Shaker Collections

All collections of Shaker work derives from the dissolution of most of the Shaker communities in the 1910-1930's.

The most well known collections are the result of the efforts of Faith and Edward Deming Andrews, as originally described in the book "A people called Shakers" and more recently the exhibit "Gather Up the Fragments".

The most extensive collection of documents is represented by the Western Reserve collection that is microfilmed and available, in part or total, in many libraries and museums.

BUT these are merely the most visible of many collections of the productive work of the Shakers as manifest in craft work, art work and many many journals. Here are some of the places these collections can be found:

Active Shaker Community

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village: Museum and Library

Shaker Sites now museums

• Watervliet, NY: Shaker Heritage Society: Watervliet

• Pittsfield, MA: Hancock Shaker Village
  • Collections
    • Digital Search
  • Library
    • Digital Search
  • Online Exhibitions
  • Traveling
  • Architecture

• Canterbury, NH: Canterbury Shaker Village
  • Village

• Mount Lebanon, NY: Mount Lebanon Shaker Village and Shaker Library
  • Library
    • Library Archival finding guide
  • Village

• Enfield, NH: Enfield Shaker Museum

• Harvard and Fruitlands, MA:
  • Shaker Journals Search
• Pleasant Hill, KY: Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
  • Museums
• South Union, KY: Shaker Museum At South Union
  • Manuscripts

Digital Collections and Resources

• Shakerpedia Projects
  • Memoirs project - collected Shaker names and biographical information
  • Bibliography

• Shaker Workshops
  • Stereo Views
  • Poplar Ware

• Richmond: 2 Volume bibliography of Shaker Literature

• New York Times Archives
  • All New York Times from 1851 to 1922 are publicly available ( search link can be refined)

University, College and Library Collections

• Hamilton College
  • Special Collection

• New York State Public Library @ Albany
  • NYPL: Shakers and Shakerism
  • Selected Shaker Bibliography
  • Shaker Collection, 1784-1992

• Winterthur Museum
  • Winterthur Museum: Demings Collection

• Philadelphia Museum of Art:
  • Zieget Shaker Collection Papers (ZSC)

• University of New Hampshire Library
  • Collections & Individual Items

• Western Reserve Historical Society Shaker Collection
  • GUIDE TO THE SHAKER MANUSCRIPTS
  • Digtial Form of Guide
  • Table of contents of reels of micro-film
  • Finding aid for the Shaker Manuscripts
  • The Formation of the Western Reserve Historical Society's Shaker Collection

Online Research Aids

• Mount Holyoke College
  • Research Guide, Dr. Crosthwaite, Religion 332: The Shakers

Major Museum/Minor Collections

• Metropolitian Museum of New York
  • Shaker Furniture
  • Shaker Art in Nineteenth-Century American Art
• Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • Shaker Exhibit