Early Shaker Information

The Shakers (officially, United Believers in Christ's Second Appearing) originated in England under the leadership of "Mother" Ann Lee. Twelve original Shakers came to America in 1774 and settled in New York.

Shakers have no written creed but at various times throughout their history they have embraced certain belief and practices:
1. Duality of the Deity, composed of a male and a female element
2. Ann Lee as the Second Appearance of Christ (see below)
3. Equality of men and women
4. Celibacy
5. Community of Property
6. Withdrawal from the World
7. Pacifism
8. Spiritualism
9. Open confession of sin
10. Worship expressed in dance and in march

At their height in about 1840, the Shakers had 6000 members in communities in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. The sole remaining Shaker community, Sabbathday Lake, is located in Poland Spring, Maine. 

The leadership of Shaker villages was modeled after the duality Shakers believed in Jesus and Ann Lee.  Villages were led by an Elder Brother and Sister.  Shakers practiced equality between the sexes decades before it was commonly accepted in America.

Harvard was considerd the spiritual center of the Shaker world.

The Shakers expressed their deep spiritual beliefs in all their arts and crafts. The chief Harvard Shaker industries were agriculture and horticulture.

The Sisters were renowned for the quality of their needlecraft, spinning, and weaving.

The Shaker doctrines of simplicity and utility resulted in a design with clean lines that please the eye and reinforce the Shaker sense of order and neatness.

Exerpt from Mansions of Purity: An Introduction to the Harvard and Shirley Shaker Communities by Michael Volmar, 2010

The Shaker journals of Elder Grove Blanchard, in the archive at Fruitlands, frequently describe meetings among the village, and if the conversations went well then he often wrote that the ‘Spirit of Union’ flowed.  Unity of thought and uniformity in action helped the communities deemphasize the individual in favor of the collective good.  For Shakers, the ‘Spirit of Union’ was not simply agreeing to a concept or idea, but had at its roots a very real, very personal mystical experience that profoundly changed the believer.  The first time a Shaker might experience ‘spirit of union’ is intimately tied to their conversion experience.  Subsequent to that, it represents your continued commitment to the tenets of Shaker faith.  A Shaker craftsman, farm worker, or seamstress acted as an instrument of God, not just in their dances and songs on the Holy Hill but through every task they did throughout the day.  The Shakers believed that the divine ‘Spirit of Union’ flows though you, seeking expression, guiding your hands, your thoughts and your heart.  When we think of a Shaker chair or cupboard, foremost in our mind should be remembering that the Shakers intentionally constructed their landscape and their material culture to reflect their spirituality, so aptly captured by the quintessential Shaker quote Hands to work, hearts to God.

Exerpts from The Testimony of Christ's Second Appearing published by the Shakers in 1810.

p. 439  (26) Therefore, in the fullness of time, according to the unchangeable purpose of God, that same Spirit ... which dwelt in the man Jesus ... was revealed in a woman ... (27) ... And that woman ... who was anointed and chosen by God ... to finish the work of man's final redemption was Ann Lee ... the true mother of all living in the new creation. 
p. 440 (32) The man who was called Jesus, and the woman who was called Ann, are verily the two first foundation pillars of the Church of Christ.
p. 457 (9) Therefore the truth is, that the propesy has had its complete fulfillment ... being first of all fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the father, and secondly in Ann Lee, the Mother of our redemption.