The Shakers Explained 

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I’m a furniture builder (and general woodworker) from New England. When I was in college getting a degree in sculpture we studied a loooooot of examples of shaker furniture as gold standards of simple but elegant and effective furniture design and woodworking practice. They have an incredibly influential legacy because they were a large influence on modern design movements like Danish modern, MCM, Bauhaus, etc. Pick a random piece of furniture in your living space from the last 80 years and odds are you can trace at least some of the roots of its design and construction back to the shakers. I cannot overstate how much we should be thankful to them for indirectly influencing the form and construction of spaces we inhabit every day.

A Protestant offshoot with a charismatic leader that came out the Great Awakening in the Americas? Where have I heard that one before?

"She had the fullness of the Godhead within her." Indeed, it must have filled her head completely! Look at its size.

That Mother Ann sure DOES have one heck of a God Head.

I met Brother Arnold many years ago. He was so kind a spirit. My family has links to the Sabbath Day Lake Community and they raised us with some of their ideas. When I got to ask a friend of my dad's who was raised there (she was an economic orphan in the 30's) about how children were disciplined she said there was no need. She said the Shakers were all so kind and gentle that the kids could not imagine doing anything to upset them.

The Shakers achieved their greatest number of members after the Civil War. There were many orphaned children with no organization capable of handling the numbers. The Shakers took them all in and though many left, many still remained.

You see?? Women can be crazy cult leaders too! You go girl! So inspiring!

I'm from Lebanon the country, seems like the Shakers headquarters is in Lebanon NY. Turns out wherever there's a Lebanon, things are always shaky!

My wife and I enjoy visiting the Shaker museum in Canterbury, NH. For years, the history docents giving tours would give excellent historical descriptions of the Shakers, but the approach tended to be along the lines of, "Man these people were crazy, right?" Then one year we got someone who took a more emic perspective and it changed our whole view of them. No, we won't be converting any time soon but we could better sympathize with their worldview and why they lived like they did. For instance he quoted a Shaker response to a local's question about why there were no tombstones in the Shaker cemetery; the answer was that tombstones were (in Shaker eyes) icons, attempts at immortality, while God knows where each of us is at all times. He doesn't need a tombstone to find us (according to the Shakers). The Canterbury, NH community apparently spent much of the 19th century fairly consistently near the 1,000 population mark, and one of their "recruiting" methods was accepting orphans or even kids from local farming families whom the families couldn't afford to support -- sometimes just seasonally. Kids whom the Shakers raised were taught a trade, and had the opportunity when they turned 18 to either remain with the community or leave -- taking their trade and ability to make a living with them if they went. (Local communities really appreciated this aspect.) The local farmers sent their kids to the Shaker school which was 1. excellent quality, and 2. did not try to convert the kids. The Shakers also kept up on technology (they were not Amish, we were reminded), and for instance were able to afford to send some of their own to become licensed dentists complete with the latest equipment -- which services they made available to the local farming community. As I think you mentioned, they also started some of their own businesses, with proceeds going back to the community. Finally, and for me most interestingly, when the dwindling community came to the realization in 1957 that the Canterbury cell was dying -- the creation of state orphanages around the turn of the century put a big dent in their "recruiting" -- they reached out to the local NH artist community to train local artists and artisans in Shaker crafts (baskets, furniture, weaving, wood working, etc.) so that these Shaker styles would not die out with the community ,and in fact each year there is a Shaker crafts festival held nearby in Canterbury of the descendants of those artists who continue the Shaker methods and styles. If you buy something in the Canterbury, NH Shaker museum gift shop, it was likely made by one of these non-Shaker artists. They also structured the museum in terms of what was accessible and the finances to ensure the care of the dwindling number of Shakers, so that they could live out their lives on the Canterbury Shaker campus as they had before the changes of 1957. The last one passed away in the 1990s, and had her own apartment in the living quarters that was off-limits to museum visitors -- but she lived out her life well-taken care of.

Fun fact, the US-American folk song "Simple Gifts" or "Tis a Gift to Be Simple" started as a Shaker hymn, written in 1858!

