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Finding Aid for the Ruskin Settlement Collection, 1893-1901


MS-1014

University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN


Encoded by: Elizabeth Dunham, October 5, 2006.

Summary Information
Title: Ruskin Settlement Collection

Date/Date Range :   1893-1901

Extent: 3.0 linear feet

Abstract:
The material in this collection documents the Ruskin Co-operative Association, active from 1893 to 1899 in Ruskin, Tennessee and from 1899 to 1901 in Ruskin, Georgia.

Call number: MS-1014

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

Access and Use
Aquisition Information:
The Ruskin Colony Collection was assembled by Professor Francelia Butler, of the University of Connecticut, who presented it to this library.
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 Settlement Collection, MS-1014. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Arrangement

Collection consists of three boxes divided into three series:

  1. Series I: Notebooks, Books, and Newspapers
  2. Series II: Original Ruskin Memorabilia
  3. Series III: Miscellaneous Notes and Manuscripts

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 1894. 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

The material in this collection documents the Ruskin Co-operative Association, active from 1893 to 1899 in Ruskin, Tennessee and from 1899 to 1901 in Ruskin, Georgia. The Ruskin Colony was apparently the first Marxist-influenced commune in the United States. Materials include published records, documents, and articles about the colony. Also included are photographs of the community and copies of New England newspapers. The newspapers describe the terrible economic depression that induced people in the 1890's to join the Ruskin Commune.

Interested researchers may also wish to consult UTK-MS-0023: The Ruskin Cooperative Association Papers.

Subject Terms

  • Ruskin Co-operative Association.
  • Dickson County (Tenn.) -- History.
Contents List
   

Series I: Notebooks, Books, and Newspapers, 1893-1964
Box   1      
Notebooks, Books, and Newspapers,

Scope Note:

6 Notebooks - (3) Fran Butler's (on Ruskin); (3) Bob Miner's (on Ruskin)

10 Vols. The Coming Nation (Sept. 23,1893 - July 27,1901) bound, xeroxed from the Draper Coll., Wisconsin Historical Society

Visions of Utopia. by John Egerton.

Nashoba. Edd Winfield Parks.

"The Ruskin Commonwealth: A Unique Experiment in Marxian Socialism." Francelia Butler. In Tennessee Historical Quarterly. v. XXIII. Dec. 1964. No. 4.

A History of Dickson County. Robert E. Corlew.

  1. American Disciples of Marx, from the Age of Jackson to the Progressive Era. Herreshoff, David.
  2. The Angel and the Serpent. Wilson, William E.
  3. As I Pass By. Wayland Walter.
  4. Autobiography of Brook Farm. Sams, Henry W.
  5. Backwoods Utopias. Bestor, Arthur Eugene, Jr.
  6. Designs of Famous Utopias. Grey, Donald J. and Orrick, Allen H.
  7. Eugene V. Debs. Coleman, McAlister.
  8. Ideology and Utopia. Mannheim, Karl.
  9. The Joyful Community. Zablocki, Benjamin.
  10. Kibbutz . Spiro, Melford E.
  11. Looking Backward. Bellamy, Edward.
  12. The Nature of Communism. Daniels, Robert.
  13. Oil! Sinclair, Upton.
  14. The Quest for Utopia. Negley, Glen & Patrick, J. Max.
  15. Sex and Marriage in Utopian Communities. Muncy, Raymond Lee.
  16. The Story of Utopias. Mumford, Lewis.
  17. Strange Cults & Utopias of 19th Century America. Noyes, John Humphrey.
  18. Value, Price and Profit. Marx, Karl.
   

