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Finding Aid for the Ruskin Cooperative Association Collection, 1894-1958


MS-0023

University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN


Encoded by: Elizabeth Dunham, June 9, 2006.

Summary Information
Title: Ruskin Cooperative Association Collection

Date/Date Range :   1894-1958

Extent: 2.0 linear feet

Abstract:
This collection contains manuscripts, memoranda, and ephemera documenting the Ruskin Cooperative Association in Dickson County, Tennessee.

Call number: MS-0023

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Access and Use
Aquisition Information:
This material was donated to the library by The State Historical Society of Colorado to which it had been given by Mrs. Grace Reaves, the daughter of one of the colonists.
Access Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Copyright:
The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of Item], Ruskin Cooperative Association Collection, MS-0023. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Arrangement

Collection consists of three boxes.


Biography / History

The idea for the Ruskin Cooperative Association was inaugurated in 1881 by Julius Augustus Wayland, an Indiana newspaperman. He founded two newspapers: The Appeal to Reason and The Coming Nation. The Coming Nation quickly gained a large circulation; it was through the paper that Wayland began making his appeal for founding a colony. His dream was realized in l894. All seemed to go well in the colony until 1899, when the colony's members became divided over legal issues. The community was eventually disbanded, with some of the members returning to their former homes and others moving to Georgia and reorganizing there into the Ruskin Commonwealth.


Collection Scope and Content Note

This collection houses manuscripts, memoranda, and various related materials dealing with the Ruskin Cooperative Association founded in Dickson County, Tennessee in 1894. Many of the papers are notations and manuscripts of Mrs. Grace Stone Buehler, but there are original papers and material concerning the Ruskin colony, including:

  1. 1 scrapbook of newspaper clippings from The Coming Nation, a Ruskin newspaper covering the period 1894-99.
  2. 1 book of minutes of meetings of The Ruskin Commonwealth, 1894-95.
  3. 23 photographs pertaining to the Ruskin Commonwealth.
  4. A hand-written manuscript on the history of the Ruskin Commonwealth.
  5. 2 copies of The Coming Nation.
  6. 4 certificates of membership in the Ruskin Commonwealth.
  7. Catalogue of the Ruskin library.
  8. Pamphlet, historical sketch of Ruskin.
  9. Album of 24 photographs.
  10. 5 memeographed papers, The Bugle.
  11. Letter from Clay McDill to his sister Emily McDill.

Additional material was acquired from Dr. Mary Baxter Cook in 1967. This material includes:

  1. 2 shares of stock.
  2. 4 bills of chancery.
  3. 35 certificates of labor.
  4. 1 transcript state bill concerning government of associations.
Subject Terms

  • Ruskin Co-operative Association.
  • Dickson County (Tenn.) -- History.
Contents List
Box   1     Folder   1    
Tennessee Historical Quarterly, v. XVII, no. 1: Article on Ruskin, p. 45, 1958
Box   1     Folder   2    
Articles by Grace Stone Buehler: manuscripts and typescript of "The Caves at Ruskin" and "Jewel Cave" ; also, typescript of "Ruskin Influence in Ruskin, Tennessee," undated
Box   1     Folder   3    
Typescript of "Tennessee: Social and Economic Laboratory" by Grace Stone Buehler, undated
Box   1     Folder   4    
Manuscripts and typescripts, both incomplete, of "The Story of Ruskin Cooperative Association" by Grace Stone Buehler, undated
Box   1     Folder   5    
Notes of Grace Stone Buehler concerning Ruskin, undated
Box   1     Folder   6    
Miscellaneous information on Ruskin, gathered by Grace Stone Buehler; contains such items as lists of copies of deeds and injunctions, etc., undated
Box   1     Folder   7    
Miscellaneous mementos of Ruskin: By-laws, catalog of the library, two copies of The Coming Nation, Ruskin currency, etc., undated
Box   1     Folder   8    
Manuscript and typed copies of reminiscences of Ruskin by Grace Gordon, undated
Box   2     Folder   1    
Photographs, undated
Box   2     Folder   2    
Photographs, undated
Box   2     Folder   3    
Photographs, undated
Box   2     Folder   4    
Manuscript: "History of the Ruskin Co-operative Association from August, 1894, to September, 1899," undated
Box   2     Folder   5    
Ledger: "R. C. A. Minutes: August 24th, 1894- March 6th, 1895," 1894-1895
Box   2     Folder   6    
Scrapbook of clippings from The Coming Nation, circa 1898
Box   2     Folder   7    
Stocks, labor certificates, and pleadings submitted to Chancery Court at Charlotte during the dissolution of the association, undated