As a grad student in religious studies at Indiana University in the mid 1980s, I worked closely with Steven Stein as he researched the Shakers. I transcribed microfiche copies of hand written vision diaries and catalogued business letters between the Shakers and "worldly" business associates. In 1995 I visited with a friend who lived on the old Shaker settlement in New Lebanon, NY. The community then housed a new spiritual community (associated with the Sufi Order of the West). I spent the night in a room in the old meeting house, ate in the dining hall where, a century or more earlier, Shakers had eaten. I recall the double staircase where men and women would use separate but mirror image sets of stairs to get to the second floor of the building.

There was a group of Shakers in TN. They were known for making high quality wooden furniture, rocking chairs and such. I remember going to visit "Shakertown" as a kid to check out their furniture because it was a big deal to my grandparents.

The shakers made great furniture and architecture. Let's not forget their contribution to fashion, the Shaker cloak, and their religious music is pretty times. "When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed". A lot of their message was spot on. The main problem is celebacy and being isolated in rural communes. That usually leads to power struggles. I visited the last remaining Quaker community in Sabbathday Lake Maine back in the 70s. The few Remaining members were mostly elderly, but completely committed to their faith and lifestyle. I admired their dedication. They were holding on to the end, believing that there movement would flourish again.

I have visited the last active Shaker village a few times! The Sabbath Day Lake Shaker Village in rural Maine. They make some of the best teas and spices, amongst other things. It's worth a visit-there is a museum guided tours and it just a beautiful place to see.

In some aspects, the Shaking Quakers sound like a Sufi dervish adapted for Protestant Christianity.

I’m always interested in doomsday/imminent second coming type Christian theology. It’s everywhere. People have been saying we’re in the “end times” for as long as I’ve been alive. Yet things keep going and people still say it.

One of our neighbors and a close family friend, James Cogar of Midway, Kentucky, was responsible for the restoration of Shakertown at Pleasant Hill Kentucky back in the 1960’s. He also was in large part responsible for the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

I live in the area where the shakers settled down. My high school was even named after them. I still never learned nothing about them until now thank you for always teaching something new

I visited a Shaker commune in Kentucky back in the early 2000’s. I had no idea their beliefs were this divergent. They didn’t really reveal that. Interesting

After the war we had some first very bitter years in Germany. All big cities were destroyed, fuel was scarce, food as well and we had the coldest winters of the century. The shakers started to send food packages for the starving people in Germany, called "care packages". For us German it seemed as if angels opened the heaven, we knew how guilty we were, and that we didn't deserved any help.

I’ve been hoping you’d cover the Shakers for a while. It’s a fascinating movement

Thank you so much for making this! I love your covering of Christianity because it highlights all that we, who grew up in the church, were not taught. Not only of the history of the religion but also the diversity of thought found within. All your videos are so important in the ways you explain the religions of the world in such an approachable way. You remind us that at root we share commonalities with all people of the world! Keep sharing!

2 Shakers used to come to my church in the mid 70’s, usually sitting right behind me. I was a kid.

I grew up in Latham, NY and went to the Shaker Site all the time. My mom was on their board for a bit. So many stories of ghosts and haunted objects in the archives, rocking chairs moving by themselves in the attic. One of my mom’s history students did an internship there cataloging their artifacts. One night, she was handling a doll and placed it away in storage. She was the only one there that night. The next morning, she pulls up to the site and the doll was sitting on the front steps 😅

At 9:30 I see the Shakers invented the Thriller Dance move.

I'm from the Shaker heartland, right by Lebanon and I grew up going to hancock shaker village, super interesting to get this in depth history

At some point, the Shakers also used adoption as a way to get more members. The community would adopt orphans. Eventually laws were passed to prevent this from happening.

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I loved visiting Shakertown in Kentucky as a kid. It felt so foreign to me, but comforting at the same time. I'd love to go back as an adult now that I can understand more about the movement.

