1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Hello and Happy Saturday, everybody. We have a couple of 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,440 Speaker 1: episodes coming up, one of which is a live show 3 00:00:07,560 --> 00:00:11,400 Speaker 1: about communal living experiments in New Harmony, Indiana, and that 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,319 Speaker 1: started me thinking about this episode from six years ago 5 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: that we did about the brook Farm community. Brook Farm 6 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: actually came after those experiments by a couple of decades, 7 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: and the ideology of it was really different from brook Farm. 8 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: While other attempted Utopia's claimed to be about equality, there 9 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: was still a clear division between genders and how the 10 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: work was portioned out. But brooke Farm, on the other hand, 11 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: was founded on the idea that women should truly be equals. Yeah, 12 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 1: they also did not discriminate on the basis of color. 13 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: It was really they were very, very into the idea 14 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: that truly every human there was equal to every other. Also, 15 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: when we originally recorded this episode, I did not live 16 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: in Massachusetts, and I imagined that where brook Farm was 17 00:00:55,720 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: located was way further out than it actually is, but 18 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: it was super rural at that time, yes, which we 19 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: mentioned in the episode. And there are a lot of 20 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: commonalities in all of these communal living stories, but none 21 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: of them worked out. I don't think that's a big spoiler, 22 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: but they all kind of failed in their own unique ways, 23 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: although they also all had some interesting uh sorts of 24 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: successes of their own, even though they didn't long term survives. 25 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: So give it a listen. Welcome to Stuff You Missed 26 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: in History Class, a production of I Heart Radios How 27 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 28 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: Fry and I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and today we're going 29 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: to talk about an experiment in utopian living. I feel 30 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: like this has been tried many times in anyways it has, 31 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: And even while this one was going on, there were 32 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: many many others going on. Uh So to give you 33 00:01:57,280 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: some clues to what we're talking about. From one to 34 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: eighty six, Boston's West West Roxbury suburb, which at the 35 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: time was completely rural and it is not so much now, 36 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: was home to this experiment in transcendentalist utopian living called 37 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: the brook Farm Community. And I have read at the 38 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: time that there were approximately eighty other similar experimental communities 39 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: going on in the US. I was gonna say, were 40 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: they all in New England or were they all over 41 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 1: I think they were highly concentrated in New England, but 42 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: there were a few and other parts of the country. Uh, 43 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: but it is a fascinating concept to think about, like 44 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: a bunch of like minded people all kind of throwing 45 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: in their lot together and trying to live in a 46 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: community where you know, they all work together to sort 47 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: of attempt to achieve a blissful happiness. I see the appeal. 48 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: I think, you know, on paper, it's on paper something great. 49 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: And then in reality and as we'll see, in practice, 50 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: sustaining all harder to make at work long term. Well, 51 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: in sustaining yourself as a community, Yeah, pretty difficult. Uh. 52 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: And the founder of this experiment was a man named 53 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: George Ripley. UM. And Brook Farm was really unusual because 54 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: it was the first community of its time that was secular. Uh. 55 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: There were many utopian societies launching, as I said, but 56 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: the rest were all pretty aligned with religious ideals. And 57 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: we'll talk a little bit more about the religion element later. Um. 58 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 1: But Ripley was a Unitarian minister, and he actually launched 59 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: the community with the idea that the residents could pursue 60 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,880 Speaker 1: their scientific and literary studies there while also working. So 61 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 1: he wanted like a um working thinking balance. He and 62 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: his wife, Sophia Willard Dana Ripley were heavily influenced by 63 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 1: the Transcendentalist movement, which emphasizes a more intuitive spirituality and 64 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,040 Speaker 1: being highly connected to nature and living outside the trappings 65 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 1: of societal rules. There are lots of famous writers associated 66 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: with Transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson and also Margaret Fuller and 67 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: Luisa may Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne, who plays into this 68 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: story a bit. Yes, So the Ripley's envisioned