Collections

From Shaker Pedia

LINKS TO RESEARCH LIBRARIES, SHAKER MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS AND MUSEUM COLLECTIONS:

THE MID-WEST:

INDIANA:  

Links
Indiana Historical Society [1]   Library has Busro, Indiana information.
Shaker#first_hit Lilly Library, University of Indiana, Bloomington] [2] The Byrd Family Papers.

KENTUCKY:

Links
University of Kentucky Libraries-Margaret I. King Library [3] Special Collections Division has Pleasant Hill materials.
The Filson Club Historical Society-Louisville, Ky [4] Pleasant Hill materials.
Western KU's Kentucky Museum Furniture Collection [5] Located 12 miles from South Union. The collection includes nine examples of Shaker furniture, most notably two candle stands or tripod tables, a sewing desk and two chests of drawers. These pieces were constructed in the more worldly fashion generally characteristic of pieces made in Western Shaker villages.
The Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University [6] Located 12 miles east of South Union Shaker Village. Extensive collection of manuscripts from South Union.

MICHIGAN:

Links
The Berrien County Historical Association [7]  Berrien Springs, Michigan
William L. Clements Library [8] -University of Michigan

OHIO:

Links
Western Reserve Historical Society Library [9] , Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. The most extensive collection of Shaker materials in the world. 300,000 pages of manuscripts. A
Dunham Tavern Museum [10] , Cleveland, Ohio- Collection of Shaker Furniture.
Shaker Historical Society-Elizabeth B. Nord Library [11] , Cleveland, Ohio. 39 items.
Miami University [12]    Shaker Collection.
The Shaker Collection at the Dayton-Montgomery Co.Public Library [13] , Dayton, Ohio. Compiled by Elli Bambakidis.
Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio-Paul Lawrence Dunbar Library [14] WRHS Shaker collection and LC Shaker collection on microfilm. In
Kettering-Moraine Museum (Watervliet, Ohio Shakers) [15] Collection of furniture from the Watervliet community and two buildings preserved from the site and moved to this location in Moraine, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. See the article about this museum and the Watervliet Shaker Village on our home page.
Warren County Historical Society Museum (Union Village Collection) [16] , Lebanon, Ohio. One of the best collection of Shaker furniture and material culture west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Ohio Historical Society / Resources / Archives-Library [17] Look up Shaker manuscripts and books in the OHS collection through

WISCONSIN:

Links
Art Museum, Milwaukee [18] Shaker collection in American Folk Art Collection.
Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum [19]

NEW ENGLAND:

CONNECTICUT:

Links
Connecticut State Library [20] Has a large collection of materials from Enfield, Connecticut.
Yahoo! YP - Enfield Historical Society, Enfield, Connecticut [21] Information about Enfield Shaker site.
New Canaan Historical Society [22]  New Canaan, Connecticut.

MAINE:

Links
The Sabbathday Lake Shaker Library [23] at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, New Gloucester, Maine, was started in 1882 by Elder Otis Sawyer. It is housed in the 1880 Shaker Schoolhouse located in the Village. Contains: books, photographs, manuscripts, ephemera, periodicals, clippings, scrapbooks, maps, oral histories and sound recordings, music, video cassettes and microfilm collections of WRHS, the N.Y. State Library, the Library of Congress, University of Kentucky and the N.Y. Public Library. It is also noted for its Radical Collection which contains printed materials about radical religious sects and communal groups all over the world.

MASSACHUSETTS:

Links
The Shaker Collection at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. The manuscript portion of the collection includes account books, journals and photographs, and is especially strong in spirit communications and hymnals. The core of the Shaker Collection was donated to the Williams College Library in 1931 by Edward B. Wight, Class of 1907.
Welcome to the Berkshire Athenaeum [24] , Pittsfield, MA. Hancock and other material. Complete set of the
Massachusetts Historical Society [25] , Boston, MA. Books and pamphlets and some manuscripts.
Yahoo! YP - Shirley Historical Society [26] , Shirley, MA. Information about the Shirley Shaker site.
Yahoo! YP - Art Complex Inc At Duxbury [27] Shaker furniture collection.

NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Links
Dartmouth College:  Baker Library [28] , Hanover, N.H. Books and photographs and a few manuscripts.
Yahoo! YP - Hood Museum Of Art [29] , Hanover, N.H. Collection of Shaker objects.
New Hampshire Historical Society Library Collections [30] Materials from Canterbury and Enfield, New Hampshire.
Eleanor Parmenter Churchill Archive-University of New Hampshire. [31] Eleanor Parmenter arrived at the Canterbury, New Hampshire Shaker Village on June 14, 1926 - six months before her twelfth birthday. She was one of several children who, due to any number of family and social circumstances, lived among the Shakers. While under their guidance, Eleanor Parmenter attended school taught by Sister Marguerite Frost and played with the other children. She cooked, sewed, and did chores alongside the sisters and also participated in the recreational life of the Village.
Other collections in the University of New Hampshire Shaker Collection [32] The David Proper Shaker Manuscript Collection contains over 200 titles of primary and secondary Shaker materials--pamphlets, serials, articles, broad-sides, and posters--as well as over 50 works on utopian-communal life. The collection also contains Proper's personal files with correspondence from six Shakers, catalogs, trustees' reports, and information from various Shaker organizations. In addition to the Manuscript Collection, the David Proper Shaker Book Collection (see Appendix) comprises approximately 150 books, both primary and secondary, on the Shakers and 100 books about utopian communities. The Shaker collection also includes

VERMONT:

Links
Shelburn Museum [33]    Shaker shed from Canterbury, N.H. and many other artifacts.

THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES:

DELAWARE:

Links
Winterthur Museum Garden & Library [34] Located 6 miles west of Wilmington, Delaware. The location of the Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection, named to honor America's pioneer scholar on the Shaker religious sect. It features manuscripts, books, and visual materials on the Shakers as well as the research archives compiled by Dr. Andrews.

MARYLAND:

Links
Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallary Special Collections [35]   University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  A 3,000 volume collection of books and pamphlets forcusing on 19th century Britsh and American socialism, Shakerism and Utopian literature. 

NEW YORK STATE:

Links
Shaker Museum and Emma B. King Library at Old Chatham, N.Y. [36] The core of the Library's Shaker manuscript, imprint, and photographic collection was acquired by the Museum's founder, John S. Williams, Sr., directly from the Shakers at Mount Lebanon, New York, Hancock, Massachusetts, and Canterbury, New Hampshire. In 1961, the Shakers' Central Ministry, through the offices of Eldress Emma B. King, for whom the Library was named, designated the Shaker Museum "the official repository of the records of discontinued Shaker Societies."
A Shaker Resource Guide-New York City Public Library [37] A large and comprehensive collection.
Collections of the New York State Historical Museum [38] , Albany, N.Y. The Museum has a large and important Shaker Collection. It was begun in 1926 when the Church Family, Watervliet, Shakers sold their buildings to Albany County for the Ann Lee Home. The Shakers assisted Museum curators in gathering and documenting the materials from that community.
New York State Library [39] , Albany, N.Y. Manuscript collection from Watervliet, N.Y., New Lebanon, Groveland, and Harvard, Massachusetts.
Livingston County Historical Society [40] , Genesceo, N.Y. Home of the famous Groveland Fountain Stone
Groveland, Livingston County, N.Y. [41] Description of the area and mention of the Shakers.
Syracuse University Library [42]   In this library can be found
American Society for Psychical Research [43] , New York City. America's first research group to study psychic and paranormal activity. They have a Shaker collection.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Art-American Wing [44] A Shaker retiring room from New Lebanon, N.Y.
Hamilton College Library [45]  Clinton, N.Y.  Close to 1,000  Shaker items.
Hofstra University-Special Collections [46]  Joan & Donald E. Axinn Library, West Campus. Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y.
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library [47]  Special Collection Department  

PENNSYLVANIA:

Links
Philadelphia Museum of Art [48] Shaker Sisters' retiring room from Mount Lebanon and other furniture and artifacts.

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, WASHINGTON, D.C.:

Links
Library of Congress Home Page [49] Use the LC's catalogue search and enjoy!
Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room Home Page [50] The Library of Congress Shaker Collection is made up of 487 items donated by J.P. MacLean. A microfilm edition and catalogue of the LC Shaker collection on 32 reels is available. A copy of the LC Shaker Collection can be found at Wright State University, Paul Lawrence Dunbar Library.
Library of congress WWW-Z39.50 Gateway [51]
National Gallery of Art - Index of American Design [52] Click on

THE SOUTH:

FLORIDA:

Links
Historical Museum of South Florida [53] , see #95, Catlow, Patty Munroe, The Tea Chest correspondence-Shaker correspondence.

GEORGIA:

Links
The Georgia Historical Society [54]   Savannah, Georgia.

NORTH CAROLINA:

Links
Guide to the Cataloged Special Collections-Duke University [55] , William R. Perkins Library
Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [56] Manuscripts Department,

ENGLAND:

Links
Bath, UK-The American Museum with Shaker Collection [57]  Shaker room, display gallery and library.

Used to have a Shaker room - links not valid as of 1/2023

SHAKER AND RELATED MANUSCRIPTS ON LINE:

Links
Shaker Manuscripts On-Line [58] This site has excerpts from

ON-LINE DISCUSSION FORUM:

  • Discussion Forum on the United Society of Believers --

Sponsored by the University of Kentucky. 175 members.