Introduction

Have you ever thought that if you could just break away from the rest of the world that, you could build a community that met all your needs, one in which every member is personally, spiritually and economically cared for? This was the dream of many who chose to separate themselves from the society as a whole and begin anew. These utopias are as old as the first settlers escaping European religious persecution. Many groups of early colonizers came to this country to escape the persecution of their native lands. They came to build their dream, and many of these groups found it necessary to adopt the practice of community of goods to be able to survive economically in the New World.

These early communal utopias were just the beginning of the communal movement in America that reached its peak in the mid-1800's. Some communities formed for religious reasons, some for economic reasons, and some because they felt that separation from society was the only way to practice their desired lifestyles. Some groups, the Mormons for example, were communal as a phase in the development of their religion. Most groups died out while still in a period of community of goods.

Most communities were of a religious nature and lead by a charismatic leader. This leader brought the community together, and often this leader's death is a major factor in the dissolution of the community. Many of the leaders claimed a direct connection to God, some claiming to be the Messiah. The religious umbrella covered two types of groups, the apocalyptic ones preparing for the millennium and the pious ones who felt that segregation was the only way to live a truly perfect existence. Millennialism is the idea that the Second Coming of Christ will either be preceded by or followed by one thousand years of peace and happiness. Many of the communities felt that they were the chosen ones that would be the beginning of this age of peace.

A successful utopia is defined as one that lasted for over twenty-five years. Most did not last this long, while others lasted much longer. The Hutterites are still alive and well and have lived communally since the 1500's. The Shakers existed for over two hundred years, but have only a few remaining members. Many communities survived only a few short years. Because of this, some communities have extensive information written about them, Oneida, Amana, Shakers, Icaria, Bethel, Aurora, Brook Farm and Bishop Hill (which are referred to in this document as the 'major' communities). For other communities, the only information that survives is their name. Most of the hundreds of communities fall somewhere in between.

The communities beginning in the 1960's are generally separated from earlier communities in the literature. These communes numbered in the thousands and very few lasted more than a few years. The revival of the communal effort in the late twentieth century shows that the desire for a perfect place in the world did not die with the modern age. America, it seems, will continue to participate in these social experiments, and a look back at the past provides not only an interesting page in America's history but also serves as a learning experience for those that move forward in the exploration of the communal utopia.
 

Scope

This bibliography is designed to help the reader locate information and materials to facilitate the study of American communal utopias. Information is provided to help the reader studying utopian communities in general as well as to aid in the selection of particular communities for further study. Since there are large number of such groups, they are often studied individually or in small groups. Because of this specialization, this bibliography includes a study of the Koreshan Unity as an example of the types of materials and paths to explore when focusing on a particular community.
 

Some of the Hundreds of American Communal Utopias

These are some of the communities discussed in this bibliography. They are collected here as both a quick reference and to make the annotations easier to read.
 

Community	Founder(s)	Time Period	Location(s)
Amana/ Society of True Inspiration	Christian Metz	1843-1933	NY, IA
Bethel and Aurora	William Keil	1844-1877	MO, OR
Bishop Hill/Jansonists	Eric Janson	1846-1860	IL
Brook Farm	George Ripley	1841-1847	MA
Ephrata/  Seventh Day Baptist	Johan Conrad Beissel	1732-1783	PA
Farm	Ralph Albertson	1909-?	MA
Fourierist Movement	Charles Fourier	1808-1890's	13 states
Fruitlands	Bronson Alcott	1843-1844	MA
Icaria	Etienne Cabet	1840-1898	10 states
Hutterite	Jakob Hutter	1528-present	MT, SD, NY
Jewish Agricultural Communities		1820-1940's	26 states
Koinonia Farm	Clarence Jordan	1942-present	GA
Koreshan Unity	Cyrus Teed	1888-1982	NY, IL, FL, CA
Labadist	Jean de Labadie	1683-1700's	MD
Llano	Job Harriman	1914-1938	CA, LA
Moravian Movement/Old Salem		1740's-1860's	IN, NC, NJ,  PA, SC, WI
Mormon communal towns/ Orderville & Nauvoo		1830's-1880's	UT, IL
Nashoba	Frances Wright	1825-1828	TN
Oneida/Perfectionists	John Humphrey Noyes	1848-1881	CT, NY, VT
Order of Theocracy		1910-1931	FL
Owenites/Rappites - Harmony, New Harmony, and Economy	Robert Owen and George Rapp	1804-1904	PA, IL
Peace Mission	Father & Mother Divine	1914-present	29 states
Sanctificationists/ Women's Commonwealth	Martha McWhirter	1874-1906	TX, DC
Shakers	Ann Lee	1787-present	New England
Shiloh	Frank Sandford	1895-1920	ME
Sojourners Fellowship	Jim Wallis	1975-present	DC
Theosophical Movement		1875-1900's	CA, IL, NY, NC, OH
Topolobampo	Albert Kimsey Owen	1884-1899	Mexico
Women in the Wilderness	Johann Kelpius	1694-1708	PA
Zoar/Society of Separatists	Joseph Bimeler	1817-1899	OH