a place 69 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: of balance and equality where people could live very closely 70 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: with the land, and on top of that, class, gender 71 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 1: and age would not play any part, and how valuable 72 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: a person was viewed in terms of the rest of 73 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: the community. Yeah, it's just that's a big it's a 74 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: big that's a big for society. Uh. And so how 75 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: this all got started is that George Ripley and his 76 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: friend Theodore Parker attended the Christian Union convention in eighteen 77 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: forty and it's at that event that Ripley had the 78 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,599 Speaker 1: idea for Brook Farm. And this convention was organized in 79 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: part by a group called Quote come Outers, and they 80 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: were religious protesters who had left their churches to speak 81 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: out against all sects like they didn't want the separate 82 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: elements of religion. They didn't see why we couldn't all 83 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,040 Speaker 1: just come together in spirituality. UH and other delegates at 84 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: the conference also went on to form their own utopian society. 85 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 1: So Ripley was not flying solo in getting this idea there. 86 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: It must have been talked about, because several other societies 87 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,039 Speaker 1: grew out of um the ideas that people had while 88 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: they were at that particular convention. And I mean many 89 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: of the attendees were seeing the potential of establishing communities 90 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 1: where people could really simplify their lives and shift to 91 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,160 Speaker 1: a more intuitive relationship with spirituality. And so after that, 92 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,600 Speaker 1: Ripley resigned from his ministry UH to pursue his dream 93 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: of creating a sort of heaven on earth. That was 94 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: his his full time work at that point was to 95 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: figure out a way to make this idea a reality. 96 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: So he wrote a letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson in 97 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: which he described his ideals for what Brook Farm would 98 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: be like, and he wrote, our objects, as you know, 99 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 1: are to ensure a more natural union between intellectual and 100 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 1: manual labor than now exists, to combine the thinker and 101 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 1: the worker as far as possible in the same individual, 102 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 1: to guarantee the highest mental freedom by providing all with 103 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: labor adapted to their tastes and talents, and securing to 104 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: them the fruits of their industry. To do away with 105 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: the necessity of menial services by opening the benefits of 106 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: education and the profits of labor to all, and thus 107 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: to prepare a society of liberal, intelligent, and cultivated persons 108 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,640 Speaker 1: whose relations with each other would permit a more simple 109 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: and wholesome life than can be led amidst the pressures 110 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: of our competitive institutions. Again, I see the appeal. Yeah, 111 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,920 Speaker 1: it's a pretty good ideal. And while Emerson also saw 112 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,200 Speaker 1: the appeal he was a proponent of transcendentalism, he actually 113 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,840 Speaker 1: declined the invitation to join Ripley's group. He felt like 114 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: the societal changes that Ripley was hoping to catalyze with 115 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,799 Speaker 1: Brooke Farm would actually be better served by individuals instead 116 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: of groups, and he wrote of it all old to 117 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: see that the reform of reforms must be accomplished without means. 118 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: He didn't really want this big, organized group to try 119 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:10,960 Speaker 1: to change society. He thought you would do better one 120 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: on one, just talking with people. And I think what 121 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,120 Speaker 1: what he was trying to do. You sort of see 122 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: threads of this today and the whole idea that people 123 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: should follow their passion and make their career based on 124 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: their passion. It's sort of a similar idea of like 125 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: uniting people's work with what's going to be meaningful to them, 126 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: which as we know, often does not play out correct 127 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:35,240 Speaker 1: and reality as something that is possible for all people. Yeah. Uh. 128 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: And Margaret Fuller, who we mentioned earlier is another writer 129 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 1: that's often connected to this movement, was also invited to 130 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: participate in brook Farm, but she declined for the same 131 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: ideological reasons as Emberson. She just didn't see or didn't 132 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: feel like this structured group way to do it was 133 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: really the best way to affect social change. So the 134 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: brook Farm Institute for Agriculture and Education was established in 135 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one, and Ripley had figured out that he 136 