Orphan Utopia
August 14, 2017 10:44 AM Subscribe
The children had one thing in common: all had been orphaned, and most were among the poorest of the poor. Such were the children that John Ballou Newbrough hoped would inherit the earth.
John Ballou Newbrough was a dentist who claimed he had fallen under the control of visiting angels in 1881 and - with the aid of a typewriter - created a "new Bible," which he entitled Oahspe.
Oasphe previously on Metafilter: The product of an automatic-writing ex-prospector dentist, the 900-page tome includes submerged continents, bizarre dictionaries, and plenty of space travel.
Newbrough and his followers (called "Faithists") would go on to found the utopian community of Shalam on the Rio Grande near Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884. They were following a plan set out in Oasphe's "Book of Shalam," which directed them to gather the world's abandoned children and raise them according to their religious principles. Newbrough died from influenza in 1891, and the colony collapsed in 1901.
Two-minute audio history: A religious colony takes root in Las Cruces in the late ninteenth century.
From the New Mexico State University Library:
History of the Shalam Colony
The Buildings
Faithists Today
Bibliography of Shalam Colony / Oahspe / Faithist Materials
John Ballou Newbrough was a dentist who claimed he had fallen under the control of visiting angels in 1881 and - with the aid of a typewriter - created a "new Bible," which he entitled Oahspe.
Oasphe previously on Metafilter: The product of an automatic-writing ex-prospector dentist, the 900-page tome includes submerged continents, bizarre dictionaries, and plenty of space travel.
Newbrough and his followers (called "Faithists") would go on to found the utopian community of Shalam on the Rio Grande near Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884. They were following a plan set out in Oasphe's "Book of Shalam," which directed them to gather the world's abandoned children and raise them according to their religious principles. Newbrough died from influenza in 1891, and the colony collapsed in 1901.
Two-minute audio history: A religious colony takes root in Las Cruces in the late ninteenth century.
From the New Mexico State University Library:
History of the Shalam Colony
The Buildings
Faithists Today
Bibliography of Shalam Colony / Oahspe / Faithist Materials
I also never heard of this place and at one time lived in the area. Thanks for this post!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:26 PM on August 14, 2017
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:26 PM on August 14, 2017
I wonder if any of the children ever wrote accounts of their experience, and its later impact on their lives. Thanks for posting; count me among tjose who'd never heard of this.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 6:40 PM on August 14, 2017
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 6:40 PM on August 14, 2017
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posted by Calzephyr at 12:48 PM on August 14, 2017