A COLLECTION OF SONGS, OR, SACRED ANTHEMS, MOSTLY GIVEN BY INSPIRATION BEGINNING NOVEMBER 29TH 1840. WRITTEN FOR BETSY BATES Attributed to Sister (later Eldressl Polly Ann Reed 11818-18811, copyist Church Family, New Lebanon, New York 1840-1842 Ink on paper, bound in leather 6½ - 5½ 1" American Society for Psychical Research, New York

The songs in this 279-page manuscript volume are in Polly Reed's meticulous hand, using Shaker "Ietteral notation."

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n July 1917, Dr. Walter by Inspiration" Franklin Prince (1863- 1934), a well-regarded researcher in the field of Shaker Drawings phenomena, wrote to Eldress M. and Manuscripts Catherine Allen (185 I- 1922) of the Parent Min- in the American istry, the central authority of the Shaker communities at Mount Society for Psychical Lebanon, New York. He sought to acquire for the American Society for Research Psychical Research (ASPR), with which he was affiliated as an hon- GERARD C. WERTKIN orary member and later as a research

56 SPRING 1995 FOLK ART Although the collection assem- bled by Catherine Allen for the ASPR emphasized Shaker visionary experi- ences, it was not by any means limited to descriptions of these phenomena. 174. As the eldress noted in a July 1917 let- ter to Prince,"a fuller collection of our t t_k__ literature than records of the will be necessary to an understanding o-41 itv/i• ttlia; /me of that phase of our experiences."2 She ‘.----' , A:y/4 I was convinced that there was "no c.) 5 ci f it 9 place where we believe that our pecu- cis 1 c • ci 114- liar religious views would be more sympathetically ; , el iy• C). I0 4re studied."' 9 The American Society for Psy- 91, 11- chical Research was founded in 1885 etoin,,4"),777-4,00ut.el. If cl vf 19 edlafi'''I'41d191 '0 1. et AP142 ,. ,...... —...... 9 , by and others to apply .) te, the discipline of the scientific method en,,,a, to a consideration of claims of para- - • 't? 6 t e' ,, 71+e) {ellgii. cr) normal occurrences. Many of its early civil •e-7 do, to:to el el...-41 CVIvniti,, e 4. q e- ye, members were also pioneers in the I. i) 1411)4 ,,,,,it - /nay, developing fields of psychology and fino • ' psychiatry, in part because of a com- i;otb, ow 1 illt.i• cl CI' ei 9 _, e) tit mon interest in dreams and other sub- cvevo 04 0 (1) h f' II ,, -pa/ rrtil) 7.4. Ar le140 conscious processes. Freud and Jung ciii. /mg . 114.6 f I were among the honorary fellows of te.i at hi ej eV 1 e/ e 0 ,PICV CI \6 ei 0 the Society. At the time Prince wrote f 'ev/liz....; if• /ii.eflt, /? e) to Eldress Catherine, Dr. James Her- • -„,,,,,/em, ,77 tt , , „47 vey Hyslop (1854-1920), a psycholo- If \ //n. gist who had taught logic and ethics at if, C Columbia University, was ASPR's 4. 16. 0. 1:1/117/ ae, 411, tyre' 1 ell cizo4 elc ,,,Ita.• director and editor. Hyslop supported 4e .,11-10-1t,, /4, te cliot.' 9 Prince's efforts to acquire Shaker lit- erature for the Society. . . 7i1.81 ,re, 1$. 1 cit €,-,-.1 oleo That Walter Franklin Prince ./lixe co -4& would have sought a collection of 1 c.) Shaker research materials is not sur- \ cl et ! 'II prising; in the literature of nineteenth- century , which was well represented in the ASPR's library, genuine psychic phenomena in the modern era are often suggested to have occurred first in the Shaker com- munities. In her 1870 study, Modern officer, a collection of Shaker publi- could no longer care for the material American Spiritualism: A Twenty cations relating to visionary experi- record of its history. She became con- Years' Record of the Communion ences among the Believers.' Years vinced that the printed literature and between Earth and the World of Spir- before, Prince had corresponded with manuscripts of the United Society its, for example, Emma Hardinge Elders Frederick W. Evans and Alon- belonged in public repositories, and refers to the Shakers as the "John the zo G. Hollister of Mount Lebanon had been instrumental in placing an Baptists" of spiritualism, citing the with the same objective in mind, but exhaustive collection, consisting of "manifestations of spiritual presence" had been unable to raise the requisite thousands of items, at The Western among them through visions, dreams, funds to purchase the desired works. Reserve Historical Society in Cleve- trances, and other phenomena occur- By the time Prince wrote to land as well as smaller collections at ring from the time of their foun- Eldress Catherine, however, the condi- other American institutions. She dation.4 H.P. Blavatsky, the founder of tions of the Shaker Society had arranged for the donation to the ASPR the modern theosophical movement changed. Many of its communities had of 169 books and pamphlets, a small (whose own claims to paranormal closed, and the eldress despaired that but highly important collection of man- endowment were investigated by a an aging and enfeebled membership uscript records and some drawings. British sister organization of the