00:08:02,200 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: was going to need thirty thousand dollars for the land 137 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:07,600 Speaker 1: in the buildings and to support the community for its 138 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: first year, So he financed his vision by selling shares 139 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: of the farm for five hundred dollars each, which would 140 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,040 Speaker 1: later prove to be a very bad, bad plan. Um 141 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: and he took contributions from like minded philanthropists. He bought 142 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 1: a two hundred acre dairy farm in West Roxbury, adjacent 143 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: to the Charles River for ten thousand, five hundred dollars 144 00:08:29,320 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: on October eleven one. He didn't have any knowledge of farming, 145 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: and so he started to study agriculture as he planned 146 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: the farm. And most accounts will also say there's a 147 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: reason it was a dairy farm, which is that it 148 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: had really awful soil for actually growing crops. Yes, so 149 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: they did focus on the dairy part, but it may 150 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: not have been the purchase that a more seasoned farmer 151 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: would have made. No, and the fact that someone who 152 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: has no knowledge of agriculture is trying to start a 153 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: community that's going to sustain itself by farming sort of 154 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 1: sets the stage. And then they really got to the 155 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 1: point where they had the land and they had to 156 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: figure out the actual logistics of how this farm was 157 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 1: going to work. So, you know, they had the ideals 158 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: of transcendentalism, but the Ripley's really like had to figure 159 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,360 Speaker 1: out how is Brooke Farm going to function? And they 160 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,880 Speaker 1: had um decided that the main farmhouse on the property, 161 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: which was going to be called the Hive would serve 162 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:27,719 Speaker 1: as the primary dorm, and it also had a lot 163 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: of the social spaces. Uh there was a community school 164 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: which eventually moved into a building called the Nest, and 165 00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:38,119 Speaker 1: it was run by Sophia Ripley and her sister in law, Marianne, 166 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: and it was designed to educate future citizens. Um jobs 167 00:09:42,679 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: would be arranged based on affinity so people could choose 168 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 1: their work. As he had said in his his letter 169 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: talk Emerson, they were going to try to make people 170 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: able to do the jobs that most appealed to them 171 00:09:54,200 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: so they would be most fulfilling. The work week required 172 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: sixty hours from the months of May to October and 173 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 1: then forty eight from November to April. They'd also changed 174 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: jobs frequently to keep people from getting bored, and do 175 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: lots of stuff to try to make the tasks intellectually 176 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: stimulating and enjoyable. There's actually a story, please tell me 177 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: because about them attaching a little reading stands to like 178 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,400 Speaker 1: ironing boards, so that people could be doing their sort 179 00:10:34,440 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 1: of menial ironing tasks that had to get done and 180 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,079 Speaker 1: the laundry, but at the same time they could be 181 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: broadening their minds and reading things that were of interest 182 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 1: to them. Yeah, I was sort of imagining a nineteenth 183 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:50,360 Speaker 1: century gamification of milking or something, mostly lots of reading. Um, 184 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: that's cool. All of the labor, regardless of who was 185 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: doing it, got the same compensation, and for people who 186 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: weren't working, the rent was four dollars a week, So 187 00:11:04,679 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: you could go and be at brook Farm as a 188 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: border and not work, but you would have to be 189 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: paying for your your room and board. Uh. And there's 190 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: a really unique thing about brook Farm and that it 191 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: almost entirely broke the role of women as housekeepers, which, 192 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,199 Speaker 1: keep in mind eighteen forties, so this is really pretty 193 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: revolutionary in terms of how uh the roles of women 194 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: and men are to find. But Aaron mcemris, who is 195 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: a scholar who was writing for the Unitarian Universalist History 196 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:41,280 Speaker 1: and Heritage Society, made an interesting note about this particular element, 197 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 1: and he says, there really wasn't a household to keep. 198 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: There weren't, at least at the start of brook Farm, 199 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: many family units, so the majority of the participants were 200 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: young and unmarried and without children, so in terms of 201 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,679 Speaker 1: keeping house and it wasn't quite the same as if 202 00:11:56,679 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: someone had moved in with like their three children, and 203 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: you know, they had to make sure the kids were 204 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,800 Speaker 1: clothed and the you know, toys were picked up. And 205 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: it was a little bit easier when it's all young 206 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: singles to kind of have everybody doing their own tidying 207 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: and not have to really have a housekeeper per se. 208 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 1: So there were twenty people to start, but that number 209 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: quickly got a lot bigger. Yeah, and it waxed and 210 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: waned a little bit as Brook Farm went on, But 211 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: I don't think it went down to that smaller number 212 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:30,480 Speaker 1: again until the end. Uh. But the interesting thing that 213 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: happened is that once the initial enthusiastic optimism of life 214 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: in a New Utopia war off, it seems that the 215 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: members of Brook Farm kind of separated into two categories. 216 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: One was the people that were happy there and kind 217 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: of found this simple life very fulfilling. And people who 218 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: realized that farming is hard and they didn't really enjoy 219 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: this whole toil thing. They were like, oh, life of 220 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:58,920 Speaker 1: the mind, that sounds great. Weight shoveling manure. Yeah, well 221 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,760 Speaker 1: that's sixty hour work week quoted before a lot of 222 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: people today would find a sixty hour work week to 223 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: be horrible. A lot and it's it's not like sixty 224 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: hours of sitting at a desk, Like we're talking sixty 225 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 1: hours of like who were saying, spreading manure and plowing 226 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: and yeah, keeping a farm going is a lot of 227 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: man hours. Uh, and it is. It's hard labor, and 228 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 1: most a lot of these people we're not accustomed to 229 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: hard labor. Like I said, they came into it from 230 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 1: the intellectual mindset of like, oh, yes, we can live 231 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,679 Speaker 1: with the land and in the meantime we'll be reading 232 00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: all the time and studying. But they didn't get that 233 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,320 Speaker 1: whole like we're going to have to cultivate the land. Yeah. 234 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,439 Speaker 1: We grew all of our vegetables when I was growing up, Like, 235 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,679 Speaker 1: I don't think we ever bought vegetables at a store. 236 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: And it was really constant work for pretty much me 237 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: and my brother and my mom for the entire spring, 238 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: summer and fall. Yeah, I mean I grew very small 239 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: amounts of things. And I have to I feel like, man, 240 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: why does this take me an hour a day just 241 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:08,319 Speaker 1: to like check on plants and weed and and that's 242 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,560 Speaker 1: my tiny, tiny little container garden. So, of course, on 243 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,719 Speaker 1: a farm, longer hours is actually probably a pretty reasonable 244 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 1: number Uh. But the people that fell into that second 245 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:24,720 Speaker 1: group of farming is hard did not stick around. Nathaniel 246 00:14:24,760 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: Hawthorne was one of them. I think he was. He's 247 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,680 Speaker 1: reported to have only been there six months. Uh. But 248 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:33,120 Speaker 1: those that remained referred to that disillusioned group as quote 249 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:37,240 Speaker 1: idealistic tourists, and they criticized their lack of commitment to 250 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 1: the project and their lack of community spirit. So as 251 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:45,119 Speaker 1: the group got bigger, they needed more buildings, and financing 252 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: them proved to be kind of a problem. Yeah, before 253 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: long the community found itself in fifteen thousand dollars worth 254 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: of debt, which again by standards, is a lot to 255 00:14:56,800 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: have to make up because they were hoping this would 256 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: be a long term situation. By eight forty two, there 257 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: were seventy people living at Brook Farm and it was 258 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: a success and that it was drawing new people to 259 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: live there. But the expense of caring for the new 260 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: people was beyond what they could financially handle, especially because 261 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,400 Speaker 1: a lot of these newcomers didn't actually make good on 262 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: the investment agreements that they had made to come there. 