Actually the well known tune "Simple Gifts" sometimes called "Lord of the Dance" memorialized in Aaron Copland's ballet "Appalachian Spring" was originally a Shaker hymn and (It's probably also in the latter part of the video) Shaker furniture design -known for its sturdiness and functionality.

“Simple Gifts” was one of the dance songs. Aaron Copland used the melody. His lyrics are: “'Tis the gift to be simple 'Tis the gift to be free 'Tis the gift to come down Where we ought to be And when we find ourselves In the place just right 'Twill be in the valley Of love and delight” More traditional Christian verses were composed as “The Lord of the Dance.” “I danced in the morn­ing when the world was be­gun, And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, And I came down from hea­ven and I danced on the earth, At Beth­le­hem I had my birth. “(Refrain) Dance, then, wher­ev­er you may be; I am the Lord of the Dance, said he. And I’ll lead you all wher­ev­er you may be, And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.”

I imagine their heads shaking so much until they blur, like the scene in Jacob's Ladder.

5:04 whirling with rapidity to dance along with the shaking uncontrollably and fainting spells reminds me of myself when I get too happy and excited about something, but for me the cause is just several very common but not particularly harmful specific medical diagnosis causes and that spinning in circles when I dance just feels so incredibly physically good and lets out the energy of the happiness I’m feeling in a tangible way that doesn’t usually bother any of the other people I might be near at the time, dancing and spinning is like everything that is my skin and outer body is compressed into the spinning to the central line from where I turn from floor to ceiling and makes the whole world look like streaks of light, I also really like mary go rounds and swings for the same compressive force centrifugal motion feeling.

I’ve heard of the Movers but Shakers is news to me. Quaking in my boots at the thought of progress😭

What??? This was an amazing video. This is why I freaking love your channel. I have NEVER even heard of this. I would LOVE to visit these museums if I ever get the chance... What a wild micro journey into the history of this largely unknown religious sect... I truly appreciate this, I had a really bad day lol... You are an absolute gift to the world... Thank you so much...

Watching from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, just a few minutes away from Hancock Shaker Village!

I live in Massachusetts not far from the Hancock Shaker Village, it is a beautiful historical museum. Thanks for making this video and providing a greater amount of insight into this sect.

Man, mother Anne doesn't have a forehead, doesn't have a fivehead, that lady has a sixhead! 😂

I had the pleasure of meeting Brother Arnold in the winter of 2020. I had acquired a Walking (Great) Wheel which had documentation and attributed to a shaker, Allen Bangs, of the Sabbath DAY Lake Community. I no longer had the space for the wheel, and reached out to see if I could donate the wheel. My wife and I got to return the wheel to where it was made over 200 years ago, and got to visit the shaker village.

I was excited to see that you were covering the Shakers, a group I've admired for many years. Unfortunately I think you missed the important things with an approach that is overly theoretical. I think it's more helpful to see the Shakers (and the Quakers) in terms of how they lived. I don't think theology as you understand it played that great a role. They were mystics living communally with an amazing record of creativity and ingenuity. Anyone interested in the Shakers can consult the many books about their creations.

I went to the Maine Shaker village some years ago; it was an excellent experience and I'd encourage anyone to go

I’m from Maine and I have been to the last active Shaker village. I remember being surprised at the quality of the homemade furniture. Of course I kept my surprise to a respectful degree, as the village was still an active religious site

nicki minaj talked about this once

I live in Albany and love walking by the Shaker Heritage site and Ann Lee Pond.

I attended an indigenous event with oyster bay first nation on Vancouver island canada. Their mission contact was shaker and has largely remained a community faith still practiced in some form including an ascetic abstinence from alcohol.

Great ep! 😊 i grew up in the Quaker world, but did not know much about Shakers.

A shaker community in Ohio now known as Shaker Heights. I think not far from Cleveland, Ohio. Interestingly I read when they looked at what was found in the community were empty containers of alcohol. Apparently some shakers were into more than just shaking but also drinking as well.