SPRING 1995 FOLK ART 57 ASPR) wrote in 1877 that these "phe- A TOKEN OF REWARD, FROM nomena first appeared among the MOTHER ANN, TO JONATHAN WOOD, MARCH 8TH 1846 ascetic and exalted Shakers, whose Attributed to Sister Hater Eldress) religious aspirations, peculiar mode of Polly Ann Reed (1818-1881) life, moral purity, and physical chasti- Church Family, New Lebanon, New York ty all led to the production of indepen- 1846 t,•••• •••••ii.„Ai„; dent phenomena of a psychological as Blue ink on paper 5 4/12" ,411:it,,,it ,1( t,tca well as physical nature."5 Prince ITtliZle.h. American Society for Psychical

14,51,5 (tAllt •••.t••••tha hoped that by its acquisition of a col- Research, New York it •t•-•• ••• lection of Shaker primary materials, ••••et t.tk•Iti0.•...1•••••1 On the basis of stylistic similarities , I . I; the ASPR might undertake a critical with the other drawings associated •••••••v,••• )1•••••••••••\ ••• study of the data. with Polly Reed, this work is attrib- ts.'.411,;1,010.1 crt, uted to her, although Patterson AtA it ,) te,11.14,,ct From their first coalescence as a has identified the fonn of dove t group in mid-eighteenth-century Lan- incorporated here with another cashire, the Shakers were receptive to gifted New Lebanon sister, phenomena that they Miranda Barber (1819-1871). The recognized as symbols on the scroll, intended to gifts of the spirit. The earliest recorded convey a hidden message, may be impression of the Shakers and their related to Munson shorthand or another stenographic system. worship, reported in 1769 by the Man- chester correspondent of the colonial Virginia Gazette, refers to vision, prophecy, and the "moving of the spir- it" among them. According to Shaker tradition, the decision of Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784), the founder of the religious society, to lead a small group of her adherents from England to North America in 1774 followed a "special revelation" that the new faith would flourish there, which was "con- firmed by signs, visions and extraordi- nary manifestations, to many individ- A WORD OF LOVE AND BLESSING FROM ABRAHAM OF OLD, THE ual members...."6 FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL TO The most significant Shaker ZIPPORAH CORY. JUNE 12TH growth and development occurred 1844 Attributed to Sister (later during the last decade of the eigh- Eldress) Polly Ann Reed teenth century and the first two (1818-1881) Church Family, New Lebanon, decades of the nineteenth century and New York was the result of an effective, far- June 12, 1844 ranging missionary effort. At the con- Leaf cutout, blue ink on green- coated paper, verso; blue ink on clusion of this period of expansion, uncoated paper, recto eighteen Shaker villages graced the 6/12 x 3/34" rural landscape from Maine to Ken- American Society for Psychical Research, New York tucky. Visionary experiences contin- ued within the United Society, but the As this gift leaf demonstrates, requirements of Polly Reed was an especially deft larger-scale commu- scribe. The artist, who later nity organization brought order and (1868-1881) served as a mem- regularity to Shaker life. Early unpro- ber of the central ministry of the Shaker Society, created at least grammed, ecstatic worship forms eight other leaves, each on green yielded to ritualized dances or march- paper. es, and manifestations of the spirit, with some notable exceptions, became less central to the life of the communi- ties. Deprived of the charismatic lead- ership of Ann Lee and her immediate successors, all of whom were by then deceased, the celibate Believers of the 1830s no longer entered actively into the religious debates of the day, and they drew fewer seekers from beyond

