Prior to 1860 

     All of the reading I have done bears out the consensus, true or not, that the most sound and stable American communal endeavors were established prior to the Civil War.  I have included links to Brook Farm the first well-documented American Commune.  The Literature section also includes a section of Hawthorn's Blithdale Romance because of Hawthorn's brief tenure at Brook Farm.  Fourier is mentioned because of the influence of his dreams for American Phalanxes on utopian thought both prior to and after the Civil War.  Fourier's conception of work is a major focus of Parrington's American Dreams, Segal's Technological Utopianism, and Fogarty's All Things New.  Robert Owen also contributed to the development of communal thought in America (as well as the English settlement of New Lanark).  He particularly contributed to the "Bible Communism" of John Noyles and the Oneida Communities.  It is interesting to note that the three Communities at the end of this section of links all are strongly associated with the products they manufactured in their common industry.  The Oneida, Ammana, and Shaker Communities all were well established, well organized and generally prosperous.  They have served as guiding icons for those who have endeavored to establish communities since the Civil War.

 Literature

 Utopia by Thomas More or eng.hss.cmu.edu

The Common Wealth of Oceana by James Harrington

Ch. 29 The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne 1852

Brook Farm

Brook Farm

Fourierites

Fourierism and Utopia in the USA

The harmonic series of Charles Fourier

Robert Owen

New Lanark

 The Oneida Community

 Oneida Community Books Pamphlets and Serials 1834-1972

 Oneida Community Collection At the Syracuse University Library

 Howard A. Landman focus on Polygamy: The Oneida Community: Bibliograpy or Polyamory - Book List or The Oneida Community

  Museum Tour Oneida Community Mansion House

 Museums:  Hancock Shaker Village or Union South Shaker Museum or Sabbath Day Lake

 Hancock Shaker Village - links or Shaker Articles - Information about the Shakers - Shaker Workshops

Depictions  The Shakers by Karl Mang and  Description of Shaker Life by John H. Lienhard and  Shaker Apocalypticsism by Marsha Mihok and Shakers The United Society of Believers by Dominica Harlan

 Shaker Manuscripts On-Line - Prophecies Revelations and World Outreach from the Early Shakers

 Hancock Shaker Village - Shaker Broadside

 The Shakers: Archeology and Diaries

The Music Buffs Web Pages (Shaker Music)

The Amana Colonies

Historic New Harmony or Historic New Harmony Indiana

1860- Current 

     Any discussion of utopianism and communal activity after the Civil War is dominated by the writings and influence of Edward Bellamy.  I have included two online versions of Looking Backward and a collection of excerpts from Bellamy.  Along with Bellamy, utopianism was in the air at the turn of the century.  Dr. Woods' page of "Victorian flim-flam" has collected information of the World's Fairs and other cultural memorabilia that show a turn of the century hope for an imminent utopian society.  Just as Fourier and Owen influenced communal thought beginning before the Civil War, European communism and anarchism extensively affected American Communal thought.  The two obscure journal articles mentioned below show this influence.  While the early 1900's did not produce communal efforts with the stability or impact of the Amanas, Shakers or Oneidas, Robert Fogarty does show that there are many community efforts in this period.  These efforts are significantly less documented and have no mention on the internet.  I would propose that Jane Addams' Hull House is one of the successful efforts of this period.  Although many do not include her as a communal activist, Jane Addams' establishment of a center of life that in many ways appeared communal and her significant impact on American thought are certainly germane to any discussion of this issue.

 Edward Bellamy

 Edward Bellamy

 The Edward Bellamy page

 Looking Backward or uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu 

  Edward Bellamy at the Lyceum

 Turn of the Century Communal, Socialist, and Utopian Culture

Review of Vernon Louis Parrington, American Dreams.

Review of Howard P. Segal, Technological Utopianism in American Culture.

Review of Robert Fogarty, All Things New.

Article on Communism in America

 Journal of Anarchistic Communism

 Dr. Wood's Victorian flim-flam

 Jane Addams

By Jane Addams: Twenty Years at Hull-House. and Why Women Should Vote 1915 and Bibliography

Biographies: Biography of Jane Addams or Women in History - Jane Addams biography or A Positive Light - Jane Addams Mother of Social Work or Legacy of Jane Addams or Chronology of Jane Addams' Life

Review of Allen Davis, American Heroine.

