Flatware, Cookware and the Perfectionist Movement Aug 29 '00 (Updated Aug 31 '00)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet You may have your fancy electric coffee grinders, juicers, and whiz-bang Chef uh-da Future, Humminahummina TM(r) Apple Corer -- but do you have a KNIFE a FORK and a SPOON!? How about a whole set of knives, forks and spoons? Or do you, in an devolutional sneer at civilization, just use your hands and a cup while indulging your physical dependence on food-stuffs? Here's my opinion on silverware and flatware: buy Oneida -- http://www.oneida.com Why? Well, not only does Oneida offer some of the finest product in this field, but they have a history that's as interesting as Kellog's. You'll be able to tell your dinnerguests all about the history of your silverware for entertainment purposes. "It's not just a spoon; it's a conversation piece!" As explained by the company @oneida.com, "Incorporated in 1880 as Oneida Community, Limited, Oneida Ltd. has a rich and colorful heritage... Our company originated in a mid-nineteenth century utopian community..." The Oneida Community in beautiful western New York state was founded in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes. Noyes advanced a social theory and philosophy which he termed "Perfectionism." His critics would refer to the Perfectionists as "Noyesians." Noyes boldly attempted to restructure the commonly accepted notions of familial structure. In a much less Patriarchal version of Mormon marriage practice, Noysian Perfectionists of the Oneida Community were each married to every other member of the opposite sex. This, of course, made for a big family. As sweaver notes in the comments section here, imagine the family tiffs! In precedent to the communal housing boom of over 100 years later, the Oneida Community practiced a form of Christian socialism that offered communally-shared property, spouses and work. The work originally consisted of country crafts: canned fruits and vegetables; traps and chains and pioneer ironwork. Their craft and art was eventually refined into the production of luggage and straw hats; mops, sewing silk and, eventually, the still-popular silver knives and forks and spoons (and surgical tools) for which Onieda has become internationally known. Noyes must have been doing something right. Oneida continues to succeed. Yes, folks. It's possible to invest in a "mid-nineteenth century utopian community" on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: OCQ). Scandalously, it even looks like a good investment in the 20-30 PE/2-4% annual dividend yield range. Western NY has been host to several attempts at Utopia, including, perhaps, Walden; the Lilly Dale spiritualist assembly and the local land & seasons. This area, arguably by some fendish Canadians, offers the most beautiful senic beauty on the eastern half of the continent. It's a great place to visit almost any time of year (and even in the winter if you like to ski and snowmobile). When in the area you might want to stay at the Oneida Mansion House. [ oneidacommunity.org ]It's a non-profit museum, guest house and cultural landmark. Or stay tuned for my forthcoming "Travel" Epinion regarding wild, wild, western New York. After all -- this lone Epinion is more than just a flatware review. It's a history, some humor, the following Oneida Community bibliography and a hot stock tip (maybe). Plenty enough for one lil' Epinion, eh? ===== BIBLIOGRAPHY Maren Lockwood Carden, Oneida: Utopian Community to Modern Corporation, Syracuse Univ. Pr., 1998 Richard Demaria, Communal Love at Oneida : A Perfectionist Vision of Authority, Property and Sexual Order (Texts and Studies in Religion Series Vol. 2) , Edwin Mellen Pr., 1984 Allan Estlake, The Oneida Community; A Record of an Attempt to Carry Out the Principles of Christian Unselfishness and Scientific Race-Improvement , Ams Pr., June 1973 Robert S. Fogarty, Special Love/Special Sex: An Oneida Community Diary (Utopianism and Communitarianism), Syracuse Univ. Pr., October 1994 Lawrence Foster, Religion and Sexuality : The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community, Univ. of Illinois Pr., 1984 Lawrence Foster, Women, Family, and Utopia : Communal Experiments of the Shakers, the Oneida Community, and the Mormons, Univ. of Illinois Pr., 1984 Mark Holloway, Heavens on Earth, Dover Pubs., 1966, pp. 180-7 Laurence E. Karp, Past Perfect: John Humphrey Noyes, Stirpiculture, and the Oneida Community , American Journal of Medical Genetics 12 (2): pp. 127-30, June 1982 W. M. Kephart, Experimental family organization: An historico-cultural report on the Oneida community , in M. Gordon (Ed.), The Nuclear Family In Crisis: The Search For An Alternative, New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1972 Louis J. Kern, An Ordered Love : Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias : The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida Community, Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1981 Spencer Klaw, Without Sin: The Life and Death of the Oneida Community, Penguin, 1994 Ira Mandelker, Religion, Society, and Utopia in Nineteenth-Century America, Univ. of Massachusetts Pr., August 1984 John H. Noyes, Mutual Criticism, Syracuse Univ Pr., June 1975 Pierrepont B. Noyes, My Father's House : An Oneida Boyhood, Reprint Services, 1991 Oneida Community, Bible Communism : A Compilation from the Annual Reports and Other Publications of the Oneida Association and Its Branches , AMS Press 1973 Oneida Community, Hand-Book of the Oneida Community, With a Sketch of Its Founder, and an Outline of Its Constitution and Doctrines , AMS Press 1988

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