Library of Congress Subject Heading Statement

• Christian Communities (groups of Christians who live or work together to achieve common spiritual and social objectives)
• Communal Living (informal cooperative living including the communes of the 1960's)
• Communitarianism
• Collective Settlements (formally organized communal ventures)
• Monasticism and Religious Orders (Catholic)
• Religions
• Religious Communities
• Societies living in common without vows (groups of Christians who live together without vows)
• Utopian Socialism
• Utopias
• Utopias – Religious Aspects

Classification Statement

Library of Congress
BV4405 – BV4406 Christian Communities
HQ970 – HQ972 Communal Living
BX2410 – BX4560 Monasticism and Religious Orders (Catholic)
BL74 – BL98 Religions
BL632 Religious Communities
HX806 – HX811 Utopias
HX807 Utopias – Religious Aspects

Dewey Decimal
307.7  Communes
321.07  Utopias
 

Search Techniques

When searching for materials on communal utopias in an electronic database, there is a problem worth noting. Searching for materials using the term 'utopia' will generally result in materials relating to fictional literary utopias. These may not relate to the study of actual utopias. Some of the literary utopias that frequently appear are Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Aldus Huxley's Island, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Also the term distopia is often linked with literary works and not communal utopias. If the search engine allows Boolean searching, using the phrase 'not literary', i.e. 'utopia not literary', or 'not fiction' may be helpful.
 

Pitzer, Donald E., ed. America's Communal Utopias. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.

Often when a group came to America to escape religious persecution, they found a communal lifestyle to be beneficial as a way to preserve their culture as well as assure that the entire community was being provided for. Communities that had only a phase of communalism include the Mormon and Jewish settlements, which are discussed in the text. Most of the major communities are covered in addition to some of the minor communities are discussed as well, including the Koreshan Unity, Llano, Father Divine and the Peace Mission. It also looks at communalism in the religious history of ongoing communities in monastic and other religious orders. The articles present a history of each society as well as information on their daily activities and community organizations and beliefs. The communal aspects are explored as to their role in the development and failure of the community. The individual articles are accompanied by illustrations, timelines for the community and a bibliography. The appendix lists communal utopias in America that were founded by 1965. They are listed alphabetically and include location, dates, leaders, and some include brief explanatory information.
 

Webber, Everett. Escape to Utopia: the Communal Movement in America. New York: Hastings House Publishers, 1959.

This presents an anecdotal history of several communities. Its value is in the "snapshots" of life in these communities that include the Shakers, Pantisocrats (Pennsylvania, 1794), Rappites, Owenites, Nashoba, Harmony, Brook Farm, Fruitland, Icaria, Amana, and the Koreshan Unity.
 

Oved, Yaacov. Two Hundred Years of American Communes. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1988.

Part one of this book contains short descriptions of the major communities and their histories. This book is useful for the second part, which is the bulk of the book. It compares communities' ideologies, social activities and management, education and culture, status and role of women, family life, economics, relationships with outsiders, and dissolutions. Tables included at the end of the book give a fairly complete listing of communities from 1663 to 1984, their dates, locations, and category. An additional table gives density information, showing how many communities different states had during different time periods from 1663 to 1920's.

