Sep 30, 2021 - Sale 2580

Sale 2580 - Lot 234

Price Realized: $ 1,875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES.) John O. Wattles. Long letter regarding plans for a self-supporting school community. Autograph Letter Signed to Ichabod Morton of Plymouth, MA. 3 pages each written in two columns, 12 1/2 x 8 inches, on one folding sheet, plus address panel with inked "10" and Cincinnati postmark on final blank; minor foxing and light wear at folds. Cincinnati, OH, January 1846
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John Otis Wattles (1813-1859) was raised in the Quaker faith and was a committed antislavery activist, participant in the Underground Railroad, and leader of a series of Utopian communities; he later became a friend and supporter of John Brown. This letter was written to another prominent antislavery activist, Ichabod Morton (1790-1861) of Plymouth, MA, whose interest in social experiments had led him to live briefly at the legendary Brook Farm in 1842. His daughter was the prominent women's rights activist Abby Morton Diaz.

Wattles begins with thanks for the approval of "one who dwells hard by the Pilgrim Rock" (Morton was a descendant of the first Pilgrims at Plymouth). He discusses Morton's famous daughter: "Then there is Abigail. You didn't tell me where she was nor what she is doing. When she wrote to me last, she had scalded her pot. I'd like to know what she is doing now."

Moving on to Utopia: "You say 'we must not expect to see the celestial city too suddenly'--well, let us see it as soon as we can then. If we cannot get into it ourselves, let us get so near it that we can poke the next generation in. . . . A community is in successful operation at Grand Basin at this time, the rest have failed from debt." Then Wattles lays out his latest plan, to form a Western Educational Association as a "self-supporting school on the manual labor plan. . . . The system of education shall be such as shall bring the students to a consideration of the great principles of brotherhood" and after clearing its debt "they can, by uniting themselves & families, become a self-supporting community. This may be slow, but isn't it sure?" He proposes a trip eastward with Dr. Hiram Gilmore of Cincinnati High School (the pioneering secondary school for African-American students) to visit like-minded organizations and gather information. Initial funding will come from Dr. Gilmore (heir to perhaps $30,000) and other donors. Wattles concludes with thanks to Morton for his financial support, the bulk of which goes "for printing the Herald . . . the little paper is extensively circulated, particularly in the new parts of the west."

Wattles would soon buy out the remnants of a Fourierist utopian community in Utopia, OH. His young community was destroyed by a flood in December 1847, killing most of its members.