Flo Morse - The Shakers Guide to Good Manners

THE SHAKERS
GUIDE TO
GOOD MANNERS

Edited by Flo Morse and
Vincent Newton

Foreword by Flo Morse

The Countryman Press

A division of W. W. Norton & Company

Independent Publishers Since 1923

Copyright 1998 by The Countryman Press

Foreword copyright 1997 by Flo Morse

Reissued 2017

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, The Countryman Press,
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COVER ART: THE SHAKERS NEAR LEBANON, PUBLISHED BY CURRIER & IVES, NEW YORK
(COLOUR LITHO), NATHANIEL CURRIER (1813-88) / PRIVATE COLLECTION / BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

ISBN 978-1-68268-004-9 (e-book)

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A division of W. W. Norton & Company

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This book is dedicated
to all the young Shakers
who remained
in the faith and to those
who carried Shaker
values into the world.

Detail from Shakers Church by Albert Davies.

T he generous wish of Vincent Newton to share the instructions for Shaker youth in his 1844 Juvenile Guide, or Manual of Good Manners, led to the compiling of this book. He also shares a twentieth-century painting by Albert Davies of the Mount Lebanon, New York second Meetinghouse, which has never before been reproduced.

Artist Davies signed his work with only his last name, and the list is long of those who helped track down his first name. Sincere thanks to Alan Price, George Schriever, Kara Short of Sothebys, Jennifer Olshin of Christies, and Lillian Brenwasser of Kennedy Galleries.

Warm gratitude is also extended to Sister Francis Carr, Brother Arnold Hadd, former Librarian Alexandra Regan, present Librarian Gay Marks, and Leonard Brooks at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community in Maine; and to Director Lawrence Yerdon, Sally Morse Majewski and Magda Gabor-Hotchkiss of Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

As always, Melinda Yates of the New York State Reference Library was very helpful, as were Virginia McEwen of the Shaker Museum and Library, Magdalyn Sebastian and Craig Williams of the New York State Museum, Cathy Grosfils of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, and Debra Cohen of Time Life Syndication. Thanks, too, to Larrie Curry of the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and Jean Solensky of the Henry du Pont Winterthur Museum.

Among many informative headnotes in Dr. Daniel Pattersons book, The Shaker Spiritual, one about Brother Alonzo Hollisters youth at New Lebanon led to the original biographical material in the Western Reserve Historical Society Reference Library. Priscilla Brewers profound research and conclusions in Shaker Communities, Shaker Lives must be acknowledged as well.

We are supremely indebted to Susan Surprise for designing our book with scrupulous care and artistry. And we thank others who contributed along the way, including booksellers Scott De Wolfe and Frank Wood, Librarian Ralph Stenstrom and photographer Marianita Amodio of the Hamilton College Library, Elizabeth Hancock, and Joe Morse.

FLO MORSE

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

A Sister and two youngsters, in the 1870s, in a group on the side steps of the Centre Family House at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.
Photograph, courtesy of The Winterthur Library: The Edward Deming Andrews Memorial Shaker Collection.

C hildren under the age of 12 or 14 years must have
their pie cut for them & laid by their dishesAlso,
when they have bread & butter, suitable pieces must
be properly spread & laid by their dishes.

EARLY TABLE MONITOR

WHERE TO FIND SHAKER
MUSEUMS, COLLECTIONS,
AND LIBRARIES

MUSEUMS and PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

DELAWARE

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Winterthur

KENTUCKY

Kentucky Museum, Bowling Green

Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Harrodsburg

South Union Shaker Village, Auburn

MAINE

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, New Gloucester

MASSACHUSETTS

Fruitlands Museums, Harvard

Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury

Enfield Shaker Museum, Enfield

NEW YORK

Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Wing, New York City

Shaker Heritage Society, Albany

Shaker Museum / Mount Lebanon, New Lebanon

OHIO

Dunham Tavern Museum, Cleveland

Golden Lamb Hotel, Lebanon

Kettering-Moraine Museum, Kettering

Ohio Historical Society, Columbus

Shaker Historical Society Museum, Shaker Heights

Warren County Historical Society Museum, Lebanon

Western Reserve Historical Society, History Museum, Cleveland

PENNSYLVANIA

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

VERMONT

Shelburne Museum, Shelburne

WISCONSIN

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee

ENGLAND

The American Museum, Claverton Manor, Bath

SHAKER LIBRARY COLLECTIONS

CONNECTICUT

Connecticut State Library, Hartford

DELAWARE

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, Winterthur

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Library of Congress

INDIANA

Indiana Historical Society Library, Indianapolis

KENTUCKY

Filson Historical Society, Louisville

Kentucky Library, Bowling Green

South Union Shaker Village, Auburn

University of Kentucky, Margaret I. King Library, Lexington

Western Kentucky University, Kentucky Library, Bowling Green

MAINE

Shaker Library, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, New Gloucester

MASSACHUSETTS

American Antiquarian Society, Worcester

Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield

Fruitlands Museums Library, Harvard

Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield

Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston

Williams College, Sawyer Library, Williamstown

MICHIGAN

University of Michigan, William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury

Dartmouth College, Baker Library, Hanover

Enfield Shaker Museum, Enfield

New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord

NEW YORK

Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Buffalo

Hamilton College Library, Special Collections, Clinton