263 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: So because many of the idealists involved in the community 264 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: also found money to be distasteful. There wasn't really somebody 265 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 1: who was just going to take control of the finances 266 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: and make people pay up. Yeah, So that thing that 267 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier about it being like a five hundred 268 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:41,120 Speaker 1: dollar buy in, like you would buy in your share 269 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,240 Speaker 1: if nobody's actually giving you their five hundred dollars. And 270 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: it uh was much more of a problem with people 271 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: that came in later than the people that started out. 272 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: But if nobody's actually doing their part to you know, 273 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: bolster the finances, then you're really just hemorrhaging money. At 274 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: that point, the nest, which was operating as a boarding 275 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 1: school and had an excellent reputation, was really the source 276 00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 1: of most of the community's income. But even so it 277 00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:12,840 Speaker 1: didn't provide enough to cover day to day costs, let 278 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: alone the expansion plans that they were going to need 279 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,240 Speaker 1: to house all of the new people coming in. So 280 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: from eighteen forty three to eighteen forty four, George Ripley 281 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 1: became more and more interested in a new vision of 282 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:30,800 Speaker 1: the utopian society described by French philosopher Charles Fourier. So 283 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:35,680 Speaker 1: Fourier's concept of communities where social and commercial competition could 284 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: just be completely eradicated really appealed to Ripley, and he 285 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,840 Speaker 1: thought if he could reorganize Brooke Farm to be more 286 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: in line with fourier Is m, he could solve some 287 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: of their problems by attracting new members and new financial support. 288 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: So the Brook Farm concept had always been a little 289 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: bit at odds with the individualism that was part of 290 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: the Transcendentalist movement, and that, as you recall, is why 291 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:04,240 Speaker 1: person wasn't interested in being a member. But Fourier's utopia 292 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 1: smoothed out that particular wrinkle, and in a t forty 293 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:13,560 Speaker 1: four Brooke Farm officially reorganized as a quote Fourier Fourier Phalanx, 294 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:17,639 Speaker 1: which is a concept that he was a name he 295 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: used for his concept of these communities. But the remaining 296 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:25,119 Speaker 1: members who still valued Transcendentalist individualism left the community. This 297 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,520 Speaker 1: was actually not like a quick and easy transition. There 298 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: was some infighting and arguing and some rifts that you know, 299 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:36,960 Speaker 1: caused people to leave. Under this new structure, the organization 300 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: became a lot more rigid. Associates were organized into groups 301 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:46,120 Speaker 1: under larger series divisions. There were three series and they 302 00:17:46,119 --> 00:17:50,439 Speaker 1: were the Agricultural, mechanical, and Domestic Industry each group formed 303 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,600 Speaker 1: in any series had to be arranged using so called 304 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: harmonic numbers, So a group had to have three, five, seven, 305 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: or twelve members, but four, six, or eight, And her 306 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:05,199 Speaker 1: history of Brick Farm, Linda Swift says, this was of 307 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:09,600 Speaker 1: course stark lunacy. Uh, there were huge there are rules 308 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 1: upon rules about how the business of these series and 309 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,479 Speaker 1: groups was supposed to be conducted. And it was this 310 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,160 Speaker 1: huge departure from the really intuitive approach that the community 311 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: had been founded on. Yeah, it really completely changed how 312 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: the whole thing was working, because it had been, you know, 313 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: so much of a a relaxed kind of atmosphere, and 314 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:32,080 Speaker 1: now suddenly there were, you know, all of these guides 315 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,120 Speaker 1: about how business was going to happen and how four 316 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: men of each group would report to one another and 317 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,359 Speaker 1: report up to their supervisors. And it felt a lot 318 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: less like the ideals that Ripley had initially founded the 319 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:47,880 Speaker 1: community on. And the makeup of the group, as you 320 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,119 Speaker 1: can imagine, changed as well as a consequence. And so 321 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 1: while the initial community at Brook Farm had been made 322 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: up almost entirely of Boston intellectuals, now tradespeople and working 323 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:00,880 Speaker 1: class people began to fill in the gaps that were 324 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: left by those that had departed during the reorganization. Ripley 325 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,040 Speaker 1: was very quick to point out that children from all 326 00:19:07,040 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 1: walks of life were equally successful in the farm's school, 327 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 1: and that the discourse among the adults was as robust 328 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: and lively as ever, despite the diversity of backgrounds that 329 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,520 Speaker 1: now lived there. So he was really trying to point out, like, no, 330 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: my ideas really do work. We're all equal here, and 331 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 1: that's awesome. But at the same time he had lost 332 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:28,240 Speaker 1: a lot of the people that originally bought into his plan. 333 00:19:29,040 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty five, Brooke Farm began producing a periodical 334 00:19:33,359 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: called The Harbinger. It was dedicated to four a aism 335 