States with the most total communitarian groups (1663-1920's):

States and decades that had highest number of communitarian groups (1663-1920's):

This book was referred to as "the most authoritative general work on American communities in the period ending about 1830" by Mark Holloway. Though the book looks mainly at Owenite communities, it does discuss the early communities' roots in European Protestant religions. The book ends with a checklist of communitarian experiments and a bibliographic essay.
 

Fogarty, Robert S. All Things New: American Communes and Utopian Movements 1860 – 1914. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.

Some communities left numerous records and some communities left few, if any, records. There are some communities whose only history is in radical presses of the day or in folklore. The intention of this book is to "rescue some of the lesser known groups from obscurity and try to place them and their fellow travelers within a larger framework." It looks at the nature of the charismatic leader and the followers, and it explores the tensions between ideology and reality in community life. An appendix lists over one hundred forty communities from 1860 to 1914. There is also a list of libraries with manuscript collections that may be of use when studying in this area.
 

Hinds, William Alfred. American Communities and Cooperative Colonies. Philadelphia, Porcupine Press, 1975.

This collection of accounts of visits by the author to American communal utopias is supplemented with accounts by the founders of defunct communities. This reprint of the 3rd edition (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr and Company, 1908) presents communities as they were in the early 1900's. The author died in 1910, and so many of the communities that are immortalized in these pages are flourishing and promising. Forty-seven communities are covered, some of which have fallen into general obscurity even in the study of communal utopias, for example the Shalam and the Brother of New Life.
 

Miller, Timothy. The Quest for Utopia in 20th Century America, Volume I, 1900 – 1960. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1998.

This book is recognized as the most comprehensive compilation of American utopian communities for the time period it covers. The information on each community is brief, but every community on which information is available is included. Also listed are communities known to have existed but have no surviving records. This book ends with a lengthy bibliography.
 

Fellowship for Intentional Community. Communities Directory. 2d ed. Rutledge, MO: Fellowship for Intentional Communities, 1996.

This directory contains information about five hundred North American and fifty foreign active intentional communities, many of which are not communal. This is not a complete listing of active communities, as over one hundred fifty additional groups asked to be excluded from the publication. Background information is given as well as rules, purpose, costs, acreage, and religious affiliations. In addition, there are over thirty articles that discuss life in community and the role of community in modern society.
 

Biographical Information on Leaders of Communal Utopias

Melton, J. Gordon. Biographical Dictionary of American Cult and Sect Leaders. New York: Garland Publishing, 1986.

This book contains brief biographical essays on all of the leaders of the major communities and a number of the less well known. This work is about the people behind the communities and any information about the communities themselves is brief.
 

The Role of Religion in Communal Society

Lippy, Charles H. "Communitarianism" in Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience: Studies of Traditions and Movements, vol. 2., edited by Charles H. Lippy and Peter W. Williams. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988.

This chapter covers the reasons utopian communities develop and the social conditions necessary for maintaining the community. Religious persecution, the loss of authentic spiritual experience, revivalism, millennialism, and a charismatic leader are discussed in the communities of Amana, Oneida, Zoar, Harmony, the Shakers, and Nashoba. Also included is an overview of two African American communities, the Sojourners Fellowship and the Koinonia.
 

Mandelker, Ira L. Religion, Society and Utopia in Nineteenth Century America. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984.

This text looks at the "internal dynamics of religious prophecy and beliefs" in utopian communities. Religion is the major uniting force for many communities, and its failure to produce the prophesied results has been a major contributing factor to the demise of the communities. The tensions between religion and the economy, democracy, sex roles, the family and science are explored. Though the main focus is on the Oneida community, the books focus on the religious aspects of communal life is relevant to the general study of utopias.
 

Sex, Sex Roles, and Women in Communal Society

Kitch, Sally L. Chaste Liberation. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1989.

