Perfectionists and the weather: The Oneida community's quest for meteorological utopia, 1848-1879, The

Conclusion

The Perfectionists' adaptations bore out many of the claims made for them. Community life at Oneida incurred much less trouble and expense from the weather than fell to the lot of their mid-nineteenth century neighbors. That a great deal of the weather's impacts was the fault not of the weather but of particular ways of life, and could be changed by changing them, Noyes and his people amply demonstrated.

They did not, however, show that their own original root principles were in every way the basis for perfect weather-society relations. They had to abandon one of them and begin hiring outside labor in order to meet successfully the economic challenges of seasonality. Neither did they prove that their way of life was superior for all times. The advantages that they reaped from Association have lost much of their value today. Technological developments have placed such amenities as central heating and indoor clothes drying within easy reach of the average individual American household. The deseasonalization of most work and especially the drastic decline of agricultural employment have done away with the problem of mass winter joblessness. Accepted styles of clothing today incur far less trouble from the weather than did the long women's skirt of the Victorian period. Better street paving and snow clearance have reduced weather obstacles to travel.

Like the Oneida Community, though by means other than communal association, the population of the present-day United States has been shielded from many of the weather impacts that troubled earlier generations.57 The result, however, has not been the disappearance of strong weather preferences. As many of the weather's varied meanings as both help and hindrance have been effaced, indeed, such preferences show up all the more clearly because practical considerations no longer obscure them. It is no mystery today what most Americans regard as good and bad weather. Substantial seasonal migration now occurs annually from the colder and wetter to the warmer and drier states. Permanent migration in the same direction is motivated in part by the search for a pleasant climate. Many Americans suffer from the form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder, with a strong peak in the fall and winter. All these facts testify to the persistence of strong likes and dislikes-the same ones, in fact, that the Oneidans expressed in spite of themselves and their governing principles. One sees better in the light of their experience why changing the weather has been a more popular route by far to meteorological utopia than adapting preferences to what already exists, for preferences may not be as malleable as Noyes and his followers supposed them to be.

Notes

I would like to thank the editor and reviewers for their comments. Manuscript materials from the Oneida Community Records are cited by permission of the Department of Special Collections, Syracuse University Library.

Medieval Fantasies of the Perfect Life, trans. Diane Webb (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001), 180-81; Philip NV. Porter and Fred E. Lukermann, "The Geography of Utopia," Geographies of the Mind: Essays in Historical Geosophy in Honor ofJohn Kirtland Wright, ed. David Lowenthal and Martyn J. Bowden (New York: Oxford University Press, 1975), 210.

2. Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance and Fanshawe, ed. Willaim Charvat et al. (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1964), 12.

3. This section is drawn from an extensive literature on Noyes and Oneida. Important

book-length studies are Robert Allerton Parker, A Yankee Saint John Humphrey Noyes and the Oneida Community (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1935); Maren Lockwood Carden, Oneida: Utopian Community to Modern Corporation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1969); Constance Noyes Robertson, Oneida Community: An Autobiography, 1851-1876 (Syracuse, N. Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1970); Robert David Thomas, The Man Who Would Be Perfect: John Humphrey Noyes and the Utopian Impulse (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977); Richard DeMaria, Communal Love at Oneida: A Perfectionist Vision of Authority, Property, and Social Order (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1978); Ira L. Mandelker, Religion, Society, and Utopia in Nineteenth-Cen tinO America (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984); and Spencer Klaw, Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida CommuniO, (New York: Allen Lane/Penguin Press, 1993). Important shorter treatments include chapters in Dolores Hayden, Seven American Utopias: The Architecture of Communal Socialism, 1790-1975 (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976) and Lawrence Foster, Religion and Sexuality: Three American Communal Experiments of the Nineteenth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981). The principal surviving manuscript material from Oneida is held in the Oneida Community Records in the Department of Special Collections, Syracuse University Library.

