October 2002): 1-7.
In contrast to previous studies, shows that P. C. Plockhoy died in Delaware after his colony was raided and did not find his way to Germantown. Rather, it was his son who resettled in Pennsylvania.

Plantenga, Bart. “The Mystery of the Plockhoy Settlement in the Valley of Swans.”
Mennonite Historical Bulletin 62 (April 2001): 4-13.
Further detail on the Plockhoy settlement and the Dutch background.

Jean de Labadie and Bohemia Manor

Greene, Ernest J. “The Labadists of Colonial Maryland, 1683-1722.” Communal
Societies 8 (1988): 104-21.
A well-documented overview of the Bohemia Manor community.

Irwin, Joyce. “Anna Maria van Schurman: From Feminism to Pietism.” Church History 46 (March 1977): 48-62.
Considered the most-erudite woman in seventeenth-century Europe, van Schurman was a leader of the Labadists.

Saxby, Trevor J. The Quest for the New Jerusalem: Jean de Labadie and the
Labadists, 1610-1740. Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987.
A thorough monograph on the background of Labadie and the formation of his colonies in The Netherlands, Germany, Surinam, and North America.

Wallmann, Johannes. “Labadismus und Pietismus.” in Pietismus und Reviel, eds. J.
Van den Berg and J. P. Van Dooren, 141-168, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978.
Describes the connection between the Labadist movement and the larger Pietist movement.

Johannes Kelpius and the Society of the Woman in the Wilderness

Brooks, Edythe L. “A Re-Evaluation of the Significance of Johannes Kelpius and ‘The
     Woman of the Wilderness,’” M.A. Thesis, University of South Florida, 1996.
A failed attempt to link the Kelpian movement with the Ephrata Society, claiming that the latter was almost completely dependent upon the former.

Fischer, Elizabeth W. “’Prophecies and Revelations’: German Cabbalists in Early
     Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 109 (July 1985):
     299-333.
Useful description of the orientation of the Kelpian movement in the context of the times for dissenting religious movements.

Martin, Willard M. “Johannes Kelpius and Johann Gottfried Seelig: Mystics and Hymnists
on the Wissahickon [River].” Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1973.
A solid monograph on the two leaders of the mystical communal group near Germantown.

Versluis, Arthur. Wisdom’s Children: A Christian Esoteric Tradition. Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1999, 69-111.
Places the Kelpian-led movement into a broader perspective of Radical Pietist and Böhmist ideology.

Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Society

Alderfer, E. Gordon. The Ephrata Commune: An Early American Counterculture.
Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985.
A generally dependable overview of the beginning, flowering, and demise of the unique Ephrata Society.

Bach, Jeffrey A. Voices of the Turtledoves: The Sacred World of Ephrata. University
Park: Pennsylvania State University Press/ Pennsylvania German Society, 2003.
Provides a basic understanding for the esoteric imagery, language, and symbolism of this fascinating society that flourished throughout much of Colonial America. It supersedes all previous interpretations of the Ephrata Society which was renowned for its cultural achievements in art and music.

Erb, Peter C., ed. Johann Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Community: Mystical and
Historical Texts. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1985.
Contains an introduction to Ephrata and translations of some basic texts, but not totally accurate in detail and translation.

Klein, Walter C. Johann Conrad Beissel, Mystic and Martinet, 1690-1768.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1941.
An unsympathetic and biased biography, the only one so-far written, the work cannot be recommended as a satisfactory account of Beissel’s life. There are two mistakes in the title alone.

Sachse, Julius F. The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania: A Critical and Legendary
History of the Ephrata Cloister and the Dunkers. (Philadelphia: author, 1899-1900.),
two-volumes.
Long considered the standard work on Ephrata, it has been found by later scholarship to be undependable in documentation and interpretation. The author found and preserved many original sources and did much to call attention to the Ephrata story.

Wust, Klaus. The Saint-Adventurers of the Virginia Frontier. Edinburg, Va.:
Shenandoah History Publications, 1977.
A well-documented account of the dramatic lives and deaths of the four Eckerlin brothers, sometime Ephrata leaders and frontier settlers.

Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians

Crews, C. Daniel and Richard W. Starbuck. With Courage for the Future: The Story of
the Moravian Church, Southern Province. Winston-Salem: Moravian Church, 1995.
Denominational history.

Faull, Katherine M., ed. Moravian Women’s Memoirs: Their Related Lives, 1750-1820.
Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1997.
Autobiographical writings of thirty women who lived in Moravian settlements in Colonial America; they provide keen insight into the thought and devotional world of the Moravian Brethren.

Gollin, Gillian L. Moravians in Two Worlds: A Study of Changing Communities. New
York: Columbia University Press, 1967.
A prize-winning comparative study of Moravians in Germany and North America.

Hamilton, J. Taylor and Kenneth G. Hamilton. History of the Moravian Church: The
Renewed Unitas Fratrum, 1722-1957. Bethlehem, Pa.: Moravian Church of America,
1967.
Remains the standard history of the Moravian Church.

Smaby, Beverly Prior. The Transformation of Moravian Bethlehem: From Communal
Mission to Family Economy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989.
This solid monograph, based on the sources, describes the shift from a completely communal life and economy to one of shared but more family-centered life.

Sensbach, Jon F. A Separate Canaan: The Making of an Afro-Moravian World in
North Carolina, 1763-1840. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Displays both the original multi-cultural orientation of the Moravians and a developing racial sensitivity.