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2 il . 7. • t. ,„,= ''. ,„ g .g, 12 j-• 0 2 .='• g 1 :T, ri 21' Z,51."e. 3, ›.• a+ e—s .0 ;! 1 2 +2 15 'gilt' 5' 1:= = 21 gC. = :.- s ., 11 .z.,, z s-z,5-, — P ,. •-. 0 2 OL' • ti 0 = •. -= = Shaker Drawings and the ASPR their borders. According to many quoted above continued, bro't & given he American Society for Psychical Research occupies thoughtful Shakers, this time was a to us collectively & individually, much a handsome Manhattan townhouse at 5 West 73rd period of spiritual stagnation and of which we do notfully understand & Street, a few doors from Central Park West. When I encroaching worldliness. some we do understand as being signs first visited the Society in the early 1970s to study its In 1837, two Shaker girls at and representations ofdivine things — T Watervliet, New York, entered into such as lamps — doves — branches, Shaker manuscripts, it was a quiet place. More often than not, I what appeared to be trancelike states; balls oflove, crosses &c &c "8 was alone in the impressive library, except for the Society's cat, their strange, complex, visionary For the Shakers, all the mani- whose sudden appearances and mysterious feline presence experiences, which seemed to many festations of Mother's Work were seemed appropriate to the vast collection of literature on paranor- earnest Believers to be heaven-sent, "gifts." As in other examples of Shak- mal phenomena. had an immediate and profound effect er usage, this sense of the word is bib- Although I became familiar with the Society's Shaker col- on the Shaker communities. The lead- lical in origin. According to the Epis- lection in the years that followed, several items were not immedi- ership of the United Society under- tle of James (1:17), "[e]very good gift stood them to be signs of the divine, a and every perfect gift is from above, ately accessible to me. The inventory prepared by Walter F. Prince heavenly call for the Believers to and cometh down from the Father of in 1917, when the collection was acquired, included a tantalizing return to their founding principles lights...." During the period of revival, reference to twenty-two "detached briefer manuscripts...including after a period of "dullness" and loss. extravagant gifts, entirely invisible to several drawings (probably automatic)."* These clearly had been Soon, similar manifestations were the natural eye, were believed to have filed away for safekeeping, but no one among the members of the occurring in every Shaker village. been presented, occasionally in Society's small staff had sufficient time to examine the volumi- Religious revival was in the air. solemn rituals involving elaborate nous records of the hundred-year-old organization in an effort to It is now, in these days, a Shak- miming. Others were described in er diarist recorded on January 1,1840, detail in written form. find them. Instruments a time of an abundance of manifesta- also received hundreds of hymns and In the early 1980s, Patrice Keane, then director of public tionsfrom the spiritual world, particu- anthems by inspiration. A small group information and education of the ASPR,recognized the signifi- larly thro' instruments, by Inspiration. of Shakers, most of whom were cance of the Shaker collection and with the support of the Soci- There is seldom a meeting without women living in the communities at ety's Board of Trustees sought to generate funds to protect and some communication, or message, New Lebanon, New York, and Han- preserve the books and manuscripts that comprised it. She also from the spirits, mostlyfrom our heav- cock, Massachusetts, depicted gifts sought to bring public attention to the collection. In June 1987, I enly parents visually, in the graphic form that we collaborated with her on an exhibition at the ASPR of these mate- There is also an abundance of have come to know as gift drawings or written messages, consisting of paintings, following the terminology rials and presented a lecture to the Society's members and guests instruction, love and admonition, and suggested by Daniel W. Patterson. In on visionary experiences among the Shakers. I also encouraged much in the way of reining us up to his careful 1983 checklist of all her to search for the drawings. strict Church Order, as it was first known Shaker gift drawings and About two years ago, Patrice Keane, now the executive established....7 paintings,9 Patterson accounted for director of the ASPR, left an excited message for me at the Muse- The period of the revival, 192 works; several have been discov- um. The drawings and other unbound manuscripts had been locat- which the Shakers called Mother's ered since then, including the nine at ed! Under her direction, the ASPR had undertaken the compre- Work, continued with varying degrees the ASPR, but this number is still of robustness throughout the Shaker small when compared to the thou- hensive organization and cataloging of its archives and, in the Society until the late 1840s, although sands of surviving gift writings and process, a somewhat worn folder had been uncovered that yielded manifestations associated with it songs. Although the drawings and the treasures. That evening, I visited the Society to admire for the occurred from time to time for another paintings are far less commonly found first time these wonderful products of a remarkable period in decade or more. The Shakers were than other Shaker gift forms, they are Shaker history. The collection included two impressive "sacred diligent keepers of records; the jour- simply extensions or elaborations of sheets" rendered in an "unknown tongue"; three lovely gift draw- nals, diaries, and correspondence of the oral or written phenomena and ings in the form of hearts; two in the shape of leaves, one larger the period are replete with lengthy, cannot be understood except in the detailed, and often than the usual format and one on green paper; and two other excited descrip- same context. They derive from iden- tions of spiritual phenomena occurring tical impulses and utilize equivalent drawings containing mystical signs and symbols. in the villages. Thousands of such symbolic language and imagery. From January 21 to April 2, 1995, the Museum of Ameri- manifestations are described in the The nine drawings that were can Folk Art, through the courtesy of the ASPR, is presenting the extant records. Shaker visionists, or donated by Catherine Allen to the exhibition"'Given by Inspiration': Shaker Drawings and Manu- instruments, as they were known, ASPR all seem to be from the Church scripts from the American Society for Psychical Research." I am were believed to speak in trance on Family at New Lebanon, New York. delighted that an even wider audience will become aware of behalf of divine figures, saints, and Several are the work of Sister (later Shaker gifts of the spirit and the resources of the ASPR. angels, as well as discarnate persons Eldress) Polly A. Reed (1818-1881), from Shaker and secular history. They an exceptionally gifted artist, who is —GCW also were believed to bring symbolic also represented in the ASPR collec- * Walter F. Prince,"The Shakers and Psychical Research: A Notable gifts from the heavenly spheres. tion by a wonderful book of hymns Example of Cooperation," Journal of the American Societyfor Psychi- There is...an endless variety of containing the distinctive Shaker "let- cal Research 12 (January 1918), p. 69. gifts, and spiritual presents, the diarist teral" musical notation. The detailed,