For samples of Emerson's climatic determinism, see Essays & Lectures (New York: Library of America, 1983), 287, 359-60, 788, and 958; on Thoreau's, see Richard J. Schneider, "'Climate Does Thus React on Man': Wildness and Geographical Determinisin in Thoreau's 'Walking,'" in Thoreau's Sense of Place, ed. Richard J. Schneider (Iowa City: Iowa University Press, 2000), 44-60. For the other authors cited, see Frederick

Douglass, "F. P. Blair's Lecture in Boston," Douglass' Monthly 1, #10 (1859): 34-35; and "A Trip to Haiti" (orig. 186]), in The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, ed. P. S. Foner (New York: International Publishers, 1952), III, 87; J. McC. Smith, "Civilization. Its Dependence on Physical Circumstances," The Anglo-African Magazine 1 (1859): 517; and L. Maria Child, Letters from New York, 3rd ed. (New York: C. S. Francis, 1846), 256-58. Climatic determinism of one form or another was also used in this period by many Southern apologists for slavery, though rejected by some others: Mart A. Stewart, "Let Us Begin with the Weather': Climate, Race, and Cultural Distinctiveness in the American South," in Nature and Society in Historical Perspective, ed. Mikulas Teich et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 248-50. The main Oneida statements quoted were responses to a deterministic editorial in the liberal, antislavery Springfield Republican: "Climate and Character," The Circular 7 (2o January 1859): 207 and "Climate and Character," The Circular8 (27 January 1859): 2. Though for a few later lapses, see "Foot-Notes. No. XIV.," The Circular n.s. 1 (5 September 1864): 197 and "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (17 February 1873): 61.

5. Clark C. Spence, The Rainmakers: American "Pluviculture" to World War II (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980), 9-21; William B. Meyer, Americans and Their Weather: A History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 85-90.

6. Charles A. Dana, "Report," The Phalanx 1 (8 February 1844): 311-12; "Young America: Anti-Rentism," The Harbinger 1 (23 August 1845): 174-75; "The Universality of Providence," The Harbinger i (ii October 1845): 286; "Cannibalism," The Harbinger 4 (17 April 1847): 291; Parke Godwin, A Popular View of the Doctrines of Charles Fourier (New York: J. S. Redfield, 1844), 79-82. On the theme of climate modification in Fourier's thought, see Jonathan Beecher, Charles Fourier: The Visionary and His World (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986), 338-41, 352. On American Fourierism, see Carl J. Guarneri, The Utopian Alternative: Fourierism in NineteenthCentury America (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991).

7. Richard H. Jackson, "Righteousness and Environmental Change: The Mormons and the Environment of the West," in Essays on the American West, 1973-1974, Charles Redd Monograph in Western History #5, ed. Thomas G. Alexander (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1975), 21-42; Jeanne Kay and Craig J. Brown, "Mormon Beliefs About Land and Natural Resources, 1847-1877," Journal of Historical Geography 11 (1985): 255-56; Charles D. Cashdollar, "The Social Implications of the Doctrine of Divine Providence: A Nineteenth-Century Debate in American Theology," Harvard Theological Review 71 (1978): 265-84; and The Transformation of Theology, 1830-18go: Positivism and Protestant Thought in Britain and Arid America (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989), 346-58.

8. "Special Providence," The Circular 3 (29 August 1854): 460; "The Law of Special

Providence," The Circular n.s. 1 (27 February 1865): 397-98; "Community Journal," The Circular n.s. 7 (12 December 1870): 309; H. A. N., "Special Providences," The Oneida Circular ii.s. 9 (29 April 1872): 138.

9. "Community Journal," 24 April 1853 and 29 August 1854, Oneida Community Records, Department of Special Collections, Syracuse University Library [hereafter OCR-SU], Box #72; William A. Hinds to Tirzah Miller, 17 February 1875, OCR-SU, Box #48; Charlotte M. Leonard Journals, 1 November 1876, OCR-SU, Box #63; "Oneida Journal," The Circular 3 (27 July 1854): 403-04; A. W. C., "Providences of God in the War," The Circular ii (24 April 1862): 44.

lo. H. J. S., "Faith and Climate," The Circular lo (23 January 1862): 204; "Special Providences: Home-Talk," The Circular 4 (15 March 1855): 29; "1863-1864 Daily Journal," 23 July 1864, 283, OCR-SU, Box #11; see also "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 7 (20 May 1858): 67; Daily Journal of Oneida Community i (19 February 1866): 122.

ii. George Washington Noyes to Portia Underhill [?], 26 June 1865, OCR-SU, Box #67; "How to Take the Weather," The Circular 2 (15 December 1852): 34-35.

