The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

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