1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from house 2 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fried and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and today 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about an experiment in utopian living. 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: I feel like this has been tried many times in 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:28,160 Speaker 1: anyways it has. And even while this one was going on, 7 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: there were many many others going on. Uh So, to 8 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: give you some clues to what we're talking about. From 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:38,559 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one to eighty six, Boston's West West Roxbury suburb, 10 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: which at the time was completely rural and it is 11 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 1: not so much now, was home to this experiment in 12 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: transcendentalist utopian living called the Brook Farm Community. And I 13 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: have read at the time that there were approximately eighty 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: other similar experimental communities going on in the US. I 15 00:00:57,520 --> 00:00:59,040 Speaker 1: was gonna say, were they all in New England or 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: were they all over I think they were highly concentrated 17 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: in New England, but there were a few and other 18 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: parts of the country. Uh. But it is a fascinating 19 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,199 Speaker 1: concept to think about, like a bunch of like minded 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: people all kind of throwing in their lot together and 21 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: trying to live in a community where you know, they 22 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: all work together to sort of attempt to achieve a 23 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: blissful happiness. I see the appeal. I think, you know, 24 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: on paper, it's on paper, its great. And then in 25 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,320 Speaker 1: reality and as we'll see, in practice, sustaining harder to 26 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: make that work long term, well, in sustaining yourself as 27 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: a community is pretty difficult. Uh. And the founder of 28 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 1: this experiment was a man named George Ripley. UM and 29 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: Brook Farm was really unusual because it was the first 30 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: community of its time that was secular. Uh. There were 31 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: many utopian societies launching, as I said, but the rest 32 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: were all pretty aligned with religious ideals. And we'll talk 33 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: a little bit more about the religion element later. Um. 34 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: But Ripley was a Unitarian minister, and he actually launched 35 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: the community with the idea that the residents could pursue 36 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: their scientific and literary studies there while also working. So 37 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: he wanted like a um working thinking balance. He and 38 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,280 Speaker 1: his wife, Sophia Willard Dana Ripley were heavily influenced by 39 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: the Transcendentalist movement, which emphasizes a more intuitive spirituality and 40 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: being highly connected to nature and living outside the trappings 41 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: of societal rules. Uh. There are lots of famous writers 42 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: associated with Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson and also Margaret Fuller 43 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: and Luisa may Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who plays into 44 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: this story a bit. Yes, So the Ripley's envisioned a 45 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 1: place of balance and equality where people could live very 46 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,639 Speaker 1: closely with the land, and on top of that, class, 47 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: gender and age would not play any part, and how 48 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: valuable a person was viewed in terms of the rest 49 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 1: of the community. Yeah, it's just that's a big it's 50 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: a big thing bakedown for society. Uh. And so how 51 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: this all got started is that George Ripley and his 52 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: friend Theodore Parker attended the Christian Union Convention in eighteen 53 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: forty and it's at that event that Ripley had the 54 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: idea for Brook Farm. And this convention was organized in 55 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,079 Speaker 1: part by a group called Quote Come Outers, and they 56 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: were religious protesters who had left their churches to speak 57 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: out against all sects like they didn't want the separate 58 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: um elements of religion. They didn't see why we couldn't 59 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: all just come together in spirituality. Uh. And other delegates 60 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:42,520 Speaker 1: at the conference also went on to form their own 61 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: utopian society. So Ripley was not flying solo in getting 62 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: this idea there. It must have been talked about, because 63 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: several other societies grew out of um the ideas that 64 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: people had while they were at that particular convention. And 65 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: I mean many of the attendees were seeing the tentional 66 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: of establishing communities where people could really simplify their lives 67 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: and shift to a more intuitive relationship with spirituality. And 68 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: so after that, Ripley resigned from his ministry UH to 69 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: pursue his dream of creating a sort of heaven on earth. 