12. H. J. S., "A Lesson from the Weather," The Circular 3 (14 November 1854): 592; "'. A.

H., "A Thankful View," The Circular 6 (io September 1857): 134; Charles Olds to Harriet N. Olds, 14 Feb. 1864, OCR-SU, Box #72.

13. See, e.g., "How to Take the Weather," 34-35; H. N. L., "Can We Conquer the Cold?," The Circular 3 (7 February 1854): 108; "A Recipe for the Weather," The Circular 3 (20 July 1854): 391; "Hints for Cold Weather," The Circular 3 (16 September 1854): 490; "An Oneida Journal: Keep in Rapport With the Weather," The Circular 5 (14 February 1856): 15; T. L. P., "Hot Weather Philosophy," The Circular 8 (14 July 1859): 98.

14. "Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents," The Phalanx 1 (1 June 1844): 154; "The Anarchy of Labor," The Harbinger 1 (2 August 1845): 116; "Civilization: The Isolated Family," The Harbinger 1 (27 September 1845): 252; T. C. P., "A Plain Lecture on Association," The Harbinger 4 (5 June 1847): 403; Albert Brisbane, A Concise Exposition of the Doctrine of Association, 8"' ed. (New York: J. S. Redfield, 1844),17, 2o21, 22.

15. On the Perfectionists's relations to Fourierism, see Bible Communism (Brooklyn, N.Y.: The Circular, 1853), 7-8; Michael Barkun, Crucible of the Millennium: The Burned-- Over District of New York in the 1840s (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1986), 77-79; and Klaw, Without Sin, 53-54.

16. Bible Communism, 16; "Correspondence," The Circular 3 (11 April 1854): 220; "Facilities of Association," The Circular 3 (2 May 1854): 255; "Drought at the West," The Circular 3 (20 July 1854): 392; "The Needs of Labor," The Circular4 (22 February 1855): 18; "In-Door Employment," The Circular 4 (22 February 1855): 19; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 4 (14 June 1855): 83.

17. Second Annual Report of the Oneida Association Exhibiting Its Progress to February so, 65o (Oneida Reserve, N. Y.: Leonard & Company, 1850), 5-6.

18. "The Hot-Air Furnace," The Circular 3 (24 December 1853): 35; "Stoker's Journal," The Circular 3 (ii February 1854): 119; "House-Warming by Heated Air," The Circular 3 (14 February 1854): 123. Furnaces at this time were "still in the luxury class" in the northern United States: See Edgar W. Martin, The Standard of Living in i86o (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942), 93

19. "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 4 (lo January 1856): 203. For prevalent medical

opinion, see Morrill Wyman, A Practical Treatise on Ventilation (Boston: Munroe, 1846), 181-82, 315, 324-25; Luther V. Bell, The Practical Methods of Ventilating Buildings (Boston: Damrell and Moore, 1848), 25-26; Catherine E. Beecher, Letters to the People on Health and Happiness (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1855), 91-94,165-68; William-- Edward Coale, Hints on Health (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1857), 53-55; William A. Alcott, The Laws ofHealth; or, Sequel to "The House I Live In"(Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1859), 90-95, z69-72; . Elliot Cabot, "House-Building," Atlantic Monthly, lo (1862): 429; and Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Principles of Domestic Science (New York: J. B. Ford and Company, 1873), 40.75, 310-21.

2o. "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 9 (23 February i86o): 15; "Dedication of the New Community Mansion," The Circular ii (27 February 1862): 10; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s, 11 (27 July 1874): 245.

21. "An Oneida Journal: Winter in Association," The Circular 5 (14 February 1856): 15.

22. "Community Gossip," The Circular FI.S. 2 (27 March 1865): 11-12; Ni. C. T., "A Spell of Weather," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (12 August 1872): 263.

23. Second Annual Report, 6; "Economies of Communism," The American Socialist 2 (24 May 1877): 165.

24. "Laundry Improvements," The Circular n.s. 1 (31 October 1864): 260.61.