Vogt, Peter, ed. Authentische Relation . . . / An Authentic Relation . . .
Hildesheim/Zurich/New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 1998.
A bilingual edition, with very helpful annotation, of the protocols of the important Pennsylvania Synods of 1742 guided by the Moravian leader, Count Zinzendorf.

General Treatments and Reference Works

Dare, Philip N., ed. American Communes to 1860: A Bibliography. New York /
London: Garland Publishing, 1990.
Useful compilation.

Durnbaugh, Donald F. “Work and Hope: The Spirituality of the Radical Pietist
Communitarians.” Church History 39 (March 1970): 72-90.
Demonstrates the underlying Radical Pietist orientation of many of the early religious communities.

Fogarty, Robert S., ed. Dictionary of American Communal and Utopian History.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980.
Although now somewhat dated, it provides significant information especially on communal leaders, but also on the groups themselves.

Pitzer, Donald E., ed. America’s Communal Utopias. Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1999.
The most comprehensive and authoritative study, with chapters written by leading scholars of communitarian movements.

Stockwell, Foster, ed. Encyclopedia of American Communes, 1663-1963. Jefferson,
N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1998.
Helpful brief descriptions of communal groups and leaders.

Sutton, Robert F. Communal Utopias and the American Experience: Religious
Communities. Volume 1. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003.
Documented portrayals of the leading communal groups.

Trahair, Richard C. S., ed. Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary. Westport,
Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
A potentially useful compilation hampered by serious errors of fact, organization, and interpretation, rending it untrustworthy.

The Amana Society
By Peter Hoehnle
Amana Heritage Society

General Works that include Amana

Hinds, William Alfred. American Communities. New York: Corinth Books, 1961.
(Reprint of 1878 edition.)
Hinds’ account of Amana, while somewhat critical, is a decent study of the community as it appeared in the late 1870s.

Nordhoff, Charles. The Communistic Societies of the United States: From
Personal Observations. New York: Dover, 1966. (Reprint of 1875 edition.)
Nordhoff’s description of Amana is easily the finest account of the community published in the nineteenth century. His German background likely facilitated his understanding of the community and, aside from minor omissions and slight inaccuracies, his account is quite valuable.

Pitzer, Donald E., ed. America’s Communal Utopias. Chapel Hill: The University
of North Carolina Press, 1997.
Jonathan Andelson’s chapter on Amana draws upon the author’s copious research on the community and is as fine an introduction to community history and mores as is currently available.

Books about Amana

Barthel, Diane. Amana: From Pietist Sect to American Community. Lincoln, NE:
University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
Barthel’s study relies almost completely on secondary sources, and, as a result, displays little original thought or insight, and is primarily a summation of the conclusions made by earlier authors. Although available at the time the book was written, the author chose not to make use of valuable manuscript and oral history sources. The author’s conclusions generally are not supported by appropriate citations.

Bourret, Joan Liffring-Zug, ed. Life In Amana: Reporter’s Views of the Communal
Way, 1867 –1935. Iowa City, Iowa: Penfield Press, 1998.
A useful collection of journalistic account of the Amana community, whose major flaw is a lack of editorial comment and historical contextualization.

Hoppe, Emilie. Seasons of Plenty: Amana Communal Cooking. Ames: Iowa State
University Press, 1994.
Ostensibly a cookbook, Hoppe’s work, drawing on several years of extensive research, is the most complete treatment of women’s roles in communal Amana.

Lankes, Frank J. The Ebenezer Community of True Inspiration. Buffalo, New York:
Kiesling Publishing Company, 1949.
Although antiquarial, Lankes’ work is the only complete treatment of the Ebenezer period of the Society’s history, an era that Amana scholars have traditionally, and inexplicably, avoided until recent years.

Liffring-Zug, Joan. The Amanas Yesterday: A Religious Communal Society. Iowa
City: Penfield Press, 1975.
In print for over three decades, this work presents a valuable collection of historic Amana images, coupled with short essays by Amana residents and observers about aspects of communal life.

Perkins, William Rufus and Barthinius Wick. History of the Amana Society or
Community of True Inspiration. Iowa City: State University of Iowa, 1891.
This was the first scholarly treatment of the community in English, although some of its scholarship is suspect. Beyond its use as a snap shot of Amana at the turn of the century, this work offers little that is unavailable in other, more reliable, sources.

Rettig, Lawrence L. Amana Today: A History of the Amana Colonies from 1932 to
Present. Amana, Iowa: Amana Society, 1975.
Rettig’s study, although published thirty years ago, is still the most complete treatment of the Society following its reorganization in 1932. Especially valuable are the extensive appendices of primary source material.

Scheuner, Gottlieb. Inspirations Historie, vol. 1714 – 1728. Translated by Janet W.
Zuber. Amana: Amana Church Society, 1977.

----------------------. Inspirations Historie, vol. II, 1729 – 1817. Translated by Janet W.
Zuber. Amana: Amana Church Society, 1978.

----------------------. Inspirations Historie, vol. III, 1817 – 1850. Translated by Janet
W. Zuber. Amana: Amana Church Society, 1987.
Scheuner’s accounts represent the official chronicle of the Amana community and, as such, are invaluable resources for information concerning the German and Ebenzer periods of the community. As an internal history, the works are uncritical, but skillfully assembled and written never the less.

