During these warm and occasionally sultry days of July and August, one might ask, how did the Shakers cope with summer? Journals and a regular column, “Home Notes,” to which each community contributed for the Shaker-published periodical Manifesto, show that like all of...

There are few aspects of the Shaker experience that are more important than music. It was an essential part of their worship, expressing their beliefs and providing an underlying structure to their laboring in dance. The effort put into writing songs, whether a consciously...