National First Ladies' Library
'Tis a Gift to Be Simple: The Shaker People
Students identify the difficulties and benefits of a utopian community. They examine their own ideas of utopia and research an example of one such community that has had an impact on our own culture.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Antebellum Communal Experiments
Read this section of a chapter on "Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses" to identify similarities and differences among utopian groups of the antebellum era and explain how religious utopian communities differed from nonreligious ones.
Yale University
Beineicke Library: America and the Utopian Dream
This exhibition documents the quest for utopian society through the literary works and manuscripts in the collection of Yale University's Beinecke Library, beginning with Thomas More's Utopia. With additional information on utopian...
Digital History
Digital History: Utopian Socialism
A good look at the Utopian communities that were attempted in the first half of the 19th century. They had differing reasons for their development, but their common focus was trying a unique way of communal living. Read about the Oneida...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Utopian Communities, 1800 1890
This site is a lesson plan for students to follow for an assignment dealing with Utopian communities but it does include some background on some of the various Utopian communities of the 19th century.
Steven Kreis, PhD
The History Guide: Robert Owen, 1771 1858
This site, which is provided for by The History Guide, contains a good overview of the life of Robert Owen.
Other
The Shaker Workshops: Who Are the Shakers?
This resource provides links to a number of articles and essays on the history of the Shakers, their way of life, and their furniture making.
Indiana University
Iupui: Historic New Harmony, Indiana
This is the home site for the landmark town of New Harmony, Indiana, which is the site of two attempted communal livings. Both the Harmonists, from 1814-1825, and the Owenites, from 1825-1826, called New Harmony home in hopes of a great...
Other
Nyhn: The Oneida Community
This site gives some background information about the Oneida Community. Also provides information about the founder, John Humphrey Noyes, and lists the "doctrines" of the community.
Other
Utopia in History
A short account of the idea of utopia (as seen in pictures) in the revolutionary period through the nineteenth century both in Europe and the United States.
Texas A&M University
American Transcendentalism Web
A scholarly site with many articles about American transcendental authors, their work, and philosophy.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Experiments With Utopia
Read about the communities, often religious, that strove to be a Utopia, a perfect place where man's natural goodness would provide a good life. Several Utopian communities were spread across the East and Midwest.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Utopias in America
A good look at the various Utopian communities established in the United States in the 1800s. Find out about the communities, their founders, and their demise.
PBS
Pbs: The Shakers Timeline
A good timeline showing the major events in the history of the religious group plus it also places them in the context of events around the world.
Other
Biographical Studies: Robert Owen (1771 1858)
This site from the University of Evansville discusses Robert Owen, his social reforms, and the community he purchased, New Harmony. The site also mentions his upbringing in England.