SO SPRING 1995 FOLK ART finely drawn imagery of Sister Polly's skillful hand is especially appealing, helping to draw the viewer into the mystical world of the period of Moth- er's Work. At least one of the drawings UNTITLED at the ASPR that is attributed to Polly 1 Unidentified Shaker scribe Reed contains the symbolic alphabet of Probably New Lebanon, New York an "unknown tongue," a kind of visual T.0 A c.1845 glossolalia found in many Shaker gift Vsf' Blue ink on paper drawings. Two "sacred sheets" attrib- . 9¼" American Society for Psychical uted to Sisters Semantha Fairbanks Research, New York (1804-1852) and Mary Wicks (1819- of the Church Family, are The words in an "unknown 1898), also tongue" were often believed by dominated by such writing. nineteenth-century Shakers to Unlike the "automatic" writings be inspired by native American spirits. Although lambs and or drawings of nineteenth-century other animal figures are occa- American spiritualism, Shaker gift sionally included in Shaker gift drawings were not believed to be the drawings, this composition is • highly unusual. work of discarnate spirits guiding the lir al? hand of a visionist or medium. Cather- ,9 t' ft ine Allen, referring to the exquisite drawings of Polly Reed as "manifesta- tion gifts," explained that she "did the work by dictation of the medium to whom the message & the vision were given."'° While some Shakers re- corded, in written form or drawing, visions that they received themselves, even then the recording was rarely accomplished in a trance state. With the exception of certain of the com- munications in "unknown tongues," the Shaker drawings were acknowl- edged to be the conscious act of their A SACRED SHEET, SENT FROM , • , :1r:ft HOLY MOTHER WISDOM, BY HER creators, the recording of a vision pre- HOLY ANGEL OF MANY SIGNS. viously received. More often than not, . . • "• . • • • . • ..kt'7 FOR SISTER SEMANTHA FAIR- they contain messages of consolation ., . BANKS RECEIVED MARCH 5TH 1843. WRITTEN MARCH 23RD and encouragement intended for those 1843. IN THE FIRST ORDER ON Shaker brethren or sisters to whom THE HOLY MOUNT Attributed to Sisters Semantha they were addressed. Fairbanks (1804-1852) and After the period of Mother's Mary Wicks 11819-18981 Work was concluded, the Shaker lead- Church Family, New Lebanon, New York ership stored away the material evi- 1843 dence of the manifestations in the Blue ink on paper, red-coated chests and cupboards of their villages. paper 13 16" Revival had not brought the anticipated American Society for Psychical renewal, and within a few decades the New York Research, communities began to close. In giving One of two "sacred sheets" in the the spiritual gifts of an earlier time to ASPR collection. Patterson attrib- the American Society for Psychical utes nearly identical works to Semantha Fairbanks and Mary Research, Eldress Catherine Allen Wicks on the basis of a signed retained the conviction that there drawing. The other sacred sheet would be a "great awakening to the in the ASPR collection also bears their names, as instruments. The spiritual side of life, a truer perception fact that the drawing illustrated of values." Then, she predicted, "[t]he here is addressed to Semantha Fairbanks may place the attribu- benefit of the Psychical Research Soci- tion in question, although Shaker ety will be recognized as never before, scribes occasionally recorded gift so many yearning for an assurance of messages believed to have been intended for themselves. continued individual iden[ti]ty in the world to come.""