----------------------. Barbara Heinemann Landmann Biography and E. L.
Gruber’s Teachings on Divine Inspiration and Other Essays. Translated by Janet W.
Zuber. Amana: Amana Church Society, 1981.
The materials in this small book provide valuable resources for understanding the religious underpinnings of the Amana Society. Includes Landmann’s biography (actually a dictated autobiography), coupled with significant essays by the sect’s cofounder on Inspiration.

Shambaugh, Bertha M. H. Amana: The Community of True Inspiration. Iowa City,
Iowa: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1988. (Reprint of 1908 edition.)
Shambaugh’s work, by default, has remained the standard study of the community for nearly a century. A keen observer of Amana life (as well as the creator of an invaluable photographic record of the community), Shambaugh’s work provides valuable insights into the nature of the communal system. As is to be expected, however, Shambaugh’s work suffers from sentimentality and is often overly sympathetic. This work remains valuable, as well, as an interesting example of early twentieth century historiography by a talented young woman whose husband, Benjamin, stood at the forefront of this field during this period.

Yambura, Barbara Selzer and Eunice W. Bodine. A Change and a Parting: My Story
Amana. Iowa City, Iowa: Penfield Press, 2001. (New edition of book first published in
1960.)
Yambura’s work is the only extended published memoir of life in the communal period, albeit at the very end. Somewhat fictionalized, this work is still a reliable reflection of the experiences of other young Inspirationists of this era. The new edition is illustrated with photographs and has been carefully reedited to improve the work’s accuracy on matters historical.

Scholarly Works

Andelson, Jonathan G. “Communalism and Change in the Amana Society, 1855 –
1932.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1974.
Without question the finest study of the Amana Society in any format, the absence of a published version has been eased, somewhat, by Andelson’s voluminous articles and presentations on the subject.

DuVal, Francis Alan. “Christian Metz: German-American Religious Leader and Pioneer.”
Ph.D. dissertation, State University of Iowa, 1948.
The only English resource devoted to the major nineteenth century leader of the community, DuVal’s work also provides a readable, if uncritical, narrative account of communal history under Metz’ direction.

Hoehnle, Peter A. The Amana People: The History of a Religious Community. Iowa
City, Iowa: Penfield Books, 2003.
To date, this is the only published account of the entire history of the Society, from Germany to the present day. Heavily illustrated, it provides a suitable introduction to more in depth sources.

---------------------. “A Machine in the Garden: The Woolen Textile Industry of the
Amana Society, 1785 – 1942.” Annals of Iowa 61 (Winter 2002): 24 – 67.
In actuality, this study is less about textile production and more a short revision of the standard account of Amana’s communal history. Winner of the 2003 Throne Aldrich Award from the State Historical Society of Iowa.

--------------------. “Community in Transition: Amana’s Great Change, 1931–1933.”
Annals of Iowa 60 (Winter 2001): 1 – 34.
The only published scholarly treatment of the reorganization of the Amana Society based on original sources.

Moore, Frank M. “The Amana Society: Accommodation of Old World Beliefs in a New
World Frontier Setting.” Ph.D. dissertation, Nashville: Vanderbilt University, 1988.
A decent treatment of the Amana Society following the death of Christian Metz, which neatly refutes many of the assertions made by Diane Barthel in her work on the community. This work is also the most in-depth discussion of Inspirationist religious beliefs.

Schnieder, Ulf-Michael. “Die wahren ‘Propheten-Kinder” Sprache, Literature und
       Wirkung der Inspirierten im 18. Jahrhundert.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation,
        University of Goettingen, Germany, 1992.
The best treatment of the German period of the Community of True Inspiration. Sadly, unavailable to English speaking audiences.

Webber, Philip E. Kolonie-Deutsch: Life and Language in Amana. Ames: Iowa
State University Press, 1993.
The only book length treatment of the unique Amana German dialect, this book also provides a comprehensive bibliography of general sources related to the community.

Hutterites and the Bruderhof
By Rod Janzen, Fresno Pacific University

The Hutterites

Bennett, John W. Hutterian Brethren. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1967.
This sociological/anthropological study focuses specific attention on the Hutterian agricultural economy and social organization.

Ehrenpreis, Andreas. Brotherly Community: The Highest Command of Love, 1650.
Rifton, NY: Plough, 1978.
This book includes the writings of 17^th century Hutterite Servant of the Word Ehrenpreis, who led the Hutterites during a difficult time of re-grouping after the devastation of the 30 Years War (1618-1648).

Friedmann, Robert. Hutterite Studies. Goshen, IN: Mennonite Historical Society, 1961.
Friedmann’s important essays are the most profoundly intellectual of any of the various studies of Hutterite theology and life. The Hutterites themselves often suggest that Friedmann understood them better than any other non-Hutterite.

Friesen, John J. trans., ed. Peter Riedemann’s Hutterite Confession of Faith.Scottdale,
PA: Herald Press, 1999.
This is a new translation of the 1540 confession of faith to which the Hutterites still adhere. Included is a biographical essay on Peter Riedemann.

Gross, Leonard. The Golden Years of the Hutterites. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1980.
This book is an in-depth study of Hutterite life and thought during the height of the “Golden Years” period -- from 1565-1578.

Gross, Paul S. The Hutterite Way. Saskatoon, SK: Freeman Publishing Company, 1965.
This is the only full-scale analysis of contemporary Hutterite life by a Hutterite minister. Gross was a progressive Dariusleut Prediger who encouraged relationships with non-Hutterites and a greater focus on education.