70 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: That was his His full time work at that point 71 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:19,279 Speaker 1: was to figure out a way to make this idea 72 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: a reality. So he wrote a letter to Ralph Waldo 73 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: Emerson in which he described his ideals for what Brook 74 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: Farm would be like, and he wrote, our objects, as 75 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: you know, are to ensure a more natural union between 76 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: intellectual and manual labor than now exists, To combine the 77 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: thinker and the worker as far as possible in the 78 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: same individual. To guarantee the highest mental freedom by providing 79 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: all with labor adapted to their tastes and talents, and 80 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,159 Speaker 1: securing to them the fruits of their industry. To do 81 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: away with the necessity of menial services by opening the 82 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: benefits of education and the profits of labor to all. 83 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: Thus to prepare a society of liberal, intelligent, and cultivated 84 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,840 Speaker 1: persons whose relations with each other would permit a more 85 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 1: simple and wholesome life then can be led amidst the 86 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 1: pressures of our competitive institutions. Again, I see the appeal. Yeah, 87 00:05:15,920 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: that's a pretty good ideal. And while Emerson also saw 88 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: the appeal he was a proponent of transcendentalism, he actually 89 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:25,520 Speaker 1: declined the invitation to join Ripley's group. He felt like 90 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,480 Speaker 1: the societal changes that Ripley was hoping to catalyze with 91 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,479 Speaker 1: Brooke Farm would actually be better served by individuals instead 92 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: of groups, and he wrote of it all failed to 93 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: see that the reform of reforms must be accomplished without means. 94 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 1: He didn't really want this big organized group to try 95 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: to change society. He thought you would do better one 96 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:48,279 Speaker 1: on one, just talking with people. And I think what 97 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,159 Speaker 1: what he was trying to do sort of see threads 98 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: of this today and the whole idea that people should 99 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 1: follow their passion and make their career based on their passion. 100 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,760 Speaker 1: It's sort of a similar idea of like uniting people's 101 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: work with what's going to be meaningful to them, which, 102 00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:05,799 Speaker 1: as we know, often does not play out current reality 103 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:10,040 Speaker 1: as something that is possible for all people. Uh And 104 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,280 Speaker 1: Margaret Fuller, who we mentioned earlier as another writer that's 105 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:17,040 Speaker 1: often connected to this movement, was also invited to participate 106 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:19,680 Speaker 1: in brook Farm, but she declined for the same ideological 107 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,559 Speaker 1: reasons as Emerson. She just didn't see or didn't feel 108 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:26,280 Speaker 1: like this structured group way to do it was really 109 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: the best way to affect social change. So the brook 110 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,919 Speaker 1: Farm Institute for Agriculture and Education was established in eighteen 111 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: forty one, and Ripley had figured out that he was 112 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: going to need thirty thousand dollars for the land and 113 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: the buildings and to support the community for its first year. 114 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: So he financed his vision by selling shares of the 115 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: farm for five hundred dollars each, which would later prove 116 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:53,039 Speaker 1: to be a very bad, bad plan um and he 117 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:57,040 Speaker 1: took contributions from like minded philanthropists. He bought a two 118 00:06:57,120 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: hundred acre dairy farm in West Roxbury, adjacent to the 119 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: Charles River, for ten thousand, five hundred dollars. On October eleven, 120 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: he didn't have any knowledge of farming, and so he 121 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: started to study agriculture as he planned the farm. And 122 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: most accounts will also say there's a reason it was 123 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: a dairy farm, which is that it had really awful 124 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: soil for actually growing crops. Yes, so they did focus 125 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: on the dairy part, but it may not have been 126 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: the purchase that a more seasoned farmer would have made. No, 127 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:30,440 Speaker 1: and the fact that someone who has no knowledge of 128 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: agriculture is trying to start a community that's going to 129 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 1: sustain itself by farming sort of sets the stage. And 130 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: then they really got to the point where they had 131 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: the land and they had to figure out the actual 132 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 1: logistics of how this farm was going to work. So, 133 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: you know, they had the ideals of Transcendentalism, but the 134 00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:52,120 Speaker 1: Ripley's really like had to figure out how is Brooke 135 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: Farm going to function? And they had um decided that 136 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 1: the main farmhouse on the property, which was going to 137 00:07:58,120 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: be called