25. Gayle Veronica Fischer, "Who Wears the Pants? Women, Dress Reform, and Power in the Mid-Nineteenth-Centurv United States," Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1995

26. "The Bloomer Dress in Winter," The Circular 1 (15 February 1852): 59; H., [untitled paragraph], The Circular 2 (26 January 1853): 84; H. M., "Dress Martyrdom," The Circular n.s. 3 (26 March 1866): 11; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s.10 (3 November 1873): 357; R., "The Weary Stairs," The Oneida Circular n.s. 13 (20 January 1876): 20. On the rapid post-breakup abandonment of the reform dress (and for a somewhat different interpretation of the reasons), see Fischer, "Who Wears the Pants?," 391-93.

27. Bible Communism, 13-14; Second Annual Report, 11-12; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 4 (14 May 1855): 66.

28. "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 6 (23 July 1857): 107; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 6 (3o July 1857): in; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 7 (8 July r858): 94; The

0. C, Daily 4 (25 July 1867): 83-84; "Community Gossip," The Circular n.S. 2 (22 January 1866): 357; Daily Journal of Oneida Community 1 (25 January 1866): 35-37; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (31 July 1871): 244; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 11 (20 July 1874): 237.

29. G., "Gardening and Fruit-Growing," The Circular 1 (5 September 1852): 174; "Fruit-- Culture," The Circular 3 (20 December 1853): 26; "The Test of Civilization," The Circular 4 (12 July 1855): 98; G. W. N., "Fruit as Food," The Circular 7 (2 September 1858): 126; "Talk with Mr. Hy Pothesis," The Circular n.s. 2 (24 July 1865): 146-47.

30. See, e.g., "Community and Climate," The Circular 3 (28 February 1854): 148; H. T., "Gardening Affairs, The Circular 3 (1 June 1854): 307; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 4 (io May 1855): 62-63; 11. T., "Talk About Fruit-Trees," The Circular 4 (3 January 1856): zoo; T. L. P., "Fruit-Growing at Oneida," The Circular 5 (16 October 1856): 155; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 7 (18 March 1858): 31.

31. See, e.g., "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 5 (13 November 1856): 171; "Fruit-Growing," The Circular 6 (29 January 1857): 7-8; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 7 (22 April 1858): 51; A. B., "Horticultural," The Circular 8 (1 September 1859): 127-28; Daily Journal of Oneida Community 1, #97 (18 May 1866); Henry Thacker, "Fruit Trees Injured by Frost," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (13 March 1871): 87; H. J. S., "Irrigation," The Oneida Circular n.s. 13 (zo January 1876): 24.

32. Ulysses P. Hedrick, The Peaches of New York State (Albany: J. B. Lyons Company, 1917),134

11. On earlier experience in the area, see Lord Selkirk's Diary, 1803-1804, ed. Patrick T. C.

White (Toronto: The Champlain Society, 1958), rob; William Cooper, A Guide in the Wilderness (1810; reprint, Freeport, N. Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1970), 24-25; William Darby, A Tour from the City ofNew-York to Detroit in the Michigan Territory (New York: Kirk & Mercein, 1819), 59; "Fruits and Fruit Culture," Transactions of the NewYork State Agricultural Society ly, 1/61. 7,1847 (Albany: C. Van Benthuysen, 1848), 563-64, 566-67; and The Oneida Telegraph, quoted in "The Community Festival," The Circular 1 (11 July 1852):138. For Perfectionist views blaming deforestation, see "The Drought," The Circular 3 (22 July 1854): 395; "Forests," The Circular4 (15 February 1855): 14; "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 4 (26 April 1855): 54; "Use of the Woods," The Circular 4 (31 May 1855): 76; "Forests and Climate," The Circular 7 (5 August 1858): 112; H. J. S., "Man's Relations to the Earth," The Circular n.s. 1 (3 October 1864): 229-30; Henry Thacker, "Cultivation of Fruits. No. 8.," The Circular n.s. 5 (23 March 1868): 3; Henry Thacker, "Influence of Trees on Climate," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (6 May 1872): 147

34, "Work and Wages," The Circular 5 (14 August 1856): n8; "Practical Communism," The Circular 8 (ii August 1859): 113.

