Historic Communities in the News

In the late 1700s and early 1800s the Harmony Society built three communities in Pennsylvania and Indiana attracting thousands of members and lasted for decades. The Harmonists are still making news in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review which recently ran a story on the historic commune.

And Mary Ann Landis, director of Old Economy Village, says she hopes people come to realize the role the Harmonists played in society at large.

Outsiders came to study their economic system. They were outspoken opponents of low tariffs on imported goods, to the point that one society member was called to testify about the matter before Congress.

Landis’ hope is that visitors to the village “gain an appreciation for how important the Harmony Society was in the early part of the 19th century for the development of this part of Pennsylvania, as well as politically and economically for America.”

But the Harmonists are not the only historic communalists getting press. The Baltimore Sun ran an article on the Jewish commune Yaazor which flourished in the early 1900s in Maryland. Yaazor was focused on immigrants trying to set up a new life in this country:

The newspaper explained [in 1906] that the “principal occupation at present is the pursuit of agriculture and stock-raising” and the “spirit of freedom, cleanliness and industry pervade the whole community. There are no idlers. Everyone is busy in the fields or homes. Only the young children seem to have time to play.”

Yaazor represented a way of life that freed residents from the bone-breaking hours toiling in Baltimore’s sweatshops and living in crowded tenements.

Its great to see positive portrayals of historic communities and their influence on our wider culture. Hopefully it can bring awareness to how modern communties might be doing the same.

Read the Harmonist Article

Read the Yaazor Article