Millennial Light – by Henry J. Seymour

Established in 1848 under the leadership of John Humphrey Noyes, the utopian experiment at Oneida, New York was the nucleus of the Perfectionist movement and one of the longest-lasting intentional communities in American history before they were liquidated in 1881; its former members went on to form the Oneida Limited company, today a major producer of high-end cutlery. The Perfectionists believed that Christ’s second coming had already occurred unnoticed, and therefore it was possible to achieve perfection on earth, individually and socially. They largely eliminated private property among themselves, espoused and to some extent enacted equality for women, were among the first groups to vocally promote birth control, and practiced a highly regulated form of polyamory which they called Complex Marriage. However, the last-named practice led to sexual scandals and credible accusations of abuse throughout the community’s existence.

    Henry J. Seymour was one of the core members of the group; he was among the original founders of the Oneida commune and author of several pamphlets defending it against its accusers. His poem “Millennial Light”, portraying a futuristic utopia, was published by the community’s in-house press; the interior of this pamphlet is a facsimile of an original copy in the Revenant Archive. “Grass and Roses” appeared under the pseudonym “Exotica” (likely a female member of the group) in the commune’s newspaper The Oneida Circular, which was a major means of communication not only for the Perfectionists but other utopian communities and the broader radical-progressive underground in America.

8 pgs on folded letter. Aug. A.Da. 110 (2026 Anti-Vulgar)
$0.75 + s/h

Packed along with a few other free pamphlets from this series tossed in! (Specify other titles in a note with the order, if you have a preference.)