35. Stanley Engerman and Claudia Goldin, "Seasonality in Nineteenth-Century Labor Markets," in Thomas Weiss and Donald Schaefer, eds., American Economic Development in Historical Perspective (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1994), 99-126; Carville Earle and Ronald Hoffman, "The Foundation of the Modern Economy: Agriculture and the Costs of Labor in the United States and England, 18oo-6o," American Historical Review 85 (1980): 1055-94; Alexander Keyssar, Out of \&brk: The First Century of Unemployment in Massachusetts (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 59-69.

36. "Social Re-Organization. No. IX.," The Harbinger 4 (22 May 1847): 382; M. E. L., "Scriptural Analogies. No. Ill.," The Harbinger 6 (18 March 1848): 154.

37. "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (4 December 1871): 389.

38. Sewall Newhouse, The Trapper's Guide, ed. John Humphrey Noyes (Wallingford, Conn: The Oneida Community, 1865), 10.

39. "An Oneida Journal," The Circular 5 (24 April 1856): 55.

40-Calculated from figures in "Fruit Department Sales Book, 1865-1866," OCR-SU, Box #29; "Fruit Department Sales Book, 1874-77," OCR-SU, Box #29; and "Fruit Department Sales Book, 1877-79," OCR-SU, Box #30.

41. "A Community Journal," The Circular 12 (1 October 1863): 123; "1863-1867 Business Board Minute Book," 13 September 1863, 40, OCR-SU, Box #23.

42. "1863-1867 Business Board Minute Book," 27 November 1864, 122; 25 June and 2 July 1865,175,178, OCR-SU, Box #23.

43- See, e.g., "Community Gossip," The Circular n.S. 2 (9 October 1865): 236; "Community Gossip," The Circular n.s. 2 (15 January 1866): 349; "1867-1875 Business Board Minute Book;' 29 December 1867, 169-70, OCR-SU, Box #23.

44."Synopsis of Community Activity, 1848-1874," 6 January 1868, OCR-SU, Box #11; T. R. N., "Hired Labor at O.C.," The Circular n.s. 4 (6 January 1868): 341; The 0. C. Daily4 (19 November 18667): 482-83.

45. "Community Journal." The Circular n.s. 5 (21 December 1868), 317; "Synopsis of Community Activity 1848-1874," 19 September 1868 and 12 February 1872, OCR-SU, Box #11; Elizabeth C. Hawley to Mary Louise Prindle, 28 January 1877, OCR-SU Box #47.

46. John B. Ellis, Free Love and its Votaries; or, American Socialism Unmasked (New York:

United States Publishing Company, 1870), 110; Isaac C. Reed, Jr., "The Oneida Community of Free Lovers," Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper 30 (2 April 1870): 38.

47."Community Journal," The Circular n.s. 6 (25 October 1869): 252-53; "Co-Operative Washing," The Circular n.s. 6 (io January 1870), 340; "Benefits of Communism," The Circular n.s. 7 (21 March 1870): 5; T. C. M., "Our Willow-Place Letter," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (18 December 1871): 405; Tirzah Miller to Mary Louise Prindle, 7 November 1869, OCR-SU, Box #66.

48."Community Journal," The Circular n.s. 6 (1 November 1869): 260; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (17 February 1873): 61; "Home Items," The Oneida Circular n.s. 12 (1 March 1875): 69.

49."Weekly Summary of Community Labor, August 18, 1877-December 15,1877," OCR-- SU, Box #25.

50. G., "A Winter Pastime," The Circular n.s. 3 (28 January 1867): 364-65; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (9 December 1872): 397; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. to (i January 1873): 4-5.

51. "1874 Special Appropriations," 13, 14, 48, 66-67, 69, 72, OCR-SU, Box #25.

52."Community Journal," The Circular n.s. 7 (17 January 1870): 348; "Community Items," The American Socialist 4 (29 May 1879): 173; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 11 (4 May 1874): 149.

