The Shakers, an entrepreneurial sect.(Books about antiques)(Shaker Lands and Shaker Hands: A Survey of the Industries)(Book review)

In the antiques world, the Shaker sect, which flourished from the end of the eighteenth (reaching a peak around 1850), is exceedingly well known for the pared down and beautiful pieces of furniture and other household articles they crafted. Much less well known are the various Shaker industries, which helped to sustain the eighteen communities from Maine to Kentucky and supplied foodstuffs, medicines, household goods, and clothing to the world, or those living outside these communities.

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A new publication takes a look not only at the wide variety of products the Shakers manufactured but also at the economic history of a sect whose business acumen and high standards created success after success. The book is written by the Shaker collector M. Stephen Miller, who, with his wife, Miriam R. Miller, presides over a collection of some sixteen thousand pieces of ephemera relating to the communal industries engaged in by the Shakers over a period of some two hundred years.

Once the Shakers settled and built a community, they farmed their land with the goal of producing enough food to remain self-sufficient. But they were so adept at this that they soon were growing more than their communities could consume. They saw financial opportunity in selling this surplus and became skilled entrepreneurs who were as competent at marketing as they were at farming. As early as the decade between 1790 and 1800 they were producing enough seeds (the first Shaker industry) to be able to sell their overage to outsiders. By 1810 all eleven communities in New York State and New England were engaged in the seed business. The medicinal herb business followed, and by the 1860s the community in Harvard, Massachusetts, was responsible for cultivating and processing more than 170 varieties of herbs. When feasible, the Shakers saw the advantage in automation and in creating as much as possible on site (labels for packages, for example). The pieces of ephemera left behind are remarkable survivals and include both things made by the Shakers and those purchased from outside manufacturers. Examples are found in the Millers' collection, which is the place of origin for almost all the illustrations in this book, and include packages made from paper, glass, and tin; labels; instructions for use; bills and receipts; and many forms of advertising, including almanacs, catalogues, pamphlets, posters, broadsides, display signs, and premiums. As Miller explains: "The business of garden seeds involved a substantial commitment of all their resources--land, time, manpower; cash reserves, and a large measure of ingenuity. They had no other model to look to, so they innovated as they went."

New Lebanon, New York (renamed Mount Lebanon in 1861), one of the largest producers of topical medicines, also dominated the production of dried sweet corn along with canned vegetables and other prepared foods. Among the foods and beverages sold by the Shakers ...