Guide to the Thaddeus Sheldon Papers on Harmonia, 1853-1868 DAR.1960.01

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Thaddeus Sheldon Papers on Harmonia
Creator
Sheldon, Thaddeus S.
Creator
Spear, John Murray
Collection Number
DAR.1960.01
Extent
1.67 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Date
1853-1868
Abstract
The nineteenth century utopian community of Harmonia, located in the valley of Kiantone Creek, straddling both New York and Pennsylvania, was known variously as Harmonia, the Association of Beneficents, The Sacred Order of Unionists, or The Domain. This collection consists mostly of letters, speeches, meeting minutes, financial statements of the Harmonia organization, and papers on various subjects such as education, the future of America, and sacred matrimony, which were frequently delivered as addresses to the group. Digital reproductions of this collection are available online.
Language
English .
Author
Ruth Salisbury.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman)
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Existence and Location of Copies

Digital reproductions of this collection are available online.

Biography

The nineteenth century utopian community of Harmonia, located in the valley of Kiantone Creek, situated on the border between New York and Pennsylvania, was known variously as Harmonia, the Association of Beneficents, The Sacred Order of Unionists, and The Domain. This group of spiritualists "believed that the great men and women of earlier ages were guiding them toward the realization of a new social order. Some of their ideas included a perpetual motion machine, the curing of disease by 'magnetic waters,' world federalism, feminine emancipation, marriage reform, and the manufacture of sewing machines." The leader of the Kiantone Harmonia was John Murray Spear, a Universalist minister, and later, a spiritualist.

Harmonia was interested in practical ideas as well as idealistic plans for a utopian world with reforms in government, education, business, and marriage. Views on education, for example, describe a progressive theory which recommends the use of field trips and laboratory experiments, and advocates the education of women on an equal basis with men.

Spear, a staunch abolitionist, and members of the Harmonia community undertook a river voyage to New Orleans on the Cleopatra in a plan to secure recruits for the association. The trip was also a peace mission to protest the outbreak of a civil war in 1859 and 1860.

Members were also involved in the following sewing machine companies: Orvis, Boyd and Co.; Orvis and Williams Co.; the New York, Boston and Philadelphia Sewing Machine Embroidering Co.; and the American Sewing and Embroidery Machine Company.

Scope and Content Notes

This collection consists mostly of correspondence; speeches; meeting minutes and financial statements of the Harmonia organization, and papers on various subjects such as education, the future of America, and sacred matrimony (frequently delivered as addresses to the group). These papers document the activities of a mid-nineteenth century utopian group which combined its philosophy, socialism, and ideas about spiritualism.

Many of the documents are addresses and essays written by Spiritualist John Murray Spear (1804-1887) on a wide range of topics, such as education, human relations, and government. Some of Spear's correspondence is also part of the collection. Other important members of the group whose letters and papers are part of the collection include Daniel and Rebecca H. Gano, John Orvis, and Thaddeus S. Sheldon, who received custody of the papers upon the dissolution of Harmonia. Many of the communications and speeches were transcribed or rewritten by Caroline Hinkley, who was the Scribe, or secretary, of the Order. Hinckley, a woman's rights advocate, began a relationship with the then married Spear and gave birth to their child in 1859. In 1863 Spear divorced his wife of thirty-two years in order to marry Hinckley and legitimize their son.

Several of the papers, as well as letters, written in 1863, decry the institution of slavery and question whether the Civil War could force a union based on freedom. Additionally, scattered papers from 1861 through 1865 reveal the group's interest in perfecting and selling sewing machines.

Also of note are the signatures on a number of items. The "signatures" of John Quincy Adams and Benjamin Franklin appear on several documents, possibly reflecting the personas of J. M. Spears or Thaddeus Stephens who adopted Franklin and Adams, respectively, as their guides from the past. Please note these are not the actual signatures of Adams, Franklin, or other notable figures that had long since been deceased.

In the contents list, if the title of an essay is not accompanied by a name, the author is unknown. In some cases, although an author has not been identified on the document, if the author is presumed to be known, their name is indicated in [brackets]. Additionally, if a date is not specified but believed to be known, it is identified by the use of the "ca." abbreviation.

Series II of the papers contains twenty-six folders of correspondence concerning the community which were written and received by Mr. Ernest C. Miller, the donor of this collection. There are also research notes relating to Harmonia at Kiantone.

Arrangement

This collection has been arranged into two series in chronological order. In Series I, items in Box 4 had previously been cataloged separately, but were later combined. At some point in the past they were identified and sorted by year and this arrangement has been maintained.

  • Series I. Harmonia documents
  • Series II. Ernest C. Miller Correspondence and Research

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Ernest C. Miller to the Darlington Memorial Library in 1960.

Preferred Citation

Thaddeus Sheldon Papers on Harmonia, 1853-1868, DAR.1960.01, Darlington Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Previous Citation

Thaddeus Sheldon Papers on Harmonia, 1853-1868, DAR.1960.01, Darlington Collection, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh

This collection has been previously cited as: DAR#2.

Processing Information

Original catalog arrangement provided by Russell Duino in 1959. This collection was processed by Ruth Salisbury on January 19, 1961. Arrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Janet H. Begnoche on March 1, 2000. The finding aid was further revised from the 1961 version and reformatted by Kristin Justham in July 2007.

Copyright

No copyright restrictions.

Custodial History

This collection was located in the Darlington Memorial Library in the University's Cathedral of Learning until 2007 when it was moved to the ULS Archives Service Center for processing, storage, preservation and service. However, it remains in the custodianship of the ULS Special Collections Department.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • American Sewing and Embroidery Machine Company
    • New York, Boston and Philadelphia Sewing Machine Embroidering Company
    • Harmonia Community
    • Orvis, Boyd and Company
    • Orvis and Williams Company

    Personal Names

    • Spear, John Murray
    • Miller, Ernest C.
    • Hinckley, Caroline
    • Buffum, Jonathan
    • Orvis, John
    • Gano, Daniel
    • Sterling, John
    • Sheldon, Thaddeus S.

    Geographic Names

    • Kiantone (N.Y.)

    Genres

    • Minutes (Administrative records)
    • Speeches
    • Financial records
    • Correspondence

    Other Subjects

    • Communities -- New York (State) -- Kiantone
    • Sewing-machine industry -- United States -- History
    • Spiritualists -- United States

Container List