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: and the philosophy of utopian society. Ripley hoped that this 336 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: new project was going to bring them some money. And 337 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: by this point there were more than a hundred people 338 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,640 Speaker 1: living at Brooke Farms, so it had grown pretty substantially, 339 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: and Ripley wanted to construct a new building that would 340 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,560 Speaker 1: house all of them. At this point, they still had 341 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,120 Speaker 1: the hive, but they had several of their smaller houses, uh, 342 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:00,399 Speaker 1: And he was really counting on the period article to 343 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: make some money. So work began on the Great Community House, 344 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 1: which was to be called the Philanstry. With the increase 345 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: in Fourierism's popularity, Brook Farm and other utopian communities are 346 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:22,920 Speaker 1: starting to be viewed with more and more suspicion by 347 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: the outside world. Rumors were spreading about sexual promiscuity and depravity, 348 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: and while these rumors were not true of Brooke Farm, 349 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,640 Speaker 1: they were seated in Fourier's writings in which he did 350 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 1: advocate for sort of a free love model, similar to 351 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: what we think of with the nineteen sixties. In any case, 352 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: the gossip about this behavior in West Roxbury was so 353 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:50,200 Speaker 1: devastating to the school's enrollment and consequently to Brook Farms finances. Yeah, 354 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 1: when your primary source of income, you know, loses most 355 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 1: of its um it's the checks that are coming in, 356 00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: you very quickly find yourself in a lot of double 357 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: And there was just more trouble to come at this point. 358 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: So as times got leaner, tensions understandably grew among the 359 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: Brook Farm residents. One resident started hosting an outdoor Sunday 360 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,200 Speaker 1: service each week, and this actually caused a big rift 361 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 1: between those who were really excited and welcomed this idea 362 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:21,879 Speaker 1: and those who had moved to Brook Farm because of 363 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: its secular roots. And we should mention that religion wasn't 364 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: forbidden or even unusual at Brook Farm, but organized religion 365 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:32,119 Speaker 1: had not been a part of the farm's foundation. Uh. 366 00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: People were certainly welcome to be spiritual and worship in 367 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: whatever way they wanted, but the fact that this person 368 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: was now hosting services really rankled some people. And then 369 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,000 Speaker 1: to make matters where smallpox hit the community after one 370 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:48,640 Speaker 1: of the members caught it while visiting relatives in Boston 371 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: and got back before he developed symptoms, about thirty percent 372 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:55,439 Speaker 1: of the group had to be quarantined, and then the 373 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: healthy people in the group weren't able to work on 374 00:21:57,840 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: the farm because they were having to care for the 375 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: same Several pupils were removed from the school by their families, 376 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: which also reduced the little bit of income that Brook 377 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: Farm had. By this point, there were four mortgages taken 378 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,920 Speaker 1: out on the property, so they were in really bad 379 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: financial straits. And it only got worse because just after 380 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,359 Speaker 1: the smallpox outbreak, and to the best pri knowledge, I 381 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,520 Speaker 1: don't think they lost anybody during that, they just lost productivity. 382 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:25,639 Speaker 1: They had very few deaths in Brook Farm which is 383 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,920 Speaker 1: kind of a happy face in the midst of sort 384 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: of this bad stuff going on. Uh. But just after 385 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: that smallpox outbreak, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who had left six months 386 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: after it was founded, took legal action against Brook Farm 387 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: to try to get his initial investment back since he 388 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 1: didn't stay. And there had been a provision in the 389 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:48,479 Speaker 1: original um contracts of Brook Farm that people could if 390 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:51,360 Speaker 1: they gave enough notice get there, get their investment back 391 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: if they stayed a certain shortened period of time. So 392 00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: he was within his rights. Uh, And unfortunately there were 393 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: just no funds to repay him. Ripley actually agreed, Yes, 394 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: he's completely within his bounds to want his money back. 395 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 1: I just don't have that money. And it didn't help. 396 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: The Brook Farm had also lost its primary philanthropic supporters. 