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Shakers
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Shakers
Shakers, popular name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also called the Millennial Church. Members of the movement, who received their name from the trembling produced by religious emotion, were also known as Alethians. The movement originated in a Quaker revival in England in 1747, and was led by James and Jane Wardley. However, the sect, then known as the Shaking Quakers, grew strong only after the appearance of Ann Lee. Imprisoned for her zeal, she believed herself the recipient of the mother element of the spirit of Christ. Following a vision, she and eight followers emigrated (1774) to New York state and in 1776 founded a colony at Watervliet, near Albany. Mother Ann, as she was known, gained a number of converts, who after her death (1784) began the formation of Shaker communities. By 1826 there were 18 Shaker communities in eight states, as far west as Indiana. After 1860, Shakerism began to decline; by 2000 it was almost nonexistent, with a tiny community in New Gloucester, Maine, constituting the only active Shaker village in the country. One of the fundamental doctrines of the society was belief in the dual nature of the Deity. The male principle was incarnated in Jesus; the female principle, in Mother Ann. Other tenets were celibacy, open confession of sins, communal ownership of possessions in the advanced groups, separation from the world, pacifism, equality of the sexes, and consecrated work. Singing, dancing, and marching characterized phases of Shaker worship. The community was organized into groups, called families, of between 30 and 90 individuals. The believers donated their services and possessions but were always free to leave. Shaker furniture and handcrafts are noted for their fine design and crafting.

See E. D. Andrews and F. Andrews, Shaker Furniture (1937, repr. 1964) and The People Called Shakers (2d ed. 1963); J. G. Shea, American Shakers and Their Furniture (1970); H. C. Desroche, The American Shakers (tr. 1971); P. J. Brewer, Shaker Communities, Shaker Lives (1986); S. J. Stein, The Shaker Experience in America (1992); S. Skees, God among the Shakers (1998).

The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-09 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Wikipedia search results for: Shakers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, is a Protestant religious sect. The Shakers were originally located in England in 1747, in the home of Mother Ann Lee. They developed from the religious group called the Quakers which originated in the 17th century. Both groups believed that everybody could find God within him or herself, rather than through clergy or rituals, but the Shakers tended to be more emotional and demonstrative in their worship. Shakers also believed that their lives should be dedicated to pursuing perfection and continuously confessing their sins and attempting a cessation of sinning....more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Shakers
Results 1 - 10  of 13
  • Shaker Heights

    Shaker Heights, city (1990 pop. 30,831), Cuyahoga co., NE Ohio, a residential suburb of Cleveland; inc. 1912. Founded (1905) as a suburban development by Cleveland businessmen Oris and Mantis ...

  • Lee, Ann

    Lee, Ann, 1736–84, English religious visionary, founder of the Shakers in America. Born in Manchester, she worked there in the cotton factories and then became a cook. In 1762 she was married ...

  • Harvard

    Harvard, town (1990 pop. 12,329), Worcester co., E central Mass.; inc. 1732. A Shaker house and cemetery, a Native American museum, and a Harvard observatory are there. A museum on the site of...

  • Watervliet

    Watervliet, industrial city (1990 pop. 11,061), Albany co., E N.Y., on the Hudson River, opposite Troy, near the terminus of the Erie Canal; founded by the Dutch 1625, inc. as a city 1896. The...

  • Wovoka

    Wovoka, c.1858–1932, Paiute, prophet of a messianic religion sometimes called the Ghost Dance religion. Also known as Jack Wilson, he was influenced by his father (a mystic) as well as by the ...

  • Bowling Green

    Bowling Green. 1 City (1990 pop. 40,641), seat of Warren co., S Ky., on the Barren River; inc. 1812. It is a shipping and marketing center for an area producing tobacco, corn, livestock, and d...

  • Sheeler, Charles

    Sheeler, Charles, 1883–1965, American painter and photographer, b. Philadelphia, studied at the School of Industrial Art there and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Will...

  • harvester

    Harvester, farm machine that mechanically harvests a crop. Small-grain harvesting has been mechanized to a certain extent since early times. In the modern period the first harvester to gain ge...

  • Adams, John, American composer

    Adams, John (John Coolidge Adams), 1947–, American composer, b. Worcester, Mass. A clarinetist, he studied composition at Harvard (B.A. 1969, M.A. 1971). Often regarded as the most outstanding...

  • communistic settlements

    Communistic settlements, communities practicing common ownership of goods. Communistic settlements were known in ancient and medieval times, but the flowering of such groups occurred in the 19...

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