the Hive, would serve as the primary dorm 138 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: and it also had a lot of the social spaces. Uh. 139 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 1: There was a community school which eventually moved into a 140 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: building called the Nest, and it was run by Sophia 141 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: Ripley and her sister in law, Marianne, and it was 142 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: designed to educate future citizens. Um jobs would be arranged 143 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,720 Speaker 1: based on affinity so people could choose their work. As 144 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: he had said in his his letter to Emerson, they 145 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,360 Speaker 1: were going to try to make people able to do 146 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: the jobs that most appealed to them, so they would 147 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:33,679 Speaker 1: be most fulfilling. The work week required sixty hours from 148 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: the months of May to October, and then forty eight 149 00:08:37,120 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: from November to April. They'd also changed jobs frequently to 150 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: keep people from getting bored, and do lots of stuff 151 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: to try to make the tasks intellectually stimulating and enjoyable. 152 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: There's actually a story, please tell me, because about them 153 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 1: attaching little reading stands to like ironing boards, so that 154 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: people could be doing the are sort of menial ironing 155 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: tasks that had to get done and the laundry, but 156 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: at the same time they could be broadening their minds 157 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,600 Speaker 1: and reading things that were of interest to them. Yeah. 158 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: I was sort of imagining a nineteenth century gamification of 159 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: milking or something, mostly lots of reading. And that's cool. 160 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:23,439 Speaker 1: All of the labor, regardless of who was doing it, 161 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,840 Speaker 1: got the same compensation and for people who weren't working. 162 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: The rent was four dollars a week, so you could 163 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: go and be at Brook Farm as a border and 164 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: not work, but you would have to be paying for 165 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: your your room and board. Uh. And there's a really 166 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: unique thing about Brook Farm and that it almost entirely 167 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 1: broke the role of women as housekeepers, which keep in 168 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: mind eighteen forties, so this is really pretty revolutionary in 169 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 1: terms of how uh the roles of women and men 170 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: are to find. But Aaron mcmris, who is a scholar 171 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: who was writing for the Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society, 172 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: made an interesting note about this particular element, and he says, 173 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: there really wasn't a household to keep. There weren't, at 174 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,199 Speaker 1: least at the start of Brook Farm, many family units, 175 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: so the majority of the participants were young and unmarried 176 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: and without children. So in terms of keeping house and 177 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:23,320 Speaker 1: it wasn't quite the same as if someone had moved 178 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: in with like their three children, and you know, they 179 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:27,839 Speaker 1: had to make sure the kids were clothed and the 180 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:30,199 Speaker 1: you know, toys were picked up, and it was a 181 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: little bit easier when it's all young singles to kind 182 00:10:32,679 --> 00:10:35,840 Speaker 1: of have everybody doing their own tidying and not have 183 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: to really have a housekeeper per se. So there were 184 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: twenty people to start, but that number quickly got a 185 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,440 Speaker 1: lot bigger. Yeah, and it waxed and waned a little 186 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: bit as Brook Farm went on, But I don't think 187 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:54,080 Speaker 1: it went down to that smaller number again until the end. Uh. 188 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,720 Speaker 1: But the interesting thing that happened is it once the 189 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: initial enthusiastic optimism of life in a New Utopia war off. 190 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 1: It seems that the members of Brook Farm kind of 191 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,560 Speaker 1: separated into two categories. One was the people that were 192 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: happy there and kind of found this simple life very fulfilling. 193 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: And people who realize that farming is hard and they 194 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: didn't really enjoy this whole toil thing. They were like, oh, 195 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: life of the mind, that sounds great. Weight shoveling manure. Yeah, 196 00:11:24,640 --> 00:11:28,560 Speaker 1: well that's sixty hour work week quoted before. A lot 197 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: of people today would find a sixty hour work week 198 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: to be horrible a lot. And it's it's not like 199 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: sixty hours of sitting at a desk, Like we're talking 200 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: sixty hours of, like you were saying, spreading manure and 201 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: plowing and yeah, keeping a farm going is a lot 202 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 1: of man hours. Uh, and it is. It's hard labor, 203 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:54,160 Speaker 1: and most a lot of these people were not accustomed 204 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: to hard labor. Like I said, they came into it 205 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: from the intellectual mindset of like, oh, yes, we can 206 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: live with the land and in the meantime we'll be 207 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: reading all the time and studying. But they didn't get 208 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 1: that whole like we're going to have to cultivate the land. Yeah. 209 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: We grew all of our vegetables when I was growing up, Like, 210 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: I don't think we ever bought vegetables at a store. 