The Shaker, Koreshan and Sanctificationist communities are compared and contrasted in this book on celibacy in utopian communities of nineteenth century America. These three communities are ones in which celibacy was a major tenet. It looks at the impact of celibacy on the community and the roles of the women members within these groups. The author attempts to show how "a form of feminism can be seen" in these communities. The role of religion is examined as a motivation for celibacy and the development of female spiritual power.
 

Muncy, Raymond Lee. Sex and Marriage in Utopian Communities. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1973.

Communal groups that allow marriage are very different from those that do not. The complexity of family relations and sex roles are often a problem that leads to factions within communities. Some communities, knowing this, forbid exclusive relationships like marriage, breakup existing marriages, and remove children from their parents to be raised in groups. Some go as far as to forbid sex even between married couples, believing that celibacy is part of the road to perfection. This book looks at these issues and others including the fact and fiction of unusual sexual practices in some communities.


Sociological Perspectives into Communal Society

Berry, Brian J. L. America's Utopian Experiments. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1992.

This book covers most of the major communities and some of the smaller communities including Theosophy, African- American and Catholic communities. The Theosophy movement began in 1875 in New York City and led to the development of a dozen communities, including one in Asheville, North Carolina. The book is most useful for its charts and graphs. These graphs show the rise and fall of communities over different decades. It compares geographic location and population and shows the total number of communities in the United States in different years.
 

Clark, Elmer T. The Small Sects in America. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1949.

Many communistic groups in America were searching for the Christian ideal of perfection. This idea was prevalent among older civilizations such as the Greeks and therefore not a new concept. Chapter 5 (pp. 133 – 156) looks at communistic sects, the historical ideas behind them and the reasons for their decline. The communities of Oneida, Shaker, Amana and Llano are discussed. Decline in these communities is blamed on failure to solve problems of family, surrender of liberty, inability to retain young people in the community, neglect of culture and increases idleness and lack of capital.
 

Holloway, Mark. Heavens on Earth: Utopian Communities in America, 1680-1880. 2d ed. New York: Dover Publications, 1966.

This book looks at the European background of communities. Many communities came to America to escape religious persecution, and they found that communal existence was necessary for economic sufficiency. Many of these groups had successful communal groups in Europe that helped them survive persecution before they came to America. Many of the early communities espoused pacifism, and wars, like the American Revolutionary War tested the faith of these communities. Industrialization is also explored as a factor in the decline of many of these communities.
 

Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. Commitment and Community: Communes and Utopias in Sociological Perspective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.

This book focuses on how communal groups are built and maintained. Its purpose is to guide present and future communities by looking at the characteristics of past communities. Some of the problems that communities face include how to choose and socialize new members and how to include a degree of autonomy, individual uniqueness and even deviance for its members. Successful communities are defined as existing for at least twenty-five years.
 

Moment, Gairdner B., and Kraushaar, Otto F, ed. Utopias: the American Experience. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1980.

This work is the compilation of essays that grew out of a series of lectures on American utopias. Included in the volume is "Economics in Utopia" by Ronald A. Krieger, "Town Planning for the City of God" by Paul H. Douglas and "Sexual Stereotyping in Utopia" by Carol A. Kolmerten.
 

Noyes, John Humphrey. History of American Socialisms. New York: Hillary House Publishers, 1961.

This reprint of the 1870 edition was built from the notes of A. J. Macdonald who died before he could complete the book himself. His research of active communities in the early to mid-1800's focuses mainly on Owenite and Fourier communities. This book looks at the founding, principles, beliefs, membership levels, land area, occupations, debts, and fiscal management. Most communities had less than one thousand acres and had some debts, most of which are lost to history. A sampling of debt and acreage of some of the communities follows.
 

Community	Debt	Acreage
Alphadelphia, MI (1843-6)	no debt	2,814
New Harmony, IN (1825-7)	$150,000	30,000
Northhampton Association, MA (1845-55)	$40,000	500
Sylvania Association, PA (1843-5)	$7,900	2,394

Roberts, Ron E. The New Communes: Coming Together in America. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc., 1971.

