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Looking back at my goals for the 2006 scanning project, I can quite happily say that I have exceeded the 3000 original pages which I had hoped to add to the archive—and that I have to say that it’s a rather different 3000 pages than I projected. We’ll see how this last month goes, but it looks like the total will be closer to 5000 pages. I anticipate coming at least very close to finishing the William B. Greene works, and some of those connected works, like Beck’s Money and Banking and some additional work by Kellogg, without which the […]

Lewis Masquerier is one of my favorite figures among the older generations of American reformers. This early essay, from The American Repertory of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures, June, 1841, is really an exemplary piece for displaying his wide-ranging curiosity and the fearlessness (bordering at times on foolhardiness) of his speculations. What it lacks in scientific acumen, it more than makes up in character.New Theory; suggesting the Rotary Motion of the Earth as the Cause of its Curvilinear Direction in its Orbit, and also of the Tides.by Lewis Masquerier. It is said in treatises upon gunnery, that if a rotary motion […]

[ezcol_2third] In 1920, a book appeared with the title The Joke About Housing. It was a work of housing reform, including some fairly radical elements. Appended to it were a number of appendixes, including “A Solution of the Housing Problem in the United States,” a prize-winning essay by Milo Milton Hastings. Hastings was a prolific writer of science fiction, works on poultry farming, nutrition, and urban reform. He was a promoter of Edgar Chambless’ linear city, Roadtown. Hastings and Chambless are important figures from the “grand domestic revolution” of the early 20th century. I’ve done a little work to update […]

from Thomas L. Livermore, Days and Events (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1920). [327] Captain H. G. O. Weymouth, lately a captain in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteers, was sent up by General Butler, who now assumed command of our district in his “Department of Virginia and North Carolina,” to join this regiment which I was forming. He came on a promise of higher rank than he formerly held, I think, but was to take a company at first. Captain Weymouth had lost one leg at Fredericksburg, and of course could not do duty as a company officer, which […]

When I added Paul Brown’s Twelve Months in New Harmony to the Labyrinth, I promised to follow up with some of Brown’s other work. Here’s a start, the first in a series of thirty-two essays that he wrote under the title The Radical and Advocate of Equality and published in 1834. Subtitled “a series of expostulatory animadversions on the present state of practical politics and morals, with a view to an access of improvement,” the essays cover everything from class theory to education, and include Brown’s opinions on such topics as fashion and plagiarism. It is clear that Brown had […]

It’s really too nice a title to tamper with, even if it doesn’t really give a sense of what the piece is about. This is an account from The Present, probably edited by William Henry Channing, of Andreas Bernardus Smolnikar’s “Peace Union,” from the hand of its originator and prophet. Smolnikar, who was also known as “Andrew Bernard” while in America, was a Catholic heretic who came to think of himself as the prophet of a religion of humanity. He had connections to Owenite socialism and, as this account shows, he was one of the more enthusiastic proponents of J. […]

I’m in the process of compiling some communications of Josiah Warren with The Free Enquirer, the continuation of The New-Harmony Gazette which Robert Dale Owen and Francis Wright published in New York. Despite his disillusionment with the elder Owen’s experiment at New Harmony, Warren remained friends with Robert Dale. (See George W. Warren’s account of his father’s life for details of the connections between the Owen and Warren clans. Clark Kimberling’s notes are excellent, as are the rest of his pages on New Harmony.) This first letter is interesting for the criticisms Warren makes of cooperation on the Rochdale model, […]

Chatter for a change, while I’m redecorating. There are a few bugs to work out, but the new look for the blog is well on its way to realization. Please let me know if anything has been badly broken in the process. While I was working up some new graphics, I came up with these alternate images for the Blogosphere of the Libertarian Left more in line with my usual style, all retro tributes to Knappster‘s original design: Use any that look good to you. Finally, a shout-out to a new friend in left-libertarian territory, Mupetblast at Dry Hyphen Olympics. […]

A Descriptive Bibliography of the Writings of George Jacob Holyoake, with a Brief Sketch of His Life, by Charles William Frederick Goss (at Google Books) Holyoake was one of those amazingly prolific radicals, writing on co-operation, free thought, labor issues, etc. This 1908 limited edition bibliography is not exhaustive, but covers his separate publications nicely and summarizes where his contributions to periodicals took place. The Google Books print seems to be good, so grab a copy for your reference library.

I’ve got a working copy of William Henry Van Ornum’s Money, Co-operative Banking and Exchange (1892) available now online. Van Ornum wrote Why Government at All?, one of the few comprehensive attempts at a work of political economy by an anarchist in the U. S, as well as Mating or Marrying, Which? He was a contributer to various periodicals, including The Arena and The Open Court. He was at one time a single-tax enthusiast. Stay tuned for some additional currency reform articles, land reform debate, etc.