On Friday, January 5th, Mrs. Harney’s MVCC Dual Credit US History students at Camden High School took a field trip to the Oneida Community Mansion House. The house is one of the most peculiar historic sites in the local area.
The Oneida Community began in 1848 as a social experiment with the goal of creating a new version of a religious utopian society. Founders and members of the community were inspired by the religious revivalist period known as the Second Great Awakening. The bedrock of the settlement’s ideals was based on founder John Humphrey Noyes’ belief in perfectionism, or the notion that a life free of sin was possible on earth. At its height, the community contained over 300 members. It lasted about 30 years before it was dissolved.
The community had social norms that were very different from the norms of the time, and grew to have a very complex bureaucracy overseeing its collective activities.
They started as an agricultural society and evolved into a vast array of highly successful industrial enterprises over time. Of note was a trap manufacturing business regarded as one of the nation’s best, along with making embroidered silks, canned fruit, and silverware. Those businesses were carried on by community members when the community was dissolved as a formal entity in the late 1870s through one of the nation’s first joint-stock companies. You may know that company today as the world-renowned cutlery manufacturer, Oneida Ltd, which remains a major player in the global marketplace for those products. At its 1880 outset, the Oneida Ltd. joint-stock company was among the first US companies to appoint a woman on its board of directors.
As the companies expanded, they looked to outside help to continue running them at the needed output during the community’s existence and beyond. At one time, they had thousands of workers from the local area, including numerous people who resided in Camden. Many of the Camden-area commuters were settlers from Ireland who called the area their new home.
The trip tied into the class’s recent unit on the Antebellum Reform Era of American History, and students had the opportunity to learn more about the community’s role in that time period through knowledgeable tour guides. One of those tour guides was Mr. Geoff Noyes, who is the great-grandson of the community’s founder. Geoff graduated from Yale and has been very involved in local education, including a decade-long stint on the VVS school board. He brought the history alive with a very unique perspective, as is very well-versed in the community’s history.
Students also had the chance to interact with some very unusual and rare artifacts. Thomas A. Guiler, PhD, Director of Museum Affairs organized the visit and spoke with the students about the process involved with cataloging and preserving the artifacts. His dynamic presentation engaged the students from start to finish.
Dean of Students Rebecca Ciotti joined Harney and the students on their trip, which provided a unique glimpse into a prominent and noteworthy place in local history.