211 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: And it was really constant work for the entire spring, 212 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:22,280 Speaker 1: summer and fall. Yeah. I mean I I grow very 213 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: small amounts of things, and I have to I feel like, man, 214 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:26,720 Speaker 1: why does this take me an hour a day just 215 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: to like check on plants and weed and and that's 216 00:12:30,440 --> 00:12:33,600 Speaker 1: my tiny, tiny little container gardens. So, of course, on 217 00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: a farm, longer hours is actually probably a pretty reasonable number. Uh. 218 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: But the people that fell into that second group of 219 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: farming is hard did not stick around. Nathaniel Hawthorne was 220 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:49,360 Speaker 1: one of them. I think he was. He's reported to 221 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: have only been there six months. Uh. But those that 222 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: remained referred to that disillusioned group as quote idealistic tourists, 223 00:12:56,840 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: and they criticized their lack of commitment to the project 224 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:03,920 Speaker 1: and lack of community spirit. So as the group got bigger, 225 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: they needed more buildings, and financing them proved to be 226 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 1: kind of a problem. Yeah, before long the community found 227 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: itself in fifteen thousand dollars worth of debt, which, again, 228 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:19,160 Speaker 1: by eight forty standards, is a lot to have to 229 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,240 Speaker 1: make up because they were hoping this would be a 230 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: long term situation. By eighteen forty two, there were seventy 231 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: people living at Brook Farm and it was a success 232 00:13:29,480 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: and that it was drawing new people to live there, 233 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: but the expense of caring for the new people was 234 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,959 Speaker 1: beyond what they could financially handle, especially because a lot 235 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,319 Speaker 1: of these newcomers didn't actually make good on the investment 236 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: agreements that they had made to come there. So, because 237 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 1: many of the idealists involved in the community also found 238 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: money to be distasteful, there wasn't really somebody who was 239 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 1: just going to take control of the finances and make 240 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: people pay up. Yeah, So that thing that we mentioned 241 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: earlier about it being a five hundred dollar buy in, 242 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: like you would buy in your share if nobody's actually 243 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: giving you their five hundred dollars, and it uh was 244 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: much more of a problem with people that came in 245 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: later than the people that started out. But if nobody's 246 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: actually doing their part to you know, bolster the finances, 247 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: then you're really just hemorrhaging money. At that point, the nest, 248 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 1: which was operating as a boarding school and had an 249 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: excellent reputation, was really the source of most of the 250 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 1: community's income. But even so it didn't provide enough to 251 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: cover day to day costs, let alone the expansion plans 252 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 1: that they were going to need to house all of 253 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: the new people coming in. So from eighteen forty three 254 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: to eighteen forty four, George Ripley became more and more 255 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: interested in a new vision of the utopian society described 256 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:55,240 Speaker 1: by French philosopher Charles Fourier. So Fourier's concept of communities 257 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: where social and commercial competition could just be completely eradicated 258 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: re appealed to Ripley, and he thought if he could 259 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:06,120 Speaker 1: reorganize Brooke Farm to be more in line with fourier 260 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: Is m he could solve some of their problems by 261 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,240 Speaker 1: attracting new members and new financial support. So the Brook 262 00:15:13,280 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: Farm concepts had always been a little bit at odds 263 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: with the individualism that was part of the Transcendentalist movement, 264 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: and that, as you recall, is why Emerson wasn't interested 265 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: in being a member. But Fourier's Utopia smoothed out that 266 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: particular wrinkle, and in a T forty four, Brook Farm 267 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:36,320 Speaker 1: officially reorganized as a quote Fourier Fourier Phalanx, which is 268 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 1: a concept that he was a name he used for 269 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: his concept of these communities. But the remaining members who 270 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: still valued transcendentalist individualism left the community. This was actually 271 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: not like a quick and easy transition. There was some 272 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,160 Speaker 1: infighting and arguing and and some rifts that you know, 273 