The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur,
Delaware 19735
Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Newman, Cathy
Title: Research notes for “The Shakers’ Brief Eternity”
Dates: 1986-1989
Call No.: Col. 925
Acc. No.: 13x118; 14x34
Quantity: 2 boxes
Location: 28 C 1
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Cathy Newman is a writer and editor at large for National Geographic magazine. She began her professional career writing for
the Miami News.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
In September 1989, Cathy Newman’s article “The
Shakers’ Brief Eternity” appeared in National
Geographic. The materials in this
collection are her research notes, interviews (both tapes and transcripts),
correspondence, original proposal, and drafts which were the basis for that
article. Also included are a few
publications about the Shakers and two signed photographs by Sam Abell, who did
the photography for the article. Ms.
Newman was the first to widely disseminate information about a disagreement
between the Shaker communities of Canterbury, New Hampshire, and Sabbathday
Lake Maine, and the article created some controversy among Shaker scholars and
others interested in the sect.
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Both accessions: Gift of Cathy Newman.
ACCESS POINTS
People:
Abell, Sam.
Brewer,
Priscilla J.
Carr,
Frances A.
Hulings, Martha
A.
Lindsay,
Bertha, 1897-
Miller,
Amy Bess Williams.
Thompson,
Darryl.
Wertkin,
Gerald C.
Topics:
Shakers - 20th
century.
Shakers - New Hampshire - Canterbury.
Nails and
spikes.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: 28 C 1
Box 1:
Folder 1: Proposal
for National Geographic article
Folder 2: Draft
of National Geographic article
Folder 3: National Geographic, Sept. 1989,
including article “The Shakers’ Brief Eternity”
Folder 4: Correspondence,
1986-1989
Folder 5: notes
about interviews: Sister Ethel Hudson, Sister Frances Carr, Greg Swartz
Folder 6: Brewer,
Priscilla: transcript of interview
Folder 7: Carr,
Frances, Sister: transcript of interview
Folder 8: Hulings,
Martha: transcript of interview
Folder 9: [Lindsay,]
Bertha, Eldress: transcript of interview
Folder 10: [Lindsay,]
Bertha, Eldress, and Soule, Gertrude, Sister: transcript of interview
Folder 11: Miller,
Amy Bess: transcript of interview
Folder 12: Morse,
Richard: transcript of interview and other information
[2d
copy of transcript: from acc. 14x34]
Folder 13: Thompson,
Darryl: transcript of interview
Folder 14: Thompson, Darryl: “Shaker Influence on
America and the World: A Bibliographic Outline”
Folder 15: Wertkin,
Gerard: transcript of interview
Folder 16: “Words of a Sacred Roll…, New Lebanon,
Aug. 1, 1842”: photocopy from Western Reserve Historical Society
Box 2:
Folder 1: Shaker information:
“The Watervliet Shaker Cemetery,
Albany, N.Y.”, by Elizabeth D. Shaver;
nail from Canterbury barn, attached to a
postcard view of the barn in flames, with note signed Bertha Lindsay
authenticating the source of the nail;
“The Shaker Messenger,” v. 9, no. 3 (spring
1987);
postcards from Enfield, New
Hampshire
pamphlet about the
Shaker Library at Sabbathday Lake, Maine;
photocopy of several
pages from journal kept at South Union, Kentucky (acc. 14x34)
Folder 2: articles
about Shakers;
Includes obituaries of
Sister Gertrude Soule, written after her death, and some comments about her
funeral taken from interviews with Eldress Bertha [Lindsay] and Sister Frances
Carr (acc. 14x34)
Folder 3: tapes
of interviews
Folder 4: photographs by Sam Abell: aerial view
of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, and page of music
Folder 5: “The Swift,” January and March 1987
(March is partial issue only) (acc. 14x34)
Folder 6: Berkshire Shaker Seminar, 1985, 1986
(acc. 14x34)
Folder 7: Shaker
Seminar schedules: 11th (1985; from acc. 14x34), 13th (1987)
Folder 8: Barker, R. Mildred (Sister): “The
Sabbathday Lake Shakers: An Introduction to the Shaker Heritage” (Sabbathday
Lake: The Shaker Press, 1985, 2d edition, 4th printing) (acc. 14x34)
Folder 9: “The Shakers’ Brief Eternity,” typed
text only (acc. 14x34)
Rev. 9-3-2014