397 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,400 Speaker 1: The people that we're giving money to these utopian communities 398 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:15,560 Speaker 1: had decided they were going to give them to other 399 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,840 Speaker 1: communities that looked like they might have greater success. In 400 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,840 Speaker 1: a last ditch effort to breathe life back into the community, 401 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,520 Speaker 1: Ripley in the Brook Farm leadership pushed forward on completion 402 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: of the Philanstrey in eighty six. This was yet another 403 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: case of the characteristic and misguided optimism that had given 404 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: Brook Farm such promise at the beginning, but was also 405 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:41,360 Speaker 1: its undoing. It's really like any tale of the chronic 406 00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 1: failed dreamer, where we just keep thinking, just one more 407 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: thing will turn this around. Yeah, he he really did. 408 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: I mean everything that you look at. It's like, no, 409 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: we're gonna start publishing his paper. People will buy it, 410 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: and then we'll be fine. Now the school is going 411 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: to keep us afloat. But then, you know, just one 412 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 1: thing after another. He kept thinking would save them, and 413 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: it never did. And then to kind of kick them 414 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: while they were down, they threw a party to celebrate 415 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: what was going to be the completion of the new structure. 416 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: It wasn't completed, but they were kind of excited that 417 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:14,959 Speaker 1: they were moving forward and close to the end. Uh. 418 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,399 Speaker 1: And this was on March third of eighty six, and 419 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 1: during the party, a fire broke out and consumed the 420 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: entire building. So the philand story was completely decimated as 421 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: they were trying to celebrate it. Uh And it was 422 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 1: an unfinished structure and it had not been ensured, so 423 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: as it burned, so did the dream of Brooke Farm. 424 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 1: Because seven thousand dollars had been spent building the structure, 425 00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: which had turned to ashes, and it was thought that 426 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:43,840 Speaker 1: they were going to need another three thousand just to 427 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: finish it, but of course that money never got spent 428 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: because it wasn't there to finish. So they're basically out 429 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:53,520 Speaker 1: on their investment of the building completely completely. So not 430 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,400 Speaker 1: having to spend that three thousand more dollars was not 431 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: not a lot going to help them, no, So that 432 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: was really the final nail in the community's financial coffin, 433 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: and it took its toll on the already lagging morale 434 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: of the people that had stuck it out and we're 435 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 1: trying to keep things going. So within just a few 436 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:12,199 Speaker 1: months there were only a few dozen people left at 437 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,639 Speaker 1: brook Farm uh and George Ripley, even though he was 438 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,120 Speaker 1: still living there on the property, had kind of already 439 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: turned his focus to the New England for society. He 440 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 1: really stopped worrying about keeping it going because he kind 441 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,159 Speaker 1: of knew what was going to happen. Towards the end 442 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: of eighteen forty six, the Brook Farm Library collection was 443 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: sold at auction, and then in eighteen forty seven, the 444 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: bankruptcy filing for Brook Farm wrapped up and in August 445 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: of eighteen forty seven, it was officially disbanded. So Ripley's 446 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: transcendentalist utopia only lasted for six years, and while Brook 447 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: Farm wasn't sustainable long term, it really did have a 448 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,679 Speaker 1: pretty significant influence on many social movements going on at 449 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: the time, including abolitionism and the women's rights movement. According 450 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: to Linda Swift, who we referenced earlier, fourteen marriages could 451 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: track their roots back to the fellowship at brook Farm, 452 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,399 Speaker 1: one of which actually took place there, and most of 453 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,480 Speaker 1: those appear to have been happy. Another interesting point is 454 00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: that the community had what could be considered a prototype 455 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: of the modern daycare, where the few parents among the 456 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: group could leave their children with caregivers for the day 457 00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,160 Speaker 1: while they set to their work, which had really never 458 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: been done before, at least on an organized level. Nathaniel Hawthorne, 459 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:31,800 Speaker 1: who probably never got back his initial investment, wrote a 460 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: fictionalized version of his time at Brooke Farm called blythe 461 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,639 Speaker 1: Dale Romance. It's clear from it that he did not 462 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: enjoy this experiment. As for Ripley, he went on to 463 00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:46,520 Speaker 1: become the literary critic for the New York Tribune, and 464 00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: he held that job until he died in eighteen eighty. 