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: cause people to leave. Under this new structure, the organization 274 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: became a lot more agid. Associates were organized into groups 275 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: under larger series divisions. There were three series and they 276 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:12,520 Speaker 1: were the agricultural, mechanical, and domestic industry. Each group formed 277 00:16:12,520 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: in any series had to be arranged using so called 278 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 1: harmonic numbers, so a group had to have three, five, seven, 279 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: or twelve members, but not four, six, or eight. And 280 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:26,920 Speaker 1: her history of Brick Farm, Linda Swift says, this was 281 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: of course stark lunacy. Uh there were huge there, rules 282 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: upon rules about how the business of these series and 283 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 1: groups was supposed to be conducted. And it was this 284 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,200 Speaker 1: huge departure from the really intuitive approach that the community 285 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: had been founded on. Yeah, it really completely changed how 286 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:48,720 Speaker 1: the whole thing was working, because it had been, you know, 287 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:52,040 Speaker 1: so much of a a relaxed kind of atmosphere, and 288 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: now suddenly there were, you know, all of these guides 289 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 1: about how business was going to happen and how four 290 00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: men of each group would report to one another and 291 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: report up to their provisors. And it felt a lot 292 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: less like the ideals that Ripley had initially founded the 293 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:10,040 Speaker 1: community on. And the makeup of the group, as you 294 00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: can imagine, changed as well as a consequence. And so 295 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: while the initial community at Brook Farm had been made 296 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: up almost entirely of Boston intellectuals, now tradespeople and working 297 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:22,919 Speaker 1: class people began to fill in the gaps that were 298 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,800 Speaker 1: left by those that had departed during the reorganization. Ripley 299 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: was very quick to point out that children from all 300 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 1: walks of life were equally successful in the farm's school, 301 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 1: and that the discourse among the adults was as robust 302 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: and lively as ever. Despite the diversity of backgrounds that 303 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: now lived there. So he was really trying to point out, like, no, 304 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: my ideas really do work. We're all equal here, and 305 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: that's awesome. But at the same time he had lost 306 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: a lot of the people that originally bought into his plan. 307 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty five, Brooke Farm began producing a periodical 308 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: called The Harbinger. It was dedicated to four A Aism 309 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: and the philosophy of utopian society. Ripley hoped that this 310 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: new project was going to bring them some money, and 311 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:09,000 Speaker 1: by this point there were more than a hundred people 312 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: living at Brook Farm, so it had grown pretty substantially, 313 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:14,480 Speaker 1: and Ripley wanted to construct a new building that would 314 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: house all of them. At this point, they still had 315 00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: the hive, but they had several of their smaller houses uh, 316 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,640 Speaker 1: and he was really counting on the periodical to make 317 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: some money, so work began on the Great Community House, 318 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:30,360 Speaker 1: which was to be called the Philanstry. With the increase 319 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:34,959 Speaker 1: in Fourierism's popularity, Brook Farm and other utopian communities were 320 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: starting to be viewed with more and more suspicion by 321 00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: the outside world. Rumors were spreading about sexual promiscuity and depravity. 322 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,960 Speaker 1: And while these rumors were not true of Brooke Farm, 323 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:48,760 Speaker 1: they were seated in four A's writings in which he 324 00:18:48,840 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: did advocate for sort of a free love model, similar 325 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,159 Speaker 1: to what we think of with the nineteen sixties. In 326 00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: any case, the gossip about this behavior in West Roxbury 327 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,840 Speaker 1: was so devastated to the school's enrollment and consequently to 328 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: Brook Farms finances. Yeah, when your primary source of income, 329 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 1: you know, loses most of its um it's the checks 330 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: that are coming in, you very quickly find yourself in 331 00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:17,439 Speaker 1: a lot of trouble. And there was just more trouble 332 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:20,639 Speaker 1: to come at this point. So as times got leaner, 333 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: tensions understandably grew among the Brook Farm residents. One resident 334 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: started hosting an outdoor Sunday service each week, and this 335 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,440 Speaker 1: actually caused a big rift between those who were really 336 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,400 Speaker 1: excited and welcomed this idea and those who had moved 337 00:19:35,400 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: to Brook Farm because of its secular roots. And we 338 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:40,959 Speaker 1: should mention that religion wasn't