#fruitlands

Bronson Alcott (1799-1888; father of Louisa May Alcott): I'm against slavery!

me: yeah!

Bronson Alcott: and for women's education!

me: right on!

Bronson Alcott: I believe we have a responsibility to care for nature!

me: so true!

Bronson Alcott: schools should be integrated!

me: banging out the hits!

Bronson Alcott: also blond-haired and blue-eyed people are inherently angelic and superior!

me: ...wait what

Bronson Alcott: I'm going to make my wife and four young daughters join my farm commune featuring zero farmers trying to work un-arable land with no beasts of burden, and we will also attempt to be vegan (including not wearing wool or leather) in 1840s Concord, Massachusetts! and not eat any root vegetables! this is very responsible parenting!

me: how are your children going to. have nutrients. and not freeze to death. Bronson answer me

Bronson Alcott: did I mention feeling anger at all ever is evil?

me:

my ancestors were in a cult? kinda?

A mini deep dive on the utopian, transcendentalist, & Fourierist communal living experiments in the 1800s & why they should have just practiced animism instead of being... kinda dumb? The idea was there, they just lacked common sense.

They were so busy waiting for the ocean to turn into lemonade that they forgot how to talk to the dirt. They tried to build a New Way out of theories, when the Old Ways (Animism) were already right under their feet, laughing at them.

If you'd like to see more, you can download my zine on Gumroad! hush now creature: a small, ongoing problem. you can download it here ~

Leisure Pursuits: The Fashion and Culture of Recreation

This exhibition running through March 24, 2019 at Fruitlands Museum in Massachusetts, not too far from Boston, manages to offer everything from what people wore to sweat or to fish all the way to what they wore for parties.

So you see above, the bloomers for athletics that women wore in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. These things were made of wool and my students find it hard to believe they are not dresses, but really they are short pants with enormously flared legs that are then gathered in at the bottom. I know it’s hard to believe but they were a step forward as they were much easier to move in than long skirts that hit the ankles. And letting women play sports was another step forward. and girls took to basketball in droves. But then there are the relaxing leisure looks like this gown in silk and metallic threads from 1930 which was a luxurious look for a party.

Booksellers on Vacation

Pictures from Pete’s visit to Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts.

Ah, I suppose I should have been clearer for those unfamiliar with the area.

Since linen is a particularly light, breathable fabric, it’s really only good as outerwear in the summer. Winters here can get pretty damn cold, even in the southernmost states of the region. When I walked to 8 AM winter classes in university and the wind made my eyes water, the tears regularly froze to my eyelashes.

And that’s nowadays, with climate change in full swing. The Alcotts’ Transcendental commune experiment at Fruitlands was during the Little Ice Age, a period of much lower global average temperatures from about 1303-1860. Attempting to live in linen only- since no manmade alternatives to cold-weather staples like wool and fur yet existed -was complete folly. It’s a miracle none of them died of hypothermia.