Chapter I: Introductory

Many years ago, when a branch of the Oneida Community lived at Willow Place in Brooklyn, near New York, a sombre pilgrim called there one day, asking for rest and conversation. His business proved to be the collecting of memoirs of socialistic experiments. We treated him hospitably, and gave him the information he sought about our Community. He repeated his visit several times in the course of some following years, and finally seemed to take a very friendly interest in our experiment. Thus we became acquainted with him, and also in a measure with the work he had undertaken, which was nothing less than a history of all the Associations and Communities that have lived and died in this country, within the last thirty or forty years.

This man's name was A.J. Macdonald. We remember that he was a person of small stature, with black hair and sharp eyes. He had a benevolent air, but seemed a little sad. We imagined that the sad scenes he had encountered while looking after the stories of so many short-lived Communities, had given him a tinge of melancholy. He was indeed the "Old Mortality" of Socialism, wandering from grave to grave, patiently deciphering the epitaphs of defunct "Phalanxes." We learned from him that he was a Scotchman by birth, and a printer by trade; that he was an admirer and disciple of Owen, and came from the "old country" some ten years before, partly to see and follow the fortunes of his master's experiments in Socialism: but finding Owenism in ruins and Fourierism going to ruin, he took upon himself the task of making a book, that should give future generations the benefit of the lessons taught by these attempts and failures.

His own attempt was a failure. He gathered a huge mass of materials, wrote his preface, and then died in New York of the cholera. Our record of his last visit is dated February, 1854.

Ten years later our attention was turned to the project of writing a history of American Socialisms. Such a book seemed to be a want of the times. We remembered Macdonald, and wished that by some chance we could obtain his collections. But we had lost all traces of them, and the hope of recovering them from the chaos of the great city where he died, seemed chimerical. Nevertheless some of our associates, then in business on Broadway, commenced inquiring at the printing offices, and soon found acquaintances of Macdonald, who directed them to the residence of his brother-in-law in the city. There, to our joyful surprise, we found the collections we were in search of, lying useless except as mementos, and a gentleman in charge of them who was willing we should take them and use them as we pleased.

On examining our treasure, we found it to be a pile of manuscripts, of letter-paper size and three inches thick, with printed scraps from newspapers and pamphlets interspersed. All was in the loosest state of disorder; but we strung the leaves together, paged them, and made an index of their contents. The book thus extemporized has been our companion, as the reader will see, in the ensuing history. The number of its pages is seven hundred and forty-seven. The index has the names of sixty-nine Associative experiments, beginning with Brook Farm and ending with the Shakers. The memoirs are of various lengths, from a mere mention to a narrative of nearly a hundred pages. Among them are notices of leading Socialists, such as Owen, Fourier, Frances Wright, &c. The collection was in no fit condition for publication; but it marked out a path for us, and gave us a mass of material that has been very serviceable, and probably could not elsewhere be found.

The breadth and thoroughness of Macdonald's intention will be seen in the following circular which, in the prosecution of his enterprise, he sent to many leading Socialists.

PRINTED LETTER OF INQUIRY.

"_New York, March, 1851._

"I have been for some time engaged in collecting the necessary
materials for a book, to be entitled '_The Communities of the
United States_,' in which I propose giving a brief account of
all the social and co-operative experiments that have been made
in this country--their origin, principles, and progress; and,
particularly, the causes of their success or failure.

"I have reason to believe, from long experience among social
reformers, that such a work is needed, and will be both useful
and interesting. It will serve as a guide to all future
experiments, showing what has already been done; like a
light-house, pointing to the rocks on which so many have been
wrecked, or to the haven in which the few have found rest. It
will give facts and statistics to be depended upon, gathered
from the most authentic sources, and forming a collection of
interesting narratives. It will show the errors of enthusiasts,
and the triumphs of the cool-thinking; the disappointments of
the sanguine, and the dear-bought experience of many social
adventurers. It will give mankind an idea of the labor of body
and mind that has been expended to realize a better state of
society; to substitute a social and co-operative state for a
competitive one; a system of harmony, for one of discord.