forbidden or even unusual at 339 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,360 Speaker 1: Brook Farm, but organized religion had not been a part 340 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 1: of the Farms foundation. Uh, people were certainly welcome to 341 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: be spiritual and worship in whatever way they wanted, but 342 00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,479 Speaker 1: the fact that this person was now hosting services really 343 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: rankled some people. And then to make matters where smallpox 344 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,359 Speaker 1: hit the community after one of the members caught it 345 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,959 Speaker 1: while visiting relatives in Boston and got back before he 346 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:09,400 Speaker 1: developed symptoms, about thirty of the group had to be quarantined, 347 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 1: and then the healthy people in the group weren't able 348 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,679 Speaker 1: to work on the farm because they were having to 349 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: care for the sick. Several pupils were removed from the 350 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: school by their families, which also reduced the little bit 351 00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:24,440 Speaker 1: of income that Brook Farm had. By this point, there 352 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: were four mortgages taken out on the property, so they 353 00:20:27,480 --> 00:20:30,919 Speaker 1: were in really bad financial straits. And it only got 354 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: worse because just after the smallpox outbreak, and to the 355 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: best my knowledge, I don't think they lost anybody during that, 356 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: They just lost productivity. They had very few deaths of 357 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 1: Brook Farm, which is kind of a happy face in 358 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: the midst of sort of this bad stuff going on. Uh. 359 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 1: But just after that smallpox outbreak, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had 360 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: left six months after it was founded, took legal action 361 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: against Brook Farm to try to get his initial investment 362 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:57,720 Speaker 1: back since he didn't stay. And there had been a 363 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: provision in the original um tracks of brook Farms that 364 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: people could, if they gave enough notice get there, get 365 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: their investment back if they stayed a certain shortened period 366 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: of time. So he was within his rights. Uh, And 367 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: unfortunately there were just no funds to repay him. Ripley 368 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: actually agreed, Yes, he's completely within his bounds to want 369 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 1: his money back. I just don't have that money. And 370 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: it didn't help that Brook Farm had also lost its 371 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: primary philanthropic supporters. The people that were giving money to 372 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 1: these utopian communities had decided they were going to give 373 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: them to other communities that looked like they might have 374 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: greater success, and a last ditch effort to breathe life 375 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: back into the community, Ripley and the Brook Farm leadership 376 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,960 Speaker 1: pushed forward on completion of the Philanstrey in eight This 377 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,640 Speaker 1: was yet another case of the characteristic and misguided optimism 378 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: that had given Brook Farm such promise at the beginning, 379 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,879 Speaker 1: but was also its undoing. It's really like any tale 380 00:21:55,040 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: of the chronic failed dreamer, where we just keep thinking, 381 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: just one more thing, we'll turn this around. Yeah, he 382 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: he really did. I mean everything that you look at. 383 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,200 Speaker 1: It's like, no, we're gonna start publishing his paper. People 384 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,800 Speaker 1: will buy it, and then we'll be fine. The school 385 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 1: is going to keep us afloat. But then, you know, 386 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: just one thing after another. He kept thinking I would 387 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,360 Speaker 1: save them, and it never did. And then to kind 388 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: of kick them while they were down, they threw a 389 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,000 Speaker 1: party to celebrate what was going to be the completion 390 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,879 Speaker 1: of the new structure. It wasn't completed, but they were 391 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: kind of excited that they were moving forward and close 392 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: to the end. Uh. And this was on March third, 393 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: eight and during the party, a fire broke out and 394 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: consumed the entire building, So the Filan story was completely 395 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,639 Speaker 1: decimated as they were trying to celebrate it. Uh. And 396 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: it was an unfinished structure and it had not been ensured, 397 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,919 Speaker 1: so as it burned, so did the dream of Brooke Farm. 398 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: Because seven thousand dollars had been spent building the structure, 399 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: which had turned to ashes, and it was thought that 400 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: they were going to need another three thousand just to 401 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:00,440 Speaker 1: finish it. But of course that money never out spent 402 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:03,040 Speaker 1: because it wasn't there to finish. So they're basically out 403 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: on their investment of the building completely, completely, So not 404 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,840 Speaker 1: having to spend that three thousand more dollars was not 405 