Quaker here would you kindly make a video about us as well we often get confused with either the shakers or the Amish

Love their distinctive furniture and interior design

I spent 3 years living at the Mount Lebanon village as it's been a boarding school since the 1930s. The Central Ministry building is now the main class building. Being a teenager, it's easy to forget you're living in a museum but videos like this help put it into perspective. It's surreal to see all these buildings again, hear the names (which now name the buildings) and hear about the Shaker beliefs and customs again. Some of which were selectively integrated into daily life on campus. To say the slogan "Hands to work, hearts to God" was stated often is putting it lightly. Funny enough, the use of these old buildings for religious purposes actually survives the Shakers as right next to the school is now The Abode of the Message, a Sufi retreat and study center.

Is anyone else freaking out the Danny DiVito is shown dancing with the shakers at 2:52?!

You should make a video on the “Mitas,” the only religion to begin in Puerto Rico. Adherents believed that the holy spirit reincarnated as a woman in the town of Arecibo. Very interesting and understudied.

The Shaker Village near Lexington Kentucky is a fascinating place. I knew nothing about the group till I moved to the bluegrass state. It was pretty much abandoned in the 1920's but most of it remained intact. I found the living conditions for men and women, how the building was divided in two, one side being for men and the other women, and they were a mirror image from each other. They did divide work by gender. Still for the 19th century is was an exception for equality.

As a Quaker I'd be interested in your source for our name coming from a practice of actual quaking? As I heard it told it came from Fox telling a judge to "tremble at the word of the lord". Interesting video

I went to the Shaker school in Canterbury as a young kid.

2:26 Religious persecution at home meant they weren't allowed to persecute anyone at home based on their own religion.

Love the topic and your work in general. When you have page citations of specific books, do you think you could include them in the description too?

13:50 That's exactly what happened to Christianity, generally. The first Christians held to various theologies, their belief in Jesus as the "Christ" ("Anointed One"), "Messiah," etc, sent by God, being the common denominator. After Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, one faction, which promoted the "orthodox," "conventional" Christianity, we know today, suppressed competing views, and discarded many Scriptures, at the Council of Nicaea, which threatened their control of the hearts & minds of the followers of Jesus.

Can you look the historical White Lotus movement fron China?

Mother Ann looking like Yaqub from the Brotherhood of Islam lore.

When they talked about a charismatic leader with a "shining countenance" it reminded me of Zen Master Rama.

You should make a video about West African Vodun or traditional Yoruba religion

Went to Shaker Village in Kentucky/Ohio a lot when I was young. Didn’t get then but would love to go back as an adult

I lived in a shaker village, New Lebanon New York, which is now a bordering school. We learned that they not only saw women as equals also black people and would accept any race. Hands to work and heart to god was a well known idea they expressed. Simple gifts is one of their most well known hymns and even in many Protestant hymn books. A shaker woman invented the circular saw. Dehydrated milk was their invention. The flat broom and the cloths pin. They were the first to sell seeds in small paper envelopes as is still popular today. They built the largest stone barn in North America.

Have you considered covering the Rātana Faith? (Te Haahi Rātana or the Morehu?) This year is their 100th anniversary of the World Tour when the charismatic, Prophet Rātana travelled around the world to heal it from the damage caused by ww1 and the influenza as well as to advocate in Britain and before the League of Nations at Geneva for the sovereignty of the Māori people. Kereama Pene one of the current leaders (there is no overall leader at the moment while grieving is being observe for the former leader who passed this year) is travelling the world in his footsteps to mark the anniversary. It is one of the many Māori Prophetic movements, and the one with the biggest mark on New Zealand today. It has elements you could apply these theories and lens on while also containing many unique aspects or aspects brought from it's Māori as well as Protestant and Catholic foundations. There are scholars such as Ruia and Keith Newman, Hirini Kaa and others who have published or teach about this and the Church itself is thriving and is a source of information. I believe Rātana would fit in well with the other groups covered in your videos while being unique enough to not be covering the same ground.

I grew up in Harvard Mass. near its Shaker village. There is a road named after Ann Lee in town

I went to a shaker museum in Kentucky as a kid - Pleasant Hill. What struck me the most was the extrememe separation of the sexes- they even had separate doors and staircses!