Hofer, Arnold M., ed. A History of the Hutterite-Mennonites. Freeman, SD: Hutterian
Centennial Committee, 1974.
This book is a brief review of the history and culture of those Prairieleut Hutterians who joined Mennonite churches in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Included are numerous photographs, recipes and stories.

Hofer, Arnold M., ed. The Diaries of Joseph “Yos” Hofer. Freeman, SD: Hutterian
Centennial Committee, 1997.
This is an important translation of a diary kept by Hutterite minister “Yos” Hofer, who was a member, at different times, of Dariusleut, Schmiedeleut and Prairieleut congregations. He exemplifies the sometimes chaotic pattern of movement across communal/non-communal Hutterian boundaries at the turn of the 20^th century.

Hofer, Samuel. The Hutterites: Lives and Images of a Communal People. Saskatoon,
SK: Hofer Publishers, 1998.
This is a popularly-written full-scale review of all of the Hutterian groups by an ex-Hutterite novelist. Hofer includes numerous photographs and is the only writer to date who devotes a chapter to the Hutterite/Bruderhof relationship.

Holzach, Michael. The Forgotten People: A Year Among the Hutterites. Sioux Falls,
SD: Ex Machina Publishing Company, 1993.
This is an unorthodox account of journalist Holzach’s year among the Wilson Colony in Alberta.

Hoover, Walter. The Hutterian Language. Saskatoon, SK: self-published, 1997.
Saskatchewan linguist Walter Hoover (who has Hutterian roots) discusses the linguistic roots of the Tyrolean dialect, Hutterisch, the first language of the Hutterites.

Hostetler, John A. Hutterite Society. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,
1997.
This is the standard and most complete work on Hutterite history and culture, although the 1997 edition is a re-print of the 1974 work and thus does not provide up-to-date information and analysis with regard to significant social and ideological developments during the past thirty years.

Hostetler, John A. and Gertrude Huntington. The Hutterites in North America.New York:
Harcourt Brace, 1996.
This completely revised edition of the 1967 book of the same title, profits from the ethnographic studies of anthropologist Gertrude Huntington – and focuses significant attention on organizational issues.

Hutter, Jacob. Brotherly Faithfulness: Epistles From a Time of Persecution. Rifton,
NY: Plough, 1979.
This is an English translation of Hutterite founder Jacob Hutter’s various epistles to Anabaptist brothers and sisters in Austria and Moravia during the 1530s.

Hutterian Brethren, eds. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren, Volume I. Rifton, NY:
Plough, 1987.
This volume, covering the periods 1517-1665, is an English translation of the Hutterites’ own official internal history, a unique and unparalleled endeavor in the history of virtually any other religious group of this longevity.

Hutterian Brethren, eds. The Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren, Volume II. Hawley,
MN: Spring Prairie Press, 1997.
This book continues the official Hutterite history from 1665-1885. It includes an appendix that outlines Hutterite church ordinances.

Janzen, Rod. The Prairie People: Forgotten Anabaptists. Hanover, NH: The University
Press of New England, 1999.
This book is a history of the non-communal Hutterian people, the descendents of the two-thirds of Hutterians who decided not to live communally when they migrated from Ukraine to Dakota Territory in the 1870s.

Kraybill, Donald B. and Carl F. Bowman. On the Backroad to Heaven. Baltimore: The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.
This book deals with four old order Anabaptist groups: the Old Order Amish, Old Order German Baptist Brethren, Old Order Mennonites and the Hutterites. The Hutterite section is the most recent sociological study of that group.

Klassen, Peter J. The Economics of Anabaptism. London: Mouton, 1964.
In this book the historian Klassen discusses the theological foundations of communal economics.

Packull, Werner. Hutterite Beginnings. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,
1995.
This book – the best that deals with early Hutterite history -- discusses the origins of the Hutterite movement in Austria and Moravia in great detail, with fascinating accounts of the multiple personalities, the diverse ideological positions, the shifting beliefs and practices.

Peter, Karl A. The Dynamics of Hutterite Society: An Analytical Approach. Edmonton,
AB: University of Alberta Press, 1987.
This book provides an important sociological analysis of Hutterite society.

Peters, Victor. All Things Common. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1965.
This book is somewhat dated but still presents an important account of Hutterite history and life, particularly with regard to social organization.

Stahl, Lisa Marie. My Hutterite Life. Helena, MT: Farcountry Press, 2003.
This book is a delightful personal account of life “on” a Montana Dariusleut colony. It describes very effectively the way in which the land, religious commitment and daily responsibilities are interconnected.

Stayer, James M. The German Peasant’s War and Anabaptist Community of Goods.
Montreal: McGill/Queens University Press, 1991.
Stayer discusses the interface between social, economic and political developments in the 1520s and 1530s and the development of communal forms of life among some of the Anabaptist groups.

Wilson, Laura. Hutterites of Montana. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.
This is a wonderful collection of award-winning black and white photographs by a former colleague of Richard Avedon.

The Bruderhof

Allain, Roger. The Community That Failed. San Francisco: Carrier Pigeon Press, 1992.
This is an account of life in the Bruderhof between 1939 and 1961, by a former Servant of the Word. This book offers important insights into the life and thought of the Bruderhof prior to the major changes that occurred in the early 1960s.

