A letter from Ohio
On leaving New Harmony on the 28 June 1828 Robert Owen must have done so with a heavy heart. The community he established on the banks of the Wabash River was faltering, and Owen’s vision for community life, a “new empire of peace and good will to man”, may have seemed at that point nothing more than an impossible dream. And yet, just a month prior to leaving Owen’s spirits must have been buoyed somewhat when he received a letter from an individual named Samuel Underhill writing from Kendal, Stark County, Ohio.
In his letter Underhill, who describes himself a “practical devotee to the Social System”, tells Owen the Kendal community where he lives and holds a position on the committee is presently in a most “prosperous state”. He proudly reports that, following a shaky start, Kendal now finds itself in a position where “income exceeds our expenditure by a handsome balance”. He also notes the intention of the members to start a newspaper “devoted to the “Social System”, a topic which, he points out, recently the New Harmony Gazette has carried little or no news upon. Such is the pride Underhill feels for Kendal he invites Owen to visit them at their community which, he is inclined to believe, is the “best established of any of the New System”.
However, along with all the positive news of the progress at Kendal, the letter also highlights issues which may have given Owen pause for thought when he considered the struggles he encountered at New Harmony. Underhill warns Owen of the pernicious influence of men who are able to call on money from private means, stating they are a “curse” on community living, and should be considered as “bad timber” which, presumably, will rot and weaken the community and its ideals. Underhill spells out the seriousness of this when writing that “inequality in a community is much more a curse than in an individual society”.
In a return letter dated 20 June 1828, Owen indicates his pleasure in hearing of the progress at Kendal, and accepts the invitation to visit, saying he will spend “some days” in their community or neighbourhood. Unfortunately, this reply from Owen is the last piece of correspondence between the two in the collection, and so we are unable to establish if Owen kept his promise to visit Underhill and his community. What can be said for certain is, that despite Underhill’s positive report of the excellent progress of the community, it was only to be fleeting (if actually true at all as some there is some evidence to suggest otherwise ), and later in 1828 problems would beset the people at Kendal with members requesting to leave at a steady rate. On the 6th of January 1829 the last recorded meeting and the community at Kendal, Stark County, Indiana was held.
The community at Kendal was just one of a number of “Owenite” ones established in America in the 1820’s, whilst the idea became popular once again in the 1840s with 4 more being founded. Meanwhile, Owen returned to England and would later re-ignite his communitarian plans with the establishment of Harmony Hall, Queenwood, Hampshire.
A gallery of the images from the Underhill and Owen letters is included below. The letter from Underhill is in a particularly poor condition, with holes in the paper, numerous blotches and sellotape attached meaning it will require attention from a paper conservator in the near future.
Filed Under: Robert Owen
Co-operative Learning