This concentrates on 1960-70's style communes, and looks at historical communities to see what can be learned from their failures and success. It looks at the characteristics and motivations of past and present communities, including the threats to and promise of communal living.
 

Materials Suitable for Reference

Fogarty, Robert S. Dictionary of American Communal and Utopian History. Westport, CT: Greewnwood Press, 1980.

This book contains short essays on prominent people in communal utopian history. A second section gives brief histories of communal societies. This makes this book a good reference source, but its value is in its appendix. The appendix includes the 'Annotated List of Communal and Utopian Societies, 1787-1919' by Otohiko Okugawa. This annotated list contains information on over two hundred seventy communities and includes concise information on each community.
 

Melton, J. Gordon. Encyclopedia of American Religions, 5th ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1996.

Section 15 (pp. 587 – 617) of this book offers short descriptions of 72 communities. For existing communities, contact information is included. Information about the communities includes a brief history, its membership, basic beliefs and publications. The brief histories are followed by short bibliographies. This book is useful mainly as a reference tool, as nothing is covered in much detail.
 

Melton, J. Gordon, ed. The Encyclopedia of American Religions, Religious Creeds: a compilation of more than 450 creeds, confessions, statements of faith, and summaries of doctrine of religious and spiritual groups in the United States and Canada. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1988.

This book is a compilation of the creeds and other religious statements of belief of various religious groups, including communal utopias. The creeds of the Amanas, Hutterites, Koreshan Unity, Shakers, Universal Peace Mission and four post-1960 communes are included.
 

Communal Utopias as a Tourist Destination

Gutek, Gerald, and Gutek, Patricia. Visiting Utopian Communities: a guide to the Shakers, Moravians, and Others. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.

This book will assist in visiting a utopian historical site. It provides short histories on the communities and gives information related to visiting the sites. Directions, operating hours, costs, services, and contact information are given. In addition there are explanations of what is open to the public and the purpose of the structures that are available for touring.
 

Journal Articles

Fogarty, Robert S. "American Communes, 1865-1914." Journal of American Studies 9 (August 1975): 145-162.

Describes the growth and ultimate failure of American communal societies during 1865-1914. It divides communal experiments into three different types: cooperative colonizers, charismatic perfectionists, and political pragmatists. Each of these groups shared the belief that their efforts would solve pressing social problems.
 

Latimore, James. "Natural Limits on the Size and Duration of Communities." Communal Societies 11 (1991): 34-61.

This article uses anthropological and social psychological theories to discuss the inherently short-lived nature of utopian societies.
 

Sargent, Lyman Tower. "English and American Utopias: Similarities and Differences." Journal of General Education 28 (1976): 16-22.

This compares the patterns of English and American utopias during the 19th and 20th centuries. It discusses the different attitudes and emphasis toward such topics as women's rights, socialism, capitalism, religion, temperance, education, and fashion.
 

Veysey, Laurence. "Ideological Sources of American Movements." Society (January/February 1988): 58-61.

Communitarian groups can be separated into two different groups, secular and religious. The religious groups tend to fall into two categories: pietistic and apocalyptic. This article looks at how these different types of groups relate to each other and the more recent communes of the 1960's and 70's. The religious communities tended to be more backward thinking and inwardly focused as its focus was the worship of God. The secular communities found that the community itself was the goal. The later communes also showed a split between secular and religious movements. These communities tended to have a more anarchistic flavor to them. The one idea that was present in all these communities, regardless of time or ideology is the idea of sacrifice. Ideology demands sacrifice on the part of the individual.
 

Weisbrod, Carol. "Utopia and the Legal System." Society (January/February 1988): 62-65.

Many utopian societies found themselves the defendants in lawsuits brought by former members. These members sued for the return of some of their investments and work efforts in the community. In some cases, the children of the joining members were suing for their parents' contributions. The courts in almost every case found for the communal societies. The protection that the courts gave kept the capital base from being eroded away, which helped the longevity of the community. This article looks at cases involving Harmony, Zoar, Shakers, and Oneida.