Religious Revivals, Utopian Societies, and The Shaker Experience in America

09/04/2016

Shakers' simplistic union

Anyone else feeling nostalgic about our NEH Workshop? Nostalgia led me to write this;

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Shakers-simplistic-union-9200680.php

Ever year hundreds of people visit the Capital Region's historic Shaker villages thoughtfully preserved by Shaker Heritage Society, Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon and Hancock Shaker Village. Americans of diverse faiths still sing the Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" because we recognize the essential truth i...

06/25/2016

NEH Workshop Unites Scholars and Shakers | Siena College (New York)

Can't believe Session One has finished! On to Session Two!
https://www.siena.edu/news-events/article/neh-workshop-unites-scholars-and-shakers

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06/21/2016

Session One Scholars: Please be aware that we will be leaving from the museum lobby at 3:20 PM to return to Siena College. Thanks!

06/09/2016

A SHAKER FUNERAL.

This interesting account from 1878 of the funeral of Edward Fowler, the Principal Trustee of the Church Family at Mount Lebanon, gives "worldly people" an insight into Shaker funerals.

06/07/2016

Can't believe there are two weeks left until the first session! Alumni of the workshop: any words of wisdom for the incoming scholars?

06/06/2016

www.nytimes.com

Quite the scandal! Read this book review by The New York Times about a mother's fight against her husband and the Shakers in the early nineteenth century! http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/books/review/Norton-t.html

06/01/2016

‘Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism,’ by Chris Jennings

Looking for something to add to your summer reading list? Check out 'Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism,’ by Chris Jennings. Here is a book review by Kirk Davis Swinehart of The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/books/review/paradise-now-the-story-of-american-utopianism-by-chris-jennings.html

A look at five utopian communities in 19th-century America.

05/30/2016

Shaker furniture: Clean by design

Shaker design elements are still found in many modern day pieces of furniture. This video by CBS gives an introduction to shaker design, a topic we will be exploring during the workshops!

The Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts is a museum where visitors can see the simple, practical furniture designed by the Christian sect centuri...

05/29/2016

Welcome to Aubrey Kirsch who is also a program assistant for this years workshop! Aubrey is a rising senior at Siena College working on a History major with minors in Political Science and Writing and Communications. She has had three stories published in Siena's literary magazine "Pendragon" and is a writer for Siena's chapter of Her Campus. For her first semester of her senior year, Aubrey will be studying in Cork, Ireland and working on her Capstone and Honor's thesis on Human Rights within the War on Terror. A local of Albany, Aubrey has enjoyed learning more about Shakers through the NEH Program and is glad to be a part of sharing with others the rich history of New York.

05/28/2016

Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon

Check out this post by Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon about photographer Doris Ulmann who took several portraits of Brother William Anderson in the 1920s

This week's blog post looks at Doris Ulmann, a photographer who sought out the Shakers of New Lebanon in the late 1920's in her quest to record American “types” – people in their everyday costume doing their everyday jobs.

05/27/2016

Hello! My name is Delia Ernst and I will be taking over this page in preparation for the workshops this summer. I am a rising senior History Education major at Siena College and excited to be a program assistant for this summer’s workshop. For my undergraduate thesis I will be researching the various industries and trades that existed at the Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, and using that to develop a project-based history curriculum for the Darrow School. I am looking forward to getting to know all of you and learning more about the Shaker's with you!

05/26/2016

Check out these water bottles we received for the workshop! Definitely going to need them if this heat continues!

02/25/2016

The New York Times

We'll have to bake this during our two week-long workshops this summer! There is still time to apply, the deadline is March 1st!

Start this lemony Shaker tart tonight, bake it tomorrow.

02/08/2016

Good morning everyone!

As you all know, Siena College will host "Religious Revivals, Utopian Societies, and the Shaker Experience in America," an NEH Landmark Workshops for School Teachers in June and July 2016. The workshop will include site visits to Hancock Shaker Village, Shaker Museum Mount Lebanon and the Watervliet Shaker Historic District, as well as discussions with scholars in Shaker history and art including Carol Medlicott, Glendyne Wergland and Rob Emlen.

We would appreciate your assistance in advertising this opportunity with local K-12 teachers. Would you please share the attached flier with your membership, share on your Facebook or webpage, and otherwise help us to get out the word? We would happily answer any questions that you may have about the workshop or the application process.

