The Shakers

An important book on Shaker art and life, offering a fresh look at a style that has endured through centuries and continues to inspire designers and homeowners. This book presents the elegantly austere and simply styled objects of the Shakers in the context of their faith and community at Mount Lebanon, N.Y., the spiritual and administrative center of the Shaker world. Outstanding examples of furniture, textiles, tools, and other objects-drawn primarily from the collection of Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon-bring the fascinating world of the Shakers to life. The book also explores the equally compelling material culture of Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester, Maine, the last active Shaker community, and how this group of Shakers continued to thrive while other Shaker communities elsewhere gradually disappeared. Accompanying a major exhibition organized by the Farnsworth Art Museum, this book presents a new and authentic perspective on the Shaker community. Specially commissioned photography, archival imagery, essays by prominent scholars, and a firsthand interview with a member of the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community deepen our understanding of this influential movement and style.

Collection of photographs of the early years of the Shaker-established Union Village.

“Shakerism teaches God’s immanence through the common life shared in Christ’s mystical body.” Like many religious seekers throughout the ages, they honor the revelation of God but cannot be bound up in an unchanging set of dogmas or creeds. Freeing themselves from domination by the state religion, Mother Ann Lee and her first followers in mid-18th-century England labored to encounter the godhead directly. They were blessed by spiritual gifts that showed them a way to live the heavenly life on Earth. The result of their efforts was the fashioning of a celibate communal life called the Christlife, wherein a person, after confessing all sin, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, can travel the path of regeneration into ever- increasing holiness. Pacifism, equality of the sexes, and withdrawal from the world are some of the ways the faith was put into practice. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Shakers contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on Shaker communities, industries, individual families, and important people. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Shakers.

A comprehensive illustrated anthology of material about and by the American Shakers.

Highly pictorial presentation of "the history and vision of the United Society of Believers in Christ's second appearing from 1774 to the present."

Shaker handicrafts' dignified simplicity is perhaps our greatest example of form following function. An off-shoot of Quakerism, the Shakers sought to create a heaven on earth through both worship and diligent work. Practical yet attractive, the furniture, textiles, tools and machinery of the Shakers are utterly distinctive and became famous the world over during the twentieth century, with certain Modernist architects and designers finding unexpected common ground with this decidedly non-modern sect. 'Shaker Handicraft' – the first Shaker exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1935 – was only the first of many exhibits, and today the spirit of the Shakers – and the clean lines, solid construction and honest functionality of their crafts – make it one of the most popular and timeless design categories in the US and beyond.

Simple and unpretentious, the diatonic musice of the Shakers lies well on the moutain dulcimer. the lyrics to these songs offer a universal message of love and understanding, often with a joyous sense of humor. the author provides historical insights and program notes for the 30 tunes included here. This delightful, informative book is illustrated with photos of craft work and period print reproductions depicting the Shaker way of life. Written in standard notation and mountain dulcimer tab.