Arnold, Eberhard. Brothers Unite. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1988.
This is a translation of the diary account of Bruderhof leader Eberhard Arnold’s 1930-31 visit to all 33 then-existing Hutterite colonies in North America. Also included are copies of correspondence between Arnold and different individuals at the Rhon Bruderhof in Germany, as well as letters written between 1928 and 1935.

Arnold, Eberhard. Inner Land: A Guide into the Heart of the Gospel. Rifton, NY:
Plough, 1935.
This is Bruderhof founder Eberhard Arnold’s classic 500-page magnum opus, a reflection on inner spirituality and the individual’s relationship to God and other Christians. Arnold delves into the life of the heart, soul, spirit and conscience in the quest to experience God.

Arnold, Eberhard. Salt and Light. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1977.
This is a collection of Eberhard Arnold’s talks and writings on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. This manifesto gave rise to the beginnings of the Bruderhof.

Arnold, Eberhard. Why We Live in Community. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1976.
This is Arnold’s brief analysis of the pillars of community: self-sacrificial love, honest relationships and the joy and unity that arises.

Arnold, Eberhard. Selected Writings. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 2000.
This is a short 120-page Arnold reader that also includes a brief biography.

Arnold, Eberhard and Emmy. Seeking the Kingdom of God: Origins of the Bruderhof
Community Rifton, NY: Plough, 1974.
This is a selection of the engagement letters of Eberhard Arnold and Emmy (then Von Hollander), showing that Christian communalism was important to Eberhard and Emmy as early as 1899.

Arnold, Emmy. Torches Together. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1964.
This is an autobiographical account of the beginning years of the Bruderhof movement by one of its founders, the wife of Eberhard Arnold.

Arnold, Heinrich. Discipleship: Following Christ in the Daily Grind Rifton, NY: Plough,
1994.
Heinrich Arnold, a son of Eberhard, guides readers toward the Christlie live amid the stress and strain of modern life. In many ways it is a primer to the Christian life, in a variety of settings, both communal and non-communal.

Arnold, Johann Christoph. A Plea for Purity: Sex, God and Marriage. Rifton, NY:
Plough, 1997.
This is Christoph Arnold’s discussion of the deep pain that results from a cycle of broken relationships and the misuse of sexual intimacy. This work provides insight on how the Bruderhof understands the relationship between men and women.

Arnold, Johann Christoph. Why Forgive? Rifton, NY: Plough, 2002.
This work by a grandson of Eberhard Arnold (who himself served as Bruderhof Elder from 1983-2002) is a very readable work that includes personal experiences of the power of forgiveness, even in situations where it is extremely difficult to let go of feelings of hurtfulness and revenge.

Arnold, J. Heinrich. Freedom From Sinful Thoughts. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1997.
This is an important practical work which focuses on one of the most important emphases of the Bruderhof; that is, the belief that individual attitudes are foundational to and
interconnected with Christian actions.

Baum, Marcus. Against the Wind. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1998.
In this work, non-member Baum provides the most comprehensive biography of Eberhard Arnold, giving the reader a good sense of the variety of spiritual, economic, political and social forces that shaped Arnold’s ideology – from Johann Christoph Blumhardt and the early Christians to the 16^th century Anabaptists and the German Youth Movement.

Blumhardt, Christoph. Action in Waiting. Farmington, PA: Plough, 1998.
These seventeen essays by by Blumhardt focus on the spiritual life as “active expectation” of God’s Kingdom breaking into the present world.

Blumhardt, Johann Christoph and Christoph Friedrich. Thoughts About Children Rifton,
NY: Plough, 1999.
This book contains advice from the Blumhardts with regard to the raising of children. The Blumhardt’s emphasize Jesus’ relationship to children and their importance in the Kingdom of God.

Bruderhof Communities. www.Bruderhof.com.
This is the official Bruderhof website. It provides articles, stories, commentary, free e-books and reader’s responses. Updated weekly, the site offers friends and interested inquirers a broad overview of what the Bruderhof is experiencing and doing.

Eggers, Ulrich. Community for Life. Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1988.
This is an account of Bruderhof life by a German journalist who lived in the Bruderhof for three months in the mid-1980s. Eggers points out community weaknesses as well as strengths.

Eller, Vernard, ed. Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader. Waco, TX: Word, 1997.
This is a collection of readings from the writing of Johann Christoph Blumhardt and Christoph Blumhardt, two men who had significant influence on Eberhard Arnold and on the Bruderhof communities.

Hutterian Brethren, eds. God’s Revolution: The Witness of Eberhard Arnold. New York,
NY: Paulist Press, 1984.
This book is the most comprehensive assortment of writings and presentations by Eberhard Arnold, dealing with a variety of different subjects, including community, worship, mission, education and nonviolence.

Mow, Merrill. Torches Rekindled. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1989.
Mow, a former Church of the Brethren seminarian, and later Servant of the Word, traces the history of the Bruderhof from the time of his joining (in 1955) to the mid-1980s. This work includes discussion of a number of controversial topics.

Oved, Yaacov. The Witness of the Brothers. London: Transaction Press, 1996.
This book is Israeli kibbutz leader Yaacov Oved’s history of the Bruderhof. It provides an interesting comparative and international perspective.

Rubin, Julius. The Other Side of Joy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
This controversial work focuses on the psychological problems associated with the Bruderhof’s approach to Christian communalism, specifically the development of a syndrome that Rubin compares to “religious melancholy.” This book is critical of the manner in which the Bruderhof encourages members to be engaged in ongoing inner struggle.