Thank you!

11/11/2015

The Shakers: America’s Quiet Revolutionaries

Check out this short video by the New York State Museum about the Shakers. It has some great pictures of the sites we will visit this summer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9kFAwWj1mM

The Shakers: America’s Quiet Revolutionaries details facets of the Shakers, their religion, and their daily lives, artifacts from these preeminent Shaker col...

11/11/2015

Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon

Did you know? At the Brooklyn Museum, one can view "The Dinner Party," a monumental piece of feminist art highlighting influential women throughout history, including Shaker founder Ann Lee, whose name appears on the floor, at bottom, in this corner.

11/04/2015

Shaker Music & Dance - Hancock Shaker Village

Have you seen this video made at Hancock Shaker Village about Shaker music and dance?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhc9PK2tG5k

http://experience.hancockshakervillage.org This features several authentic songs and dances performed at Hancock Shaker Village. ©2013 Hancock Shaker Village...

11/02/2015

We had a great time last week preparing for our second landmark workshop on American Shakerism and cannot wait to use our newfound knowledge to make this summer amazing! Plus, we managed to squeeze in some sightseeing while in DC!

09/29/2015

Happy 50th anniversary , We love the humanities and we love the NEH for supporting humanities education. Thank you NEH! Keep up the good work for another 50 years.

09/17/2015

Help the New York State Museum celebrate New York’s Suffrage Centennial by submitting a story, object, or photograph for consideration for the upcoming exhibition!

For more information, please click on the flyer!

09/17/2015

Shaker Recipes - Hancock Shaker Village

In the mood for some grub? Try out these Shaker recipes and send us pictures of the results! http://hancockshakervillage.org/shakers/shaker-recipes/

These recipes can be found in The Best of Shaker Cooking, available through our online store. Lobster Croquette - The Shaker Manifesto, a Maine recipe 1 tw

08/25/2015

The Shakers and the American Revolution | Journal of the American Revolution

Interesting article about the struggles that the pacifist Shakers faced during the American Revolution. http://allthingsliberty.com/2015/08/the-shakers-and-the-american-revolution/

The Shakers reached their heyday in the nineteenth century, when they lived in orderly communities, membership swelled to five thousand believers, and many non-Shakers visited them and praised their modesty, neatness, and productivity. But Shakerism in America began against the backdrop of the Revol…

08/25/2015

Interested in meeting like-minded history buffs in the Capital Region? Make sure to mark your calendars for September 24th! Schuyler Mansion is hosting a HISTORY HAPPY HOUR from 5-7 PM.

07/24/2015

Religious Revivals, Utopian Societies, and The Shaker Experience in America

07/24/2015

Shaker Artifacts Are on the Move

Shaker Artifacts Are on the Move

As the estates of dealers and collectors go to auction, pieces are flying to museums or back to the Shaker villages whence they came.

07/24/2015

‘Early Shaker Spirituals,’ Plain-Spoken Tribute

‘Early Shaker Spirituals,’ Plain-Spoken Tribute

In “Early Shaker Spirituals,” the genre-bending Wooster Group pays plain-spoken tribute to the Shakers, inflection for inflection.

07/24/2015

Religious Revivals, Utopian Societies, and The Shaker Experience in America

07/22/2015

We are back! I just learned that we will host a second landmark on American Shakerism in the summer of 2016. Stay tuned for details.

11/29/2013

Happy Thanksgiving from your Heaven on Earth team! We hope you all had a day full of turkey, family, and friends.

08/22/2013

NEH Workshop: Heaven on Earth: Shakers, Religious Revival and Social Reform in America

Check it out!

Through an NEH grant worth more than $175,000, Siena College's McCormick Center for the Study of the American Revolution organized two, week-long NEH Worksho...

08/15/2013

Hello all! Just a reminder to fill out the NEH evaluations. Hope everyone is doing is well!!

07/20/2013

Religious Revivals, Utopian Societies, and The Shaker Experience in America's cover photo

07/19/2013

Addressing the question of the week: Why did the Shakers make the oval boxes oval?

07/19/2013

July 14-20

07/17/2013

We just wanted to thank our awesome Session 2 scholars for being such gracious hosts to Bill Rice from the National Endowment for the Humanities!