"To insure the truthfulness of the work, I propose to gather
most of my information from individuals who have actually been
engaged in the experiments of which I treat. With this object in
view, I take the liberty to address you, asking your aid in
carrying out my plan. I request you to give me an account of the
experiment in which you were engaged at ----. For instance, I
require such information as the following questions would call
forth, viz:

"1. Who originated it, or how was it originated?

"2. What were its principles and objects?

"3. What were its means in land and money?

"4. Was all the property put into common stock?

"5. What was the number of persons in the Association?

"6. What were their trades, occupations and amount of skill?

"7. Their education, natural intelligence and morality?

"8. What religious belief, and if any, how preached and
practised?

"9. How were members admitted? was there any standard by which
to judge them, or any property qualification necessary?

"10. Was there a written or printed constitution or laws? if so
can you send me a copy?

"11. Were pledges, fines, oaths, or any coercive means used?

"12. When and where did the Association commence its experiment?
Please describe the locality; what dwellings and other
conveniences were upon it; how many persons it could
accommodate; how many persons lived on the spot; how much land
was cultivated; whether there were plenty of provisions; &c.,
&c.

"13. How was the land obtained? Was it free or mortgaged? Who
owned it?

"14. Were the new circumstances of the associates superior or
inferior to the circumstances they enjoyed previous to their
associating?

"15. Did they obtain aid from without?

"16. What particular person or persons took the lead?

"17. Who managed the receipts and expenditures, and were they
honestly managed?

"18. Did the associates agree or disagree, and in what?

"19. How long did they keep together?

"20. When and why did they break up? State the causes, direct
and indirect.

"21. If successful, what were the causes of success?

"Any other information relating to the experiment, that you may
consider useful and interesting, will be acceptable. By such
information you will confer a great favor, and materially assist
me in what I consider a good undertaking.

"The work I contemplate will form a neat 12mo. volume, of from
200 to 280 pages, such as Lyell's 'Tour in the United States,'
or Gorrie's 'Churches and Sects of the United States.' It will
be published in New York and London at the lowest possible
price, say, within one dollar; and it is my intention, if
possible, to illustrate the work with views of Communities now
in progress, or of localities rendered interesting by having
once been the battle grounds of the new system against the old.

"Please make known the above, and favor me with the names and
addresses of persons who would be willing to assist me with such
information as I require.

"Trusting that I shall receive the same kind aid from you that I
have already received from so many of my friends,

"I remain, very respectfully, yours,

"A.J. MACDONALD."

Among the manuscripts in Macdonald's collection are many that were evidently written in response to this circular. Many others were written by himself as journals or reports of his own visits to various Associations. We have reason to believe that he spent most of his time from his arrival in this country in 1842 till his death in 1854, in pilgrimages to every Community, and even to every grave of a Community, that he could hear of, far and near.

He had done his work when he died. His collection is nearly exhaustive in the extent of its survey. Very few Associations of any note are overlooked. And he evidently considered it ready for the press; for most of his memoirs are endorsed with the word "_Complete_," and with some methodical directions to the printer. He had even provided the illustrations promised in his circular. Among his manuscripts are the following pictures:

A pencil sketch and also a small wood engraving of the buildings of the North American Phalanx;

A wood engraving of the first mansion house of the Oneida Community;

A pencil sketch of the village of Modern Times;

A view in water-colors of the domain and cabin of the Clermont Phalanx;

A pencil sketch of the Zoar settlement;

Four wood engravings of Shaker scenes; two of them representing dances; one, a kneeling scene; and one, a "Mountain meeting;" also a pencil sketch of Shaker dwellings at Watervliet;

A portrait of Robert Owen in wood;

A very pretty view of New Harmony in India ink;

A wood-cut of one of Owen's imaginary palaces;

Two portraits of Frances Wright in wood; one representing her as she was in her prime of beauty, and the other, as she was in old age;

A fine steel engraving of Fourier.

In the following preface, which was found among Macdonald's manuscripts, and which is dated a few months before his death, we have a last and sure signal that he considered his collection finished: