Backtracking a little here to our visit to The Oneida Community Mansion, on May 21, 2014
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| Oneida Mansion, today |
We arrived at the Oneida Community Mansion in time for the afternoon tour. Do you remember learning about the Oneida Community in school? I barely remembered them. They were a crackpot Utopian community that made the silverware my sisters had to polish every week. They were that, but they were much more, and it turns out, much more interesting.
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| Oneida Mansion circa 1870 |
Peg's sister Pat put the mansion on our tour of the day, and it was a happy accident that we just happened to be there in time for the tour by one of their best docents.
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| Walt, getting wound up |
The docent,Walt Lang, who promised us an hour tour "more or less" gave us much more, about 2 hours, and never did any of us wonder when it would be over. You can find out more about Walt and much more about the Oneida Community over on Walt's excellent site https://waltsmusings.wordpress.com/
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| Noyes, circa 1851 |
The Oneida Community was begun by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848. At that time there was a great interest in religion and Noyes, who initially had no interest in religion at all, brought his followers from Vermont to New York to establish a community based on Perfectionist beliefs. Noyes "got religion" after becoming very sick one night, and believing he was close to death rethought his relationship with God. He began to study theology, and as part of his training, began to preach. He believed in Perfectionism, that he was perfect, and that others could be perfect, too. This idea got him bounced from Yale. He was ordered to not preach anymore, but he did anyway. He was fortunate to run into a woman with money who could bankroll his Perfectionist ideas. He established the main community in Oneida, with other sites at Wallingford Connecticut and Brooklyn, NY. There were a little over 300 members in the community.
Apart from silverware the community was probably best known for the idea of "complex marriage", which meant that every woman was married to every man. The idea was to prevent attachments. As a form of birth control the older women, beyond child bearing age, were given the task of introducing the younger men to sex, while older men did the same for the younger women. A little creepy, you say? The men weren't allowed to ejaculate in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I wonder how that worked out for them.
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| Upper Salon, where "interviews" took place |
In addition, there was an "interview" process, whereby some of the older women would determine who would sleep with whom. These interviews took place in the upper salon, which was surrounded by doors to small rooms where those who passed their interviews would get together. Hook-up as the kids would say today. The average woman had 3 sexual "interviews" a week.
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| Typical sleeping quarters. Residents would rotate rooms every 30 days. |
Many women came to the community because there was equality between the sexes. Women were allowed to work at whatever they wished, and almost all, except the very specialized jobs, were rotated every 30 days. It wasn't perfect; men, particularly those in Noyes' inner circle, kept their positions for years. The rotating jobs were mostly in the less skilled areas, and women were disproportionately represented in the child rearing areas. But given all that, the opportunities for women at the time were far fewer outside the community than in and some women who left the community came back just for this reason.
Odd fact: the community members were crazy about croquet.
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| Croquet on South Lawn, ca. 1865-1870. |
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| Note the silverware blanks |
They were vegetarians. Breakfast might consist of 2 apples and 2 eggs. They would host trainloads of curious tourists and serve them vegetarian meals. At times like these they would also serve coffee, something they didn't drink as Noyes didn't believe in stimulants.
The vegetarianism, the healthy child rearing and work ethic all contributed to a lower infant mortality and longer life span in the community members. They were also avid learners, had a well stocked library and members were encouraged to learn several languages.
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| A display of traps made by the community |
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| A bear trap |
The community was excellent at business, and had a reputation for quality of manufacture. One of their first businesses was in animal traps. The business was brought to them by a man who joined the community. They became known for the quality of their traps and that business prospered. A remnant of that business survives today in the Victor mouse and rat traps seen everywhere, and made in Lititz PA.
They were also in the silk thread business. The silverware business came relatively late in the life of the community. The reputation for quality got the community through some rough times when outsiders complained about the complex marriages. The fact that they paid their bills on time and made good products bought them a lot of support on the outside.
About those 2 apples and eggs in the morning. Suppose you wanted a 3rd egg, could you have one? Of course! But you would answer for it in the evening ritual of criticism, where one would sit in the Great Hall and face other members. You would hear about that third egg as well as your other faults.
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| The Great Hall |
The whole enterprise fell apart in 1880. Noyes tried to foist his son Theodore off as the next leader, but Theodore was an atheist and not a born leader. On top of that, charges of statutory rape were imminent against the elder Noyes. He left in the middle of the night and ended up in Ontario. Complex marriage was abandoned and traditional marriage re-established (sigh!) A limited stock company, Oneida Community Limited was formed to focus on the silverware business. The company continued manufacturing operations until 2005.
The Mansion currently has 35 private apartments for permanent residents, some of whom are descendants from original community members. There are also 8 guest rooms which rent out for $100/night, and a restaurant which, I presume, has primarily vegetarian meals.
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| They invented the lazy susan, as well as many other useful machines, which they never patented |
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| "Pantlets" were invented here, a comfortable and functional cross between a dress and pants. |
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| The childrens' nursery. Note the 3 faucets. The 3rd brought rainwater down from a cistern, believed to be healthier for the children |
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