Wagoner, Bob and Shirley. Community in Paraguay. Rifton, NY: Plough, 1991.
This book is a first-hand and candid account of six months spent in the Bruderhof communities in Paraguay in the early 1950s. The book paints in vivid color the ups and downs of community life in the South American jungle. Parts of this account – in the form of letters -- convinced many people of Church of the Brethren background to consider joining the Bruderhof although the Wagoners never did.

Zablocki, Benjamin. The Joyful Community. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago
Press, 1971.
Sociologist Zablocki has written the most detailed analytical account of Bruderhof life by an outsider. Although dated, former members consider this work essential for the understanding of certain aspects of Bruderhof life.

Zuendel, Friedrich. The Awakening. Rifton, NY: Plough, 2000.
This work tells the story of Christoph Blumhardt’s spiritual awakening that occurred in Mottlingen, Germany from 1841-1843. Blumhardt’s experience with evil and his victory over it, has become a cornerstone of Bruderhof theology.

A SELECTIVE and ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
SOURCES [Since 1970] on the ONEIDA COMMUNITY (1848-1881)
by Marlyn McGary Klee, Ph.D.
Professor Emerita, Adelphi University
Email address: klee@adelphi.edu

The purpose of this selective and annotated bibliography is to provide interested persons with some sense of the scholarship on the Oneida Community since 1970. In addition, the last page offers some suggestions for topics that researchers might like to explore further. In no way is this bibliography intended to be exhaustive. To some extent, it reflects the preferences and interests of the author, Marlyn Klee.

Because of the availability of on-line catalogs, only the dates (not publishers, places of publication, etc.) are given for most sources. That should be adequate information in order to begin research.

Good published Oneida Community bibliographies reflecting sources before about 1970 can be found in Klaw (1993), Kern (1981) and Foster (1991).

I. Manuscript Collections

A. Oneida Community Collection, Special Collections Department, Syracuse University Library.

This collection contains letters, essays and notes, testimonials, advertisements, miscellaneous materials and many photographs—all originally owned by OC members and handed down in their families. With the opening, in 1993, of this collection, donated by various OC descendants, many new sources became available to scholars.
URL: http://libwww.syr.edu/digital/collection/oneida/photos/ocphotos.htm
Email: scrc@syr.edu [for queries to Special Collections Research Center]

B. Evan Rupert Nash Collection, Special Collections, Green Library, Stanford U.

This under-utilized collection was donated by the Nash descendants of OC members who left the community shortly before the Break-up of 1881, settling in Santa Ana, CA. This dissident group was led by J.W. Towner, who had unsuccessfully challenged the leadership of John H. Noyes. Among many items, the collection contains letters to or by members of the Nash family about their lives at the OC and at the Wallingford branch.
URL: http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/spc
Email: speccoll@sulmail.stanford.edu

C. Oneida Community Mansion House Collection, Oneida, N.Y.

The OCMH collection contains some miscellaneous written materials, as well as many material artifacts (e.g., women’s dresses, furniture, business products of the OC) and an extensive photographic collection donated by the descendants of Stephen Leonard. The photography collection is not yet catalogued, and is therefore, unavailable to researchers. When visiting the Mansion House, it is worthwhile to browse in the library, which has been in continuous use since the Community period.
Website: www.oneidacommunity.org
Email: ocmh@dreamscape.com
Address: Oneida Community Mansion House, Oneida, N.Y. 13421, tele: (315) 363-0745

D. Manuscripts, Kinsey Institute Library of Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

The Kinsey Institute holdings consist of letters and notes compiled in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by physicians/sexologists, Robert Latou Dickinson and Anita Newcomb McGee, who were interested in the OC practices of complex marriage and male continence. McGee interviewed and corresponded with a number of male former OC members.
URL: http://www.iucat.iu.edu

II. Publications of the Oneida Community and by Oneida Community Members (selective, published before 1970)

Because the OC was self-conscious about its public image, it produced many materials, most of them written by or under the supervision of John Humphrey Noyes. These included weekly newspapers: The Circular (1851-70), Oneida Circular (1871-76) and American Socialist (1876-1879) which rendered a favorable version of Community beliefs and activities for public readers. The newspapers are now available on microform. The OC also produced various Handbooks, Annual Reports, etc.

In addition, Noyes and/or the Oneida Community itself produced a number of pamphlets to explain various aspects of OC practices: e.g., Male Continence (1877); Home Talks (1875); Salvation from Sin: The End of Christian Faith (1876); Essay on Scientific Propagation with an Appendix Containing a Health Report on the Oneida Community (1875); and Mutual Criticism (1876). Noyes wrote several substantial books, including Bible Communism (1853) and A History of American Socialisms (1870). In 1923 and 1931, George Wallingford Noyes produced two books (and planned four more which he was unable to complete) that detail John Humphrey Noyes’ spiritual development.

When they were adults, two stirpicult children wrote about growing up in the OC : Pierrepont B. Noyes, My Father’s House: An Oneida Boyhood (1937) and Corinna Ackley Noyes, The Days of My Youth (1960). Harriet M. Worden’s Old Mansion House Memories, By One Brought Up In It (1950) was privately published by her descendants. For a short time Worden was editor of the Oneida Circular. This book includes her account of the notorious “doll massacre” during which the young girls had to throw their dolls into the fire because they were “worshipping graven images”.

An unusual source by an OC member is: George Noyes Miller, The Strike of a Sex: A Novel (New York, Wesnage Printing House, 1890, 4^th ed.) which is a birth control tract in story form based on the author’s OC experience.

For those interested in the trap business of the OC, a relatively rare source is: Sewall Newhouse, The Trapper’s Guide: A manual of instructions for capturing all kinds of fur-bearing animals, and curing their skins; with observations on the fur-trade, hints on life in the woods, and narratives of trapping and hunting excursions (Wallingford, Conn.: Oneida Community, 1867), a “2^nd edition with new narratives and illustrations, edited by J.H. Noyes and T. L. Pitt”. Newhouse invented the traps which proved to be the economic salvation of the OC and which provided the income that built the comfortable Mansion House complex. Noyes worked hard to keep Newhouse happy and within the fold (for example, his smoking outside in the sheds was tolerated, although officially all tobacco use was banned in the OC.).

Two insider accounts of the health of OC members are: Theodore R. Noyes, M.D., “Health Report of the Oneida Community Children,” (OC publication, 1878) and Hilda Herrick Noyes and George Wallingford Noyes, “The Oneida Community Experiment in Stirpiculture,” Scientific Papers of the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921, in Eugenics, Genetics, and the Family, 1(1923): 374-386.

Two outside physicians who had access to OC women and to OC stirpicult data, respectively, are: Ely Van de Warker, M.D., “A Gynecological Study of the Oneida Community,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children , 27 (August, 1884) 8: 755-810., and Anita Newcomb McGee, “An Experiment in Stirpiculture,” American Anthropologist 4 (October 1891):319-25.

III. Biographies of John Humphrey Noyes

Two biographies of Noyes, very different in character, have been written. The first is an authorized one: Robert Allerton Parker, A Yankee Saint: John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Community (1935). Parker enjoyed the confidence of the then-keeper of the OC archives, George Wallingford Noyes, JHN’s nephew. This biography, therefore, contains some information based on sources that were probably destroyed after GWN’s death in 1941. It is especially good on JHN’s formative years and the development of his ideology of Bible Communism. Interestingly, four early chapters are named for women who shaped Noyes’ ideas: his mother, his first true love (who spurned him), his wife, and his favorite lover in the OC.

The other biography, a psycho-historical work using ego psychology as its theoretical framework, is Robert Thomas, The Man Who Would Be Perfect: John Humphrey Noyes and the Utopian Impulse (1977). Fascinating, although not to everyone’s taste.

IV. General Overviews of the Oneida Community

The best introductory survey treatment of the OC is generally recognized to be Maren Lockwood Carden, Oneida: Utopian Community to Modern Corporation, originally published in 1969 and reissued in 1998 by Syracuse University Press. Some descendants shared their privately-held materials and family memories/interpretations with Carden, so that she was able to analyze new information and to give a measured sociological perspective on the OC and its business successor, Oneida Limited, which was at the time (late 1960s) directed primarily by OC descendants, whom she interviewed. Her interview notes are now available in the OC Collection at Syracuse University.

A more recent survey that utilized the newly-assembled collection at Syracuse University Library is Spencer Klaw, Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community (1993). Very well done and a good read.

V. Selective, Recommended Sources for the Oneida Community (Published after 1970)

· + author is an OC member (a designation used even when someone else edited)

· # author is an OC descendant

Primary Sources

Crawford and Stearns, Syracuse, New York, Historic Site Structure Reports, vols. 1-4, (1999-2002) deal respectively with the 1862 Mansion House, The Tontine, The South Wing, and the New House. These exhaustive reports, prepared for OCMH, detail the architecture of the three main wings and several annexes to the complex now called the “Oneida Community Mansion House.” These reports are invaluable because they discuss, room by room and wing by wing, the changing spatial/social needs of the OC over time. Many photographs, drawings, blueprints, etc. For now, these reports seem to be available only in the Mansion House library.

# John B. Teeple and the Oneida Community Historical Committee, The Oneida Family: Genealogy of a 19^th Century Perfectionist Commune (1985). This book traces up to five generations of OC founders and descendants, many of whom intermarried. More than a genealogy, it gives backgrounds, occupations, and a good sense of the complex and enduring familial ties of the “OC Family.” Well-worth consulting.

# Constance Noyes Robertson, the founder’s granddaughter, was primarily a novelist. Late in her life, she compiled, edited, and wrote introductions/commentary to OC materials (which were mainly gleaned from published sources like the weekly newspapers of the OC), resulting in three books: Oneida Community: An Autobiography, 1851-1876 (1970); Oneida Community: The Breakup, 1876-1881 (1972); and Oneida Community Profiles (1977). Noyes Robertson fiercely guarded the respectability of the OC legacy and revealed very little that was new in these books, (even omitting material offensive to her without elisions in direct quotes) although they are very good sources for those who cannot easily get access to the publications of the OC itself. She concludes that religion was the glue that held the OC together; once the second generation became more worldly than their elders had been, the OC could not survive.

+ Jane Kinsley Rich, ed., A Lasting Spring: Jessie Catherine Kinsley, Daughter of the Oneida Community (1983). Based on the diary of a woman who grew up in the OC; much interesting material, some of it from the point of view of an OC child and of a young woman. Kinsley later became a gifted and entirely original braided rug artist, whose works have been donated to the OCMH Museum.