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: not a lot going to help them, no, So that 406 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,159 Speaker 1: was really the final nail in the community's financial coffin, 407 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,199 Speaker 1: and it took its toll on the already lagging morale 408 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,160 Speaker 1: of the people that had stuck it out and we're 409 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: trying to keep things going. So then just a few 410 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:26,639 Speaker 1: months there were only a few dozen people left at 411 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,080 Speaker 1: brook Farm uh and George Ripley, even though he was 412 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,560 Speaker 1: still living there on the property, had kind of already 413 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,800 Speaker 1: turned his focus to the New England for society. He 414 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,160 Speaker 1: really stopped worrying about keeping it going because he kind 415 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: of knew what was going to happen. Towards the end 416 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:45,199 Speaker 1: of eighteen forty six, the brook Farm Library collection was 417 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,719 Speaker 1: sold at auction, and then in eighteen forty seven the 418 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: bankruptcy filing for brook Farm wrapped up, and in August 419 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: of eighteen forty seven it was officially disbanded. So Ripley's 420 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: transcendentalisk u topia only lasted for six years, and while 421 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 1: Brook Farm wasn't sustainable long term, it really did have 422 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: a pretty significant influence on many social movements going on 423 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 1: at the time, including abolitionism and the women's rights movement. 424 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: According to Linda Swift, who we referenced earlier, fourteen marriages 425 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,600 Speaker 1: could track their roots back to the fellowship at brook Farm, 426 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,840 Speaker 1: one of which actually took place there, and most of 427 00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:26,920 Speaker 1: those appear to have been happy. Another interesting point is 428 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,920 Speaker 1: that the community had what could be considered a prototype 429 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,199 Speaker 1: of the modern daycare, where the few parents among the 430 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: group could leave their children with caregivers for the day 431 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: while they set to their work, which had really never 432 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: been done before, at least on an organized level. Nathaniel Hawthorne, 433 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,240 Speaker 1: who probably never got back his initial investment, wrote a 434 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: fictionalized version of his time at brook Farm called Lithdale Romance. 435 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: It's clear from it that he did not enjoy this experiment. 436 00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,800 Speaker 1: As for Ripley, he went on to become the literary 437 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,360 Speaker 1: critic for The New York Trip June, and he held 438 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: that job until he died in eighteen eighty. After Brook 439 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: Farm was abandoned, the former dairy farm found other uses. 440 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: It was used as a poorhouse, as a Civil War 441 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:15,679 Speaker 1: training camp, and as an orphanage. In nineteen seventy seven, 442 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,360 Speaker 1: Brook Farm was designated a Boston Landmark. That same year, 443 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,560 Speaker 1: the hive, which was still standing burned down. In ninety four. 444 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:25,919 Speaker 1: Arson took the house on the property that had been 445 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: named after Margaret Fuller, even though she had never lived there. 446 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: In the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation acquired the 447 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,479 Speaker 1: Brook Farm site. It lists the lands as a National 448 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:41,119 Speaker 1: Historic Landscape and the buildings are all gone. In her 449 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: nine hundred book entitled Brook Farm, It's members, scholars and visitors, 450 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: Linda Swift, who he referenced earlier, says of the Brook 451 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,560 Speaker 1: Farm community like some ill contrived play, the brook Farm 452 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,919 Speaker 1: Phalanx lingered during one more act after all the essential 453 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:58,879 Speaker 1: dramatic elements were exhausted. So even though it kind of 454 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,280 Speaker 1: sputtered out at the end and had a lot of problems, 455 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: it's still kind of referred to when people talk about 456 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: it as sort of a success in terms of it 457 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,040 Speaker 1: being a successful experiment, Like I think a lot was 458 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: learned from it, and from a sociological standpoint, I know, 459 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,160 Speaker 1: people study it and kind of turnover and examine what 460 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,119 Speaker 1: was right about it and what was wrong, And it 461 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: did to have some some pretty interesting influences on society 462 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:26,360 Speaker 1: at the time. So in that regard, you could count 463 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:31,240 Speaker 1: it as success. Uh, there were societal reforms linked to subceeds. 