465 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: After Brooke Farm was abandoned, the former dairy farm found 466 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: other uses. It was used as a poorhouse, as a 467 00:26:56,359 --> 00:27:00,440 Speaker 1: Civil War training camp, and as an orphanage. In nineteen 468 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: seventy seven, Brook Farm was designated a Boston Landmark. That 469 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: same year, the hive, which was still standing, burned down. 470 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:11,199 Speaker 1: In four Arson took the house on the property that 471 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,560 Speaker 1: had been named after Margaret Fuller, even though she had 472 00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:18,480 Speaker 1: never lived there. In the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and 473 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:22,399 Speaker 1: Recreation acquired the Brook Farms site. It lists the lands 474 00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,480 Speaker 1: as a National Historic Landscape and the buildings are all gone. 475 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: In her nine hundred book entitled Brook Farm, it's members, 476 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: scholars and visitors, Linda Swift, who he referenced earlier, says 477 00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,399 Speaker 1: of the Brook Farm community like some ill contrived play, 478 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: the brook Farm Phalanx lingered during one more act. After 479 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: all the essential dramatic elements were exhausted. So even though 480 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:45,560 Speaker 1: it kind of sputtered out at the end and it 481 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: had a lot of problems, it's still kind of referred 482 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:51,879 Speaker 1: to when people talk about it as sort of a 483 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: success in terms of it being a successful experiment, Like 484 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: I think a lot was learned from it, and from 485 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: a sociological standpoint, I know, people study it and kind 486 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: of turnover and examine what was right about it and 487 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: what was wrong. And it did have some some pretty 488 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,959 Speaker 1: interesting influences on society at the time, So in that 489 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,160 Speaker 1: regard you could count it as success. Uh. There were 490 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: societal reforms linked to some seeds sewed there, and it's 491 00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 1: so fascinating and it was pretty revolutionary that everyone, regardless 492 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: of their sex, or their age or their race, was 493 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,880 Speaker 1: going to be treated the same way. Yeah, yeah, there, 494 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,280 Speaker 1: that's not really how eighteen forty were. And there are 495 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,520 Speaker 1: many many stories. I mean, we can you could almost 496 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: launch a podcast just about Brook Farm and talk about 497 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: individual stories of people and events that happened there because 498 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,400 Speaker 1: there are many, many of them, and most of the 499 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: people that had lived there really spoke pretty well of it, 500 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: even though there had been problems. So it's a fascinating 501 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: concept to think about. I have to wonder if someone 502 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: tried a similar thing today, if it would work well. 503 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: And I know a couple of people that have lived 504 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: essentially on communes at some point in their life, none 505 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: of them for their entire life. It always seems to 506 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:13,200 Speaker 1: have been this three to five years. Yeah. Yeah, my 507 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: first my early memories are on the commune and then 508 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 1: my parents left. Yeah. Yeah. There are many cases of 509 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,840 Speaker 1: failed communes, but I think a lot of times they 510 00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,320 Speaker 1: implode in a much more dramatic way. This one kind of. 511 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: Like I said, it was mostly about money. I think, 512 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: even though there were some ideological shifts throughout its life, 513 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 1: really the money was what killed it. Yeah. Well, and 514 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: even if you think you're prepared for the work, the 515 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: manual work, like if you were if you were an 516 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: intellectual person who most of your life has been relatively privileged, 517 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: then the sheer amount of manual labor required just to 518 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: raise your own food kind of crazy. Yeah, it puts 519 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: a lot of things in perspective. Yes, indeed. So that's 520 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: Brick Farm. Thank you so much for joining us on 521 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,960 Speaker 1: this Saturday. If you have heard an email address or 522 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:11,240 Speaker 1: a Facebook you are l or something similar over the 523 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: course of today's episode, since it is from the archive 524 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 1: that might be out of date now, you can email 525 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:19,640 Speaker 1: us at History Podcast at how Stuff Works dot com, 526 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: and you can find us all over social media at 527 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: missed in History, and you can subscribe to our show 528 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 1: on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, 529 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:35,480 Speaker 1: and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Stuff you Missed 530 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: in History Class is a production of I heart Radios 531 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,800 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. 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