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The Perfectionists or Oneida
Community
The whole community of 300 at their largest lived in one large house with 200 rooms.
In the group photo, Noyes, the founder and spiritual leader, is
marked with a red circle. The house is now an historic site. |
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| Each evening the whole community met
in the Big Hall for practical and religious lectures, entertainment
(hence the stage), and general discussions about the various
enterprises of the community. On Sundays, this hall was also used to
entertain outsiders (sometimes, over 1,000 on one Sunday) who were curious
about the community. They were only charged for the food that they consumed:
strawberries and cream were a favorite. People sat wherever they wanted to:
on the ground floor or balcony. All meals were taken in the dinning room.
Each person's napkin and silverware was kept in the cabinet between
the door and window. Common clothing worn by women and men: notice
women wore pants. |
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| Each month they changed their job
assignments and their rooms. Change was a virtue for the community:
increased variety, reduced dullness, and kept the mind alert. Individual
rooms were small but comfortable. A list of common items in each
room is shown. |
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| The upper sitting room was
used for reading, conversations, and to meet love-making partners, who had
been pre-scheduled. The doors in the back and balcony led to rooms
used for love-making, after which each person returned to their own bedrooms
for the night. The community was very interested in learning and self- and
group-improvements. The library held the subscriptions of over 100
journals and newspapers and many books. Children had their own library.
Because they only worked about 6.5 hours (outside the community 12 hour work
days were common), they read, discussed, and socialize a great deal indoors
and outdoors in their gardens. |
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They farmed 80 acres and
operated many businesses. The most profitable were traps; they made
over 150 million which were used by the Hudson Bay Company in Canada, in
Russia, and even for trapping elephants; yet, their most famous product
today is the only product which continues to be made: Oneida silverware.
Learn more about the Oneida community.
All photos by permission of the Oneida
Community Mansion House, Oneida, NY, 16 July 2003. |
