Can I be invited?

Oh, yes, please do come in! Definitely need all the help and enthusiasm we can get. Do you already know about the Shakers, or will you be learning along with me? I've had a life-long fascination with their lifestyle and work products, but didn't know much detail until I dove into a couple of books last week. This will be so fun!

Erica, I'm so glad you asked. Can you help with the 'Scope', which is something I don't really know how to define?

I am master of copy & paste!

Seriously - we need some "key figures" to build around, as a list to look for. Once we've defined those notables it gets a lot easier to understand limits.

Oh duh - you have some notables (blush). What a bibliography, you are awesome, like I'll be reading all that? Sure thing! :)

Shakers are pretty fascinating and they're positioned historically between Quakers & the utopian movements.

And they made fantastic furniture. Can I do illustrations while you actually study for me?

I have the notables, the problem is i haven't found any of them on Geni yet - i suspect it's because their dedication to lifelong chastity turned them into dead-ends, genealogically-speaking. May end up having to create most of their profiles from thin air, but will get to it.

YES!!!! I've been passionate about their furniture my whole life, please do as many illustrations as you like! Education is part of the goal of projects, right?

I suspect that making my way through that bibliography is going to be my job. maybe i can pawn some of it off on Duckie! But I read fast, so no biggie. Have requested ILLs on about half so far.

My biggest concern is how to set up the project to make it attractive to others... I don' really know how to do that. The one project i've set up so far has garnered zero response from the wider community and I totally get that's a failure of the write-up. There has to be something to draw people in. Hoping you and Duckie can handle that part, as I'm much better at research than marketing!

Oh, thanks, Erica, love having playmates! This should be great fun, and not too awful a job to get them pretty well documented. Compared to Randy's Mormon projects, this one is a whiz! The highest estimate of people ever involved with the Shaker movement is 20,000 total, with estimates varying between 4,000 and 6,000 during the period of highest enrollment (not right word). I'm guessing the very best documentation we could get our hands on could only provide about 10,000 names, the rest being so transient that they were never recorded, or simply 'unfindable', genealogically-speakingl So it's very doable.

One interesting thing is that the various Shaker communities often found themselves feeding entire companies of Civil War soldiers - not at the same time, of course, but the men in blue one day and gray the next was not uncommon. Feeding hundreds at a time, even with the labor invovled, was preferable to just having all of their livestock and food supplies commandeered by whichever group of soliders was passing through. It must've been a backbreaking job, especially knowing another group was likely to pass through tomorrow or the next day and they'd have to do it all over again...

And I'm equally obsessed with their really well-conceived and handled herb growing, gathering, and marketing operations!

Lots here to delve into, wahoo!

Private User, what parts are you going to dive into? Are you most interested in their worship dances? Would love to see you research that and do a video recreating them. "Duckie Shakes His Tail Feathers" has the potential to go viral, I just know it! And Private User, we want to hear from you, too. Whatever most fascinates you abt the Shakers OWN IT!!! LOL

I did lots of searching in the Projects and was unable to find anything related... it seems that the Shakers have completely fallen through our genealogical cracks so far. It'll be fun to put together a nice snapshot of their beliefs, their lives, and practices. There's lots of original source material to draw from, as the keeping of personal journals was one of their foundational tenents. Do you guys know of any other Geni folks who might be interested in helping?

Good starting points (with all of the normal warnings about Wikis, of course):

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Wright
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issachar_Bates
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaker_furniture
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shakertown_Pledge
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Gifts
*http://www.shaker.lib.me.us/
*http://www.shakermuseum.com/
* [http://www.shakersingers.org Enfield Shaker Singers, Enfield NH. Directed by Mary Ann Haagen]
* [http://www.shakerheritage.org Shaker Heritage Society, Albany, NY]
* [http://www.americanmusicpreservation.com/shakermusic.htm Music of the Shakers]
* [http://www.shakermuseumandlibrary.org Shaker Museum and Library]
* [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/shaker/ Shaker Historic Trail, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary]
* [http://elib.hamilton.edu/hc/hc-main.php?id=col_spe-sha&c=sha_abt Digital Shaker Collection (Hamilton College Library)]
* [http://ead.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ead/view?docId=ead/ODa0003.xml Shakers Collection (MS-003)] at [[Dayton Metro Library]]
* [http://www.maineshakers.com/ Official Website of the United Society of Shakers]
* [http://www.shaker.lib.me.us/ Sabbathday Lake Shaker Library and Museum]
* [http://www.friendsoftheshakers.org Friends of the Shakers]
* [http://www.shakermuseum.org/ Enfield Shaker Museum]
* [http://www.shakers.org/ Canterbury Village]
* [http://www.hancockshakervillage.org Hancock Village]
* [http://www.shakervillageky.org/ Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill]
* [http://www.shakermuseum.com/ Shaker Museum at South Union, Kentucky]
* [http://www.shirleyhistory.org/shaker.htm Shirley Shaker Village]

Hey, Justin, so glad to see you appear on the Collaborators list. I have the greatest respect for your research, wide span of knowledge, and general bonhomie. Is there a particular area of the Shaker religion and lifestyle that appeals to you? Please feel free to dive in and have fun!

Jennifer, this is going to be really good ..... I am already excited about the subject
Erica, you go right ahead and bring your furniture. I'm pretty good at fixing up that old wobbly stuff and it will give me something positive to add to the project. So,while your busy doing the copy and paste stuff I can screw and glue.
Jennifer don't worry about the 'Scope' I have plenty of Listerine I got the other day on a bogo deal.
The furniture is super but if they have UTOPIA already that is unbelievabe. Sam Adams has just started advertising it's release $190.00 a bottle.
I just have a question if it's not relevant just let me know. If the project is about Shakers and there were a lot in Vermont is it possible, only as a sub project, to do something with the Grinders of Connecticut. After all Connecticut is the nutmeg state and it's right next door to Vermont
Well I am ready to go just let me know what to do .......... ttfn