SPRING 1995 FOLK ART 61 In August 1917, a month after NOTES 9 In Daniel W. Patterson, Gift Drawing he began his correspondence with 1 The official name of the Shaker Society and Gift Song: A Study of Two Forms of Eldress Catherine, Walter F. Prince is the United Society of Believers in Shaker Inspiration (Sabbathday Lake, visited the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Christ's Second Appearing."Shakers" and Me., United Society of Shakers, 1983). "Believers" are synonyms and are used community in New Gloucester, 10 Catherine Allen to W.H. Cathcart, interchangeably in this essay, as are December 22, 1917, Shaker Manuscript Maine. He interviewed the resident "Shaker Society" and "United Society." Collection IV: A-49, The Western Reserve Shakers as a group as well as individ- 2 Quoted in Walter F. Prince,"The Shak- Historical Society, Cleveland (WRHS). ually and found them "thoroughly sin- ers and Psychical Research: A Notable 11 Catherine Allen to W.H. Cathcart, cere and upright" and "intelligent con- Example of Cooperation," Journal ofthe August 20, 1918, Shaker Manuscript Col- siderably above the average." He American Societyfor Psychical Research lection IV: A-49, WRHS. In its research discovered that gifts of the spirit 12(January 1918), p. 62. and programming, today's ASPR places remained a feature of Shaker life even 3 Ibid. little emphasis on "spiritualistic" or in the twentieth century; the Believers 4 Emma Hardinge, Modern American "occult" phenomena and more emphasis spoke to him of premonitory and sym- Spiritualism: A Twenty Years' Record of on , alternative healing, the Communion bolic dreams and inspired music, between Earth and the and related fields. World ofSpirits (New York, 1870), p. 27. 12 Prince, op. cit., pp. 64-65. among other phenomena.12 Today, 5 H.P. Blavatsky,Isis Unveiled: A Mas- 13 Ironically, Sabbathday Lake was one only Sabbathday Lake remains as an ter-key to the Mysteries ofAncient and of the very few Shaker communities that active center of the Shaker faith,'3 but Modern Science and Theology, vol. 2 did not cooperate with Catherine Allen in the legacy of the United Society is (Pasadena, Calif.: Theosophical Universi- her efforts to place Shaker literature in more widely known than ever before. ty Press, 1976), p. 18. public repositories, its leaders stubbornly The Shaker collection at the American 6 Calvin Green,A Summary View ofthe asserting that the Believers themselves Society for Psychical Research is an Millennial Church, or United Society of should retain custody of the records of important resource to a fuller under- Believers,(Commonly Called Shakers) the United Society. Its library, which is standing of a fascinating aspect of that (Albany, N.Y.: Packard & Van Benthuy- open to the public for serious study and legacy. * sen, 1823), p. 13. research, remains today one of the 7 [Seth Youngs Wells],"Records Kept by country's leading centers for Shaker Order of the Church," entry for January 1, scholarship. 1840, Shaker Manuscripts Collection, vol. Gerard C. Wertkin is director of the 7; p. 176, New York Public Library. Museum ofAmerican Folk Art. 8 Ibid.

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62 SPRING 1995 FOLK ART