Shaker museum logo on a white background.

Shaker Museum

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A room with a dresser and a pair of shoes.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A wooden boat on display in a museum.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A room with a vase, a bowl, and a dresser.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A room with a wooden rake and other items on display.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A yellow dresser is on display in a white room.

Detail view of metronome. Photographed by Zach Neven.

A wooden thermometer hanging on a tiled wall.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A room with a yellow vase on a white pedestal.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

Three photographs on a shelf in a white room.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A wooden rake and a pair of shoes on a white wall.

Photographed by Zach Neven.

A wooden boat on display in a museum.

Shakers: In Community (July 17 – October 4, 2020)

When Ann Lee and a small group of followers left England and arrived in the United States in 1774, they established Shakerism as both a religion and a way of life. The Shakers were guided by core values of conviction, integrity, inclusion, and innovation, and they believed society could be perfected, and a paradise on earth created, through communal living, gender and racial equality, pacifism, confession of sin, celibacy, and separation from the world. Those who chose to become Shakers entered a secluded community that expected hard work and great self-discipline and sacrifice. For the Shakers, the routines of daily life were a place to demonstrate one’s faith.

The men, women, and children who left “the world,” as they called it, to join the Shakers nevertheless brought with them ideas and preferences shaped by that world. As a result, Shaker rules were always evolving. Even so, members regularly wrestled with the challenge of living by Shaker tenets.

Through an array of photographs, furniture, prints, apparel, and other objects in the permanent collection of the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon, Shakers: In Community highlights the different ways in which Shakers sought to forge equitable and inclusive communal bonds, and the difficulty of making good on those efforts in everyday life.

Shakers: In Community opened on July 17 at 17 Main St, Chatham, NY and closed on October 4, 2020.

A black and white photo of a person smiling.

Shane Rothe

Curatorial Associate

Shane Rothe (they/them) joined Shaker Museum in July 2023, working with independent curator Maggie Taft on an exhibition for the new museum space in Chatham. Shane is an artist as well as a curator and continues to create in the mediums of painting, sculpture, writing, and performance. Shane holds a BFA from CalArts and an MA in art history and curatorial studies from the University of Chicago.