The Oneida Community

The Oneida Community

John Humphrey Noyes• Deeply religious graduate of

Dartmouth College, inspired by the teachings of Charles Finney and the Shaker Society

• Wanted to create a society similar to the Shakers’.

• He socialized in the Congressional Church, but was later expelled due to his beliefs.

Perfectionism• The belief

that people could be without flaws because the second coming of Christ had already occurred.

A Rail Road Station in Oneida

Complex Marriage• A system in which all the members of a

community are married to one another.• Noyes believed that marriage was

stopping people from reaching perfection, and he preached that it did not exist in heaven, so it was unnecessary on earth.

Social Goals • Noyes’ main goal was to create

an equal society for women.o Women would be free from being

the property of their husbandso Limited childbirth by encouraging

coitus interruptus o Children that were born were

placed in community nurseries to lessen the burden of or raising children and give women more oppurtunity.

o Women began to wear pantaloons under their dresses and cut their hair short to symbolize their equality with men,

Women in Oneida

Oneida Community• Noyes first wanted

to establish a perfectionist community in his hometown of Putney, Vermont, but the locals there were strongly opposed to complex marriage, so he moved it to Oneida, New York

Oneida, New York 1863

Oneida Community • The community economy was

supported by the selling of steel animal traps, which was very successful, so they moved on to making silverware.

• Noyes was forced to leave the country to escape charges of adultery

• After the Noyes’ departure, the community abandons complex marriage

• They create their own silver company, Oneida Community, Ltd.

Home in Canada where Noyes lived out the rest of his life

Impact of Oneida Community

• The community questioned traditional customs of the emerging capitalist society, and challenged marriage and family life

Oneida Community Band