This page introduces biographical studies associated with New Harmony, Indiana - a collection of studies that celebrate the lives and works of individual scientists, educators, writers, and artists. Just click on the underscored names, or scroll down aways and click on related subjects.
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Before 1825, Harmonie was a religious community. The definitive history is
Karl J. R. Arndt, compiler and editor, A Documentary History of the Indiana Decade of the Harmony Society 1814-1824, vols. I-II, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1975.
On January 3, 1825, the British social reformer Robert Owen purchased Harmonie from Father George Rapp with intent to establish a communitarian society. A new name, New Harmony, was soon in use, but the experiment failed within two years, as recorded in
J. F. C. Harrison, Robert Owen and the Owenite Movement in Britain and America: The Quest For the New Moral World, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1969.
Before the social experiment was abandoned, however, the persuasive patron of science and educational reformer, William Maclure, joined the community. Also, at different times, Owen's children made their homes in New Harmony and became scientists, reformers, and educators. Thus, the emergence of New Harmony as a scientific center of national significance traces back to the initial influences of two individuals:
William Maclure (1763-1840) father of American geology
Robert Owen (1771-1858) social reformer
Maclure, President of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, arrived in New Harmony in 1826, bringing with him other well established scientists and educators. The journey and settling are described in
Donald E. Pitzer, "William Maclure's Boatload of Knowledge: Science and Education into the Midwest," Indiana Magazine of History 94 (1998) 110-135, in Indiana Magazine of History devoted to William Maclure
Leonard Warren, Maclure of New Harmony: Scientist, Progrsssive Educator, Radical Philanthropist Indiana University Press, 2009.
Robert Owen's children who resided in New Harmony and contributed to social reform, education, and geology, were
Robert Dale Owen (1801-1877) social reformer
William Owen (1802-1842) citizen of New Harmony
David Dale Owen (1807-1860) geologist, artist
Jane Dale Owen Fauntleroy (1806-1861) educator
Richard Owen (1810-1890) geologist, first president of Purdue University
Scientists besides William Maclure, David Dale Owen, and Richard Owen, who lived in New Harmony or worked closely with those who did, or who made significant scientific visits to New Harmony, included the following:
Thomas Say (1787-1834) naturalist, father of American entomology
Charles-Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846) naturalist, artist
Cornelius Tiebout (1773?-1842) engraver for Say and Lesueur
Gerard Troost (1776-1850) geologist
Joseph Granville Norwood (1807-1895) geologist
Charles Joseph Norwood (1853-1927) geologist
Henry Pratten ( ? -1857) paleontologist, naturalist
Edward Travers Cox (1821-1907) geologist
Leo Lesquereux (1806-1889) paleobotanist
Jacob Schneck (1843-1906) botanist
David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) icthyologist, educator
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783-1840) naturalist
Prinz Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782-1867) naturalist, ethnologist
Robert Henry Fauntleroy (1806-1849) civil engineer
George Davidson (1825-1911) west coast scientist
Educators in the New Harmony schools used Pestalozzian methods, named for
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) educator.
Among them were
Marie Duclos Fretageot (1783-1833) educator, manager
Francis Joseph Nicholas Neef (1770-1854) educator
Writers and artists associated with New Harmony included
Cornelius Tiebout (1773?-1832) copperplate engraverer
Frances Wright (1795-1852) social reformer and writer
Josiah Warren (1798-1874) social reformer, inventor, writer
Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) artist
Margaret Chappellsmith (1806-1883) lecturer and writer
John Chappellsmith (1806-1895) artist and writer
New Harmony has long been identified with the golden rain tree, which served literally and symbolically in the writings of two Hoosiers:
Ross Franklin Lockridge Sr. (1877-1952); Jr. (1914-1948), authors
Interred in the Paul Tillich Park in New Harmony are the ashes of the renowned 20th century religious writer and professor,
Paul Johannes Tillich (1886-1965) theologian
Josephine Mirabella Elliott (1912-2002) New Harmony historian, librarian, teacher, editor of Partnership for Posterity: The Correspondence of William Maclure and Marie Duclos Fretageot, 1820-1833, Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis, 1994.