Nobel Prize: Jane Addams Winner of the 1931 Nobel Prize in Peace and The Nobel Prize Internet Archive and Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize

Hull House:  Jane Addams Hull-House Museum Home Page and portraits of hull-house and List of Hull-House Firsts

portraits of jane addams

Just the Arti-FACTS - Jane Addams

For Teachers: Summary of COBBLESTONE's Jane Addams Issue

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Contemporary Efforts

     Current communal enterprises in America have more resemblance to the form of a Hull House than they do to the compounds of the Shakers or Fourierist Phalanxes.  A strong similarity to Addam's efforts can be seen in the Catholic Worker movement.  The exception to the above mentioned trend would be the German to America (via Paraguay) émigrés that are the Bruderhof Communities.  Well established with prosperous common industry, these communities have a common life that is compatible with most interpretations of Christian theology.  While widely respected, the Bruderhof has strong critics.  Compelling accusations of oppressive leadership can be investigated at the Peregrine Foundation links.  Ecological concerns and communal living are joined in several longstanding American Communes.  The strength of ideology of these groups accounts in part for their strong presence on the Internet.  Another factor is the importance to these groups of spreading techniques and technologies for more ecological living.  Also of note are the two communal groups that include disabled individuals in their common life.  The French originated Catholic movement of L'Arche and Camphill Soltane establish communities that both serve others in a practical way that illustrates the best in utopian and communal principles.  Finally, I have included several religiously focused communities.  I have excluded Catholic Monasteries simply because the number of links was prohibitory.  Yet it should be said that the monastic tradition has had a strong influence on contemporary communal thought.  Several of the groups are English or Irish and others are ecumenically inspired but Episcopalian based groups.  Some in this category of communal groups arose in the 1970's.  I would like to mention Jesus People USA, a group that lives a communal life in inner city Chicago.  Their long-term communal life has the elements of common livelihood and social outreach that are present in most of American Utopian and Communal thought.

 Religious

  1970's Jesus Movement Jesus People USA or Shiloh Youth Revival Centers

Jesus Army (Jesus Fellowship Church) New Creation Christian Community

 Welcome to Life in the Lamb

Ecumenical Work of Christ Community Lansing Michigan or Sword of the Spirit - Christian Communities and Outreach

England and Ireland The Iona Community or Othana Community

Jean Vanier and L'Arche

  The Communities of the Twelve Tribes

 Ecovillages and Communes

 Twin Oaks Community

Meadowdance Community

Acorn Community

The Farm

 Our wacky mixed-up family

Jean Vanier and L'Arche

Camphill Soltane

 Catholic Worker

Catholic Worker

Dorothy Day Library Links

Dorothy Day Biography

Bruderhof Communities Homepage

Community Playthings and Rifton Equipment

Plough Publishing House

Bruderhof Radio

Criticism of the Bruderhof Peregrine Foundation and Peregrine Foundation Archives and In the Bruderhof 1988-1990 and Communal Bill of Rights Draft

Related Discussions 

     I enrolled in several Internet news groups but have found that the flow of information is limited and I did not include them in my list. I have included two e-mail based discussion groups. One on utopian thought over the past 2,500 years and one on communities. Another good resource is the audio archives of National Public Radios "Talk of the Nation" which yielded two interesting forty-five minute discussions on Communalism and on counter-cultural Anabaptist traditions.  Several web sites deal with the issue of utopia in various forms. An initial search yields sites that focus on creating "virtual" utopias of information and sites that deal with the planet where the Spaceship Enterprise was purported to be built. When I refined the pool of sites down I found groups that collected sources, studies and literature about Utopian visions and sites that encourage visitors to participate in developing a vision for Utopia. The intentional communities resources are much more practical and specific, either offering directories of those living communally or giving suggestions on how to implement communal living.

 Libraries

 UTOPIA-L or UTOPIA-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU - Archives

 Places and Community

 Utopian Studies

Society for Utopian Studies Home

Utopos Discovered A Newsletter of the Society for Utopian Studies

Utopia 2000

Utopian Analysis A Science of Civilization

Utopia & Utopian Philosophy

B.F. Skinner :  A Perfect World

Utopia for All looking for an achievable utoipian future

UTOPIA ON THE INTERNET -- Philosophy for a better world

 Communities

 Intentional Communities Web Site Home Page

Communities WebRes.html

Intentional Communities Resource Page

 Talk of the Nation : 3-26-98, Communes and Communalism

Talk of the Nation: 8-31-98, Anabaptism and the Amish

Bruderhof Radio