53 Beulah Hendee to Annie Hatch, 12 May 1879, OCR-SU Box #48; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 Hendee to Annie Hatch, 12 May 1879, OCR-SU Box #48; "Community Jour

54. See, e.g., "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (3 November 1873): 77; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (3 November 1873): 357; "Commu"Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (1 December 1873): 389; "Community nity Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (1 December 1873): 389; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 11(4May 1874)xi 149; "Home Items," The Onedia Circular n.s. 12 (5 April 1875): 389 (on wind "Home Iter); "Community journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 12 (4 April December 1870): 389 (on winter); "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (24 April 1871): 132; "Corn1870): 20; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (24 April 1870:132-1 "Corn

munity Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (29 April 1872): 141; "Home Items," The Oneida Circular n.s. 12 (26 April 1875): 134; and "Community Items," The American Socialist4 (3 April 1879): rug (on spring); "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 8 (18 December 1871): 404; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (8 July 1872): 220; and "Community Items," The American Socialist 3 (22 August 1878): 269 (on summer); "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (14 October 1872): 332; and "Home Items," The Oneida Circular n.s. 12 (27 September 1875): 309 (on fall); and "Community- Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 10 (5 May 1873): 149; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 11 (28 September 1874): 317; "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular n.s. 11 (19 October 1874): 341; and "Home Items," The Oneida Circular n.s. 12 (23 August 1875): 269 (on rain and sunshine). Though cf. Z. X., "The First Snow," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (5 February 1872): 47 (praise for the first snow of winter).

55. Harriet Matthews to Harriet N. Olds, 24 May 1870, OCR-SU Box #64; Charles Olds to

Harriet N. Olds, 22 May 1870, OCR-SU Box #72; Annie Hatch to Alfred Barron, 9 December 1872, OCR-SU Box # 47; Charlotte M. Leonard Journals, 2 January; 6 January; 13 March; 20 June; 3 October; 30 October; 3o October; and 2 November, 1876, OCR-SU Box # 63; Flora Whiting to Fanny N. Leonard, 3 July 1876, OCR-SU Box #76; Julia C. Ackley to Harriet N. Olds, 19 March 1877, OCR-St Box #38; Mary Louise Prindle to William A. Hinds, 4 July 1877, OCR-SU Box #73; Fanny Leonard to Charlotte N. Leonard, 8 May; 12 May 1978, OCR-SU Box # 63; Elizabeth Hutchins to Mary Louise Prindle, 6 May 1878, OCR-SU Box ff 62; Beulah Hendee to Annie Hatch, so December 1878; 21 February; 1 April; 7 .April; r4 April; 14 April; 1 May; 28 June 1879, OCR-SU Box # 48; Alfred Barron to Beulah Hendee, 9 September 1879, OCR-SU Box #48. Though cf. Beulah Hendee to Annie Hatch 6 January 1879, OCR-SU Box #48 (praise for a snowy winter over an "open" one) and Lorinda Lee Burt to Harriet Matthews, 26 March 1877, OCR-SU, Box #43 (praise for "a nice April shower").

56. H. J. S., "Song of the Southern Breeze," The Circular n.s. 7 (16 May 18-o): 68; J. L. Bates, "It Will Be Summer Time, By and By," The Oneida Circular ii.s. 8 (so July 1871): 222; G. N. M., "Spring," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (29 April 1872): 142; "In the Sun," The Oneida Circular n.s. 9 (12 August 1872): 262-63; G., "Spring," The Oneida Circular n.s. so (14 April 1873): 121; H. T., "Spring," The Oneida Circular n.s. 12 (29 March 1875): 97; John G. Whittier, "May:' The American Socialists (25 May 1876): 70; "Spring," The American Socialist 4 (17 April 1879): 125. See also the prose poem by a Community member in "Community Journal," The Oneida Circular ri.s. 11 (8 June 1874): 189. 57- Jesse H. Ausubel, "Does Climate Still Matter?," Nature 350 (1991): 649-52.

William B. Meyer holds a Ph.D. in geography from Clark University and is currently an associate of the Belfer Center of the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is the author of Human Impact on the Earth (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and Americans and Their Weather: A History (Oxford Universih, Press, 2000).