Series II: Original Ruskin Memorabilia, 1895-1901
Box   2     Folder   1    
2 photo albums of Ruskin Commune, post cards for Ruskin cave
Box   2     Folder   2    
Butler Collection of original photographs (Ruskin commune near Waycross, Georgia
Box   2     Folder   3    
Butler Collection of original negatives (Ruskin commune)
Box   2     Folder   4    
25 photographs of Ruskin commune
Box   2     Folder   5    
6 original copies Coming Nation (2 Greenburg, Ind. 1893-1894: 2 Ruskin, Tenn. 1895 & 1899: 2 Ruskin, Ga. 1898 & 1901), 1893-1901
Box   2     Folder   6    
Catalogue of the Ruskin Library. Book: Fors Clavigera by John Ruskin
Box   2     Folder   7    
Correspondence to Francelia Butler (C-R)
Box   2     Folder   8    
Correspondence to Francelia Butler (S-Y)
Box   2     Folder   9    
Notes of Fran Butler: a conversation with Annie Ennis Butler and notes from Firebrand , 1895 March
Box   2     Folder   10    
Pamphlet Address by Henry D. Lloyd, Author of Wealth Against Commonwealth. The Coming Nation Press. Ruskin, TN, 1898
Box   2     Folder   11    
Fran Butler - miscellaneous notes (Ruskin)
Box   2     Folder   12    
Ruskin letters - letters to editors, publishers, libraries
Box   2     Folder   13    
Sheet music by Walter Wayland
   

Series III: Miscellaneous Notes and Manuscripts
Box   3     Folder   1    
The Appeal

Box   3     Folder   2    
Buehler, Grace Stone. The Caves at Ruskin.

Box   3     Folder   3    
Buehler, Grace Stone. Ruskin Influence in Ruskin Tennessee.

Box   3     Folder   4    
Butler, Francelia. The Blue Books: Under the Counter-Culture 1915 - 1951.

Box   3     Folder   5    
Butler, Francelia. A Commune to End all Communes.

Box   3     Folder   6    
Butler, Francelia. Comrade Wayland and the Cave Dwellers.

Box   3     Folder   7    
Butler, Francelia. Educational Survival Kit: Learning and Basic Human Interests.

Box   3     Folder   8    
Butler, Francelia. Through a Pass(t) Darkly - the Melungeons.

Box   3     Folder   9    
Cornwell, Ilene. Ruskin: A History of Ruskin Cave in Dickson County, Tennessee.

Box   3     Folder   10    
Gilmore, Vera Wilson. The Ruskin Colony, 1894-1901: Experimental Model for the Socialist Commonwealth.

Box   3     Folder   11    
Hardiman, Charles E. A Historical Geography of Ruskin Cave, Tennessee.

Box   3     Folder   12    
McDill, Theodore. The Happiest Days of My Life , and Gordon, Grace. Ruskin, Reminiscences.

Box   3     Folder   13    
Scott, Charles L. Appeal to Reason , A Study of the "Largest Political Newspaper in the World."

Box   3     Folder   14    
Stone, Grace. Tennessee: Social & Economic Laboratory.

Box   3     Folder   15    
Wayland, J.A. A Vision of the Future.

Box   3     Folder   16    
By-Laws of the Association
Box   3     Folder   17    
England, George Allen. The Story of the Appeal.

Box   3     Folder   18    
Graduate thesis on Utopias including Nashoba, Rugby, Ruskin.
Box   3     Folder   19    
The Last Days of the Ruskin Co-operative Association.
Box   3     Folder   20    
Leech, T. G. The Social Problem, the Most Contented People in the World.

Box   3     Folder   21    
Stone, Grace. Tennessee: Social and Economic Laboratory. Chapter V, The Ruskin Colony. Sewanee Review.
Box   3     Folder   22    
"Wanted - A Scapegoat." The New Time. Nov. 1898, and misc. xeroxed texts on socialism.
Box   3     Folder   23    
Wayland, J A. Appeal to Reason , and the Coming Nation.

Box   3     Folder   24    
Miscellaneous articles on Ruskin, J. A. Wayland, and xeroxed copies of the Firebrand newspaper.

Box   3     Folder   25    
Miscellaneous documents on Ruskin
Box   3     Folder   26    
Miscellaneous documents on Ruskin
Box   3     Folder   27    
Miscellaneous documents on Ruskin
Box   3     Folder   28    
Newspaper articles on Ruskin
Box   3     Folder   29    
Miscellaneous correspondence (xeroxed) concerning Ruskin
Box   3     Folder   30    
History of Ruskin Co-Op Association (xeroxed copy, 233 pp.)
Box   3     Folder   31    
Copies of New England newspapers that describe the terrible economic depression that induced people in the 1890's to join the Ruskin Commune in Tennessee