Ily 🫶🏾 Andrew. Keep making these videos. I’m an Ohioan, and these people are my neighbors; and I knew nothing of Mother Ann. I’ll keep the rest of my comments in my brain. God bless the United States of America. It’s July 4th when I watched this 😊

“Sister June & Brother Arnold” rebuilding a colourful American religion, would be the perfect premise for an 80s sitcom. Catchy theme song & supporting cast of local residents & prospective new members, maybe with occasional cameo voiced off stage from Ann? Merchandise might be tricky, kids pjs or a plushy toy based off that unflattering engraving might be a tough to break into Xmas market

The Shakers invented the circular saw, the first commercial washing machine (for a hotel), sweetened condensed milk, and started the first mail order seeds business.

I think the process of routinization (in many religious movements) can be described as a group of believers turning to each other and saying “ok, so the world didn’t end. Now what?”

5:54 definitely looked like she had the fullness of the God Head

Helen Hunt should play her in a movie.....

Never heard of this group! Thanks for the information!!!

I just drove by the Shaker Museum off i90 near us20. They are other type things around here around I88. This is all in New York from Albany to Binghamton.

@ReligionForBreakfast they sound very similar to the Koreshan community in Southwest Florida, a celibate commune that lasted until the 1980s tangentially related to the Mormons. I don't know that there's too much information about them since they were pretty low-key and recent, but they did have some small local impact in the area around where they settled and the commune has been turned into a public park.

Nice to see a video about the Shakers. I was surprised that it lasted as long as it did! I thought it died out back in the mid-19th Century. All in all, a very interesting group!

😊 Thank you for this video. Super interesting history! 😊

There is a model Shaker colonial village (kind of like at Williamsburg, Virginia) named "Old Economy" near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Local schools take field trips there a lot. I've probably been there a half-dozen times.

I’ve heard the magnetic pull of historically religious characters as a kind of “world-unwinding charisma” and that description always stuck with me.

I’ll never see my shaker style kitchen cabinets the same again.

The forehead on that drawing proves she had the “fullness of the God Head”

I think if a female continued the Shaker religion. It would have been around much longer. The female gender promotes, compassion, unity, peace, creativity and love to one another. 🙏🏼 Something that is needed In today’s world.

Wouldn't it be fun if the last two remaining shakers gave each other the nicknames 'salt' and 'pepper'?

I just came to the realization that Shaker Heights, Ohio (near my hometown) was named after the Shakers religious group. My hometown was founded by the Quakers, and our school mascot was a giant Quaker dude's head.

I wonder what the difference was between the Shakers' ecstatic practices and speaking in tongues; there was one comparison mentioned in the video, but what distinguishes one from the other?

We have a major street here in Lubbock named after the Quakers.

Was this who the Crash Test Dummies were talking about in their song?

Excellent video. Fair and balanced.

Well, shake it up, baby, now Twist and shout -- Beatles

Until your headline, I didn't realize that the term 'shakers' was a contraction. Butis does explain a lot.

There was a Shaker village by Lexington, KY. It's a tourist site now.

This is great. You should do Rosicrucianism!

Bury Football Club we’re nicknamed the Shakers due to the origins of the movement. Lots of history going on with that football club at the moment. But at the time Bury was not part of Manchester. It was in Lancashire.

Please do video on New Harmony, IN. Thank you.

"In 1774 an English Woman arrived in New York City..." (Shows drawing if woman in question) Me: "yep, she's English alright."

We use to sing their songs at church camp.

Has no one mentioned the Shaker sweaters. There is a pattern in knitting called the Shaker stitch which is a type of ribbed stitch. The sisters also made cloaks.

throughout this video I saw a number of similarities between the Shaker movement and the LDS movement. Both started by charismatic leaders, both had radical attitudes about or toward women (but in different directions in terms of autonomy and in leadership). Rutinization effected them differently with the Mormons being driven out of several sites westward into the wild west.