+ Robert Fogarty, ed., Special love/special sex: an Oneida Community diary [Victor Hawley] (1994) is a transcription of Hawley’s secret diary relating his work life, leisure activities, and his personal campaign to convince his special love, Mary Jones, to leave the OC and begin a new life with him on the outside. Very good introduction by Fogarty, and lots of detail about OC life in the last years of its existence, from the point of view of an anguished young man.

+ Robert Fogarty, ed., Desire & Duty at Oneida: Tirzah Miller’s Intimate Memoir (2002) is a remarkable personal diary, covering about one and one-half years when she was in her thirties, in the turbulent sexual/social/maternal life of JHN’s niece and favored lover. Excellent introductory material and analysis by the editor.

+ Lawrence Foster, ed., [from material compiled by George Wallingford Noyes], Free Love in Utopia: John Humphrey Noyes and the Origin of the Oneida Community (2001) An excellent introduction by Foster; this volume is taken from documents opened in 1993 at the OC Collection, Syracuse University.

Secondary Sources: Books

Dolores Hayden, “The Architecture of Complex Marriage,” in Seven American Utopias: the Architecture of Communitarian Socialism, 1790-1975 (1976): 186-223. A quite wonderful book, with excellent text, and reproductions of blueprints, layouts of OCMH.

Although differing somewhat in emphases, these worthwhile books cover similar ground. Each reflects the new interdisciplinary scholarship of the post-1960s generation: Richard De Maria, Communal Love at Oneida: A Perfectionist Vision of Authority, Property, and Sexual Order (1978); Louis J. Kern, An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias—the Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community (1981); Lawrence Foster, Religion and Sexuality: Three American Communal experiments of the Nineteenth Century (1981), and Lawrence Foster, Women, Family, and Utopia: Communal Experiments of the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Mormons (1991).

Secondary Sources: Articles (A Sampling)

Michael Barkun, “The Visionary Experiences of John Humphrey Noyes,” Psychohistory Review 16 (Spring 1988): 313-334.

Marlyn H. Dalsimer, “Bible Communists: Female Socialization and Family Life in the Oneida Community”, in Mel Albin and Dominick Cavallo, eds., Family Life in America, 1620-2000 (1981): 30-46.
Focuses primarily on the socialization of girls in the OC, and contrasts its values/goals with those of the nineteenth-century middle-class family.

Robert S. Fogarty, “Oneida: A Utopian Search for Religious Security,” Labor History 14
(Spring 1973): 202-27.
Contains data about occupations of the OC joiners.

Marlyn Klee-Hartzell, “’Mingling the Sexes’: The Gendered Organization of Work in the
Oneida Community,” Syracuse University Library Associates Courier, vol. XXVIII,
no. 2 (Fall, 1993): 61-85.
This article gives data, census figures, descriptive accounts, etc. about the essentially sex-segmented world of women’s work in the OC.

Marlyn Klee-Hartzell, “Family Love, True Womanliness, Motherhood, and the
   Socialization of Girls in the Oneida Community, 1848-1880,” in Wendy E. Chmielewski,
   Louis J. Kern, and Marlyn Klee-Hartzell, eds., Women in Spiritual and Communitarian
   Societies in the United States (1993):184-200. A discussion of ideology and practice in
   the OC regarding desirable female attributes.

Marlyn Klee-Hartzell, “The Oneida Community Family,” Communal Societies 16 (1996):
15-22. Analyzes the OC as a patriarchal institution.

Marlyn McGary Klee, “Interpreting the Oneida Community and its Legacy: Competing
Agendas and Audiences,” (2001), available at http://www.ic.org/icsa/conference.html.
An overview of the conflict between socio/sexual/religious interpretations of the OC versus the business needs of Oneida, Ltd. in the post-Community period, as it played itself out among descendants, and scholars.

Tara M. McCarthy, “The Medium of Grace: Mutual Criticism in the Oneida Community,”
Communal Societies 18 (1998): 92-106.

John E. Murray, “ New Anthropometric Look at the Status of Women and Children in
Oneida Community, 1848-1881,” in John Komlos, ed., The Biological Standard of
Living on Three Continents (1995).
Comparing them with contemporary rural cohorts, Murray concludes that Oneida women were healthier and stirpicult children were taller than their peers. Yet, based on data collected by OC physicians, he detects a “failure-to-thrive syndrome” in stirpicult babies after weaning and separation from their mothers. Murray also raises the possibility of coercion into sex for preteen girls.

Spencer C. Olin, Jr., “Bible Communism and the Origins of Orange County,” California
History 58 (Fall 1979): 220-233.
Only publication on OC dissidents who settled in California.

# Ellen Wayland-Smith, “The Status and Self-Perception of Women in the Oneida
Community,” Communal Societies, (1988) 8:18-53.
Uses privately-held women’s writings to support her analysis that women in the OC were relatively emancipated and generally satisfied with their lives.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The evolution of Noyes’ religious beliefs and their application to the socio-sexual practices of the OC have been pretty well covered (although there is always more to learn, new perspectives to apply, and sources that are not yet public which will hopefully be available in the future). OC architecture has been rather thoroughly researched. Yet many aspects of the OC need further investigation. Some topics might be:

1. A business history of the OC—its products, its accounting, its income, etc. The OC was extraordinarily successful from a financial point of view, yet no one was written an economic history of the OC, perhaps because the sources have not been found? Maybe these are stored somewhere in the offices of Oneida, Ltd., awaiting a highly motivated researcher? Maybe these were destroyed in “The Burning”?