464 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: So there and it's so fascinating, and it was pretty 465 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: revolutionary that everyone, regardless of their sex or their age, 466 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 1: where their race, was going to be treated the same way. Yeah, yeah, 467 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:46,479 Speaker 1: they're that's not really how eighteen forty grew. And there 468 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:48,640 Speaker 1: are many many stories. I mean, we could you could 469 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:50,920 Speaker 1: almost launch a podcast just about brook Farm and talk 470 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: about individual stories of people and events that happened there 471 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: because there are many, many of them, and most of 472 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: the bol that had lived there really spoke pretty well 473 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,400 Speaker 1: of it, even though there had been problems. So it's 474 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,119 Speaker 1: a fascinating concept to think about. I think I have 475 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,239 Speaker 1: to wonder if someone tried a similar thing today if 476 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: it would work well. And I know a couple of 477 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: people that have lived essentially on communes at some point 478 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: in their life, none of them for their entire life. 479 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: It always seems to have been this three to five years. Yeah. Yeah, 480 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: my first my early memories are on the commune, and 481 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: then my parents left. Yeah. Yeah. There are many cases 482 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 1: of failed communes, but I think a lot of times 483 00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: they implode in a much more dramatic way. This one 484 00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: kind of like I said it was mostly about money. 485 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 1: I think, even though there were some ideological shifts throughout 486 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:50,320 Speaker 1: its life, really the money was what killed it. Yeah. Well, 487 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: and even if you think you're prepared for the work, 488 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,840 Speaker 1: the manual work, like if you were, if you are 489 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:57,959 Speaker 1: an intellectual person who most of your life has been 490 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: relatively privileged, then the the sheer amount of manual labor 491 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: required just to raise your own food to shock crazy. Yeah, 492 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: it puts a lot of things in perspective. Yes, indeed, 493 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: so that's brock Farm. And I think you also have 494 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: some listener mail I do. I have a few too, 495 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: are well. They're all about our recent episode on the 496 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: domestication of the cat. Uh. One is from our listener Rosie, 497 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 1: who says she was surprised that neither of us had 498 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,920 Speaker 1: a favorite famous cat in history, both of you being 499 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,800 Speaker 1: cat lovers and history buffs. She says it might only 500 00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:37,399 Speaker 1: be ausee knowledge, but Matthew Flinders, the first man to 501 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: circumnavigate Australia, has a cat called Trim who was born 502 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: on board and sailed with him. Trim is pretty well 503 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: known in Australia, at least in his history and cat's circles, 504 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: and it's probably my favorite historical cat. I had never 505 00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: heard of him, so that's super cool. And Kate also 506 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: wrote us and kind of said the same thing. Towards 507 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: the end of the show, you mentioned that you did 508 00:28:57,320 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: not know of any famous cats, so I thought I'd 509 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: share some with you. In the United Kingdom, the Prime 510 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 1: Minister has an official chief mouser of the Cabinet who 511 00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 1: lives at Downing Street. This role was currently held by 512 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,640 Speaker 1: Larry and Freya. The first of these cats was during 513 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: the reign of Henry the Eighth, and since ninety nine 514 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: there has been a line in the budget for petty 515 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: cash for the upkeep and maintenance of the mousers. I 516 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: love that. Another famous cat which links nicely to a 517 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: previous stuff you missed in history podcast is Unsinkable Sam. 518 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: Unsinkable Sam or Oscar was a German ship's cat originally 519 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: on the Bismarck, who was found among the wreckage of 520 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: the ship by British navy vessels. He was rescued and 521 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: then served on two British naval ships, surviving the sinking 522 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: of both of them as well. That is almost freaky 523 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: uh in one. After the sinking of his last ship, 524 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: he lived in the Governor's house in Gibraltar, before being 525 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 1: returned to the UK to live out the rest of 526 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,000 Speaker 1: his life in a home for retired seamen in Belfast. 527 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: That is charming. Uh. The research suggests that the story 528 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,920 Speaker 1: of Sam maybe an urban legend. He still is one 529 00:29:56,960 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: famous feline and some cat ended up in the seamen zone, 530 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: so those are famous cats we did not know about. 531 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:07,320 Speaker 1: It was really cool. All I could think of was um, 532 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: President Clinton's cat socks, and he's not really famous except 533 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: for being that, Like there's I have never heard many 534 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: stories about him. So thank you both of you for 535 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: writing in about cats. Uh. If anybody else would like 536 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: to write to us, they can do so at History 537 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 1: Podcast at Discovery dot com. 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