By clicking on names listed above, you can view biographical sketches, and by clicking on those below, you can view supplementary subjects and images. Many of the images are the work of professional photographers, featuring species of plants and animals named by New Harmony scientists or named in their honor.
William Maclure
Maclura pomifera [Osage orange]
Chonetes maclurea [fossil species named by Norwood and Pratten]
Maclurites, [fossil genus named by C. A. Lesueur]
New Harmony Workingmen's Institute, legacy of William Maclure
Robert Owen
Robert Owen Museum, Newtown, Wales
New Lanark, Scotland: schools, mills, and the Owen home
Robert Dale Owen
Smithsonian Institution, World's Largest Museum Complex
Robert Dale Owen's Wedding Day Declaration and Mary's Concurrence
Robert Dale Owen's Letter to President Lincoln
David Dale Owen
David Dale Owen Drawings: Arkansas I
David Dale Owen Drawings: Arkansas II
Lead Mine Drawn by David Dale Owen
David Dale Owen's Megalonyx
Archimedes, a genotype authored by David Dale Owen
Didymophyllum owenii, a species of tree named in honor of David Dale Owen
David Dale Owen's Mineral: Was It New?
Special Sandstone of the Smithsonian "Castle"
Jane Dale Owen Fauntleroy
Seminary for Young Ladies (Mrs. Fauntleroy's newspaper ad)
Richard Owen
Owen Hall on the campus of Indiana University, Bloomington
Statue of Colonel Richard Owen at Indiana University, Bloomington
Thomas Say
Canis latrans Say, [coyote]
Vulpes velox Say, [swift fox]
Indiana State Insect (Proposed): Pyractomena angulata (Say), [Say's firefly]
Leptinotarsa decimlineata (Say), [Colorado potato beetle]
Solenopsis molesta (Say), [thief ant]
Birds named by or in honor of Say (Photos by Peter LaTourrette)
Audubon drawings of birds first described by Thomas Say
Birds named by Say (Photos by Harold Holt)
Insects named by Say (3 photos)
American Entomology, Thomas Say's book, the first of its kind
Fishes Named in Honor of Thomas Say (drawing by Lesueur)
Henry Pratten
Henry Pratten's List of Birds (from D. D. Owen's 1852 Report on the 1848-49 Survey)
Rare plant: Eriogonum prattenianum var. avium Reveal and Shevock
Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
Cynomys ludovicianus (Rafineque) [prairie dog]
Rafinesquia, plant genus named in honor of Rafinesque
Peromyscus leucopus (Rafinesque), [white-footed mouse]
Odocoileus hemionus Rafinesque, [mule deer]
Atractosteus, a genus named by Rafinesque [alligator gar]
Cladrastis kentukea, genus named by Rafinesque [yellowwood]
Gopherus, genus named by Rafinesque [tortoises]
Fishes Sketched by Rafinesque
Fishes First Described by Rafinesque
Cornelius Tiebout
Cornelius Tiebout Engravings
David Starr Jordan
David Starr Jordan Landmarks on the campus of Indiana University, Bloomington
David Starr Jordan Prize
Prinz Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied
Leopardus wiedii, [margay] (Photos by Glória Jafet)
Plates from Prince Maximilian's Travels in Brazil, 1820
Frogs and turtle named by Prince Max
Other links
The Evansville Dire Wolf (Drawing by Mark Hallet)
Lesquerella, genus name honoring Leo Lesquereux
Graptemys geographica Lesueur (Map turtle, first described by Lesueur)
Josiah Warren's Universal Typography
Inscriptions in Paul Tillich Park
Golden Rain Tree
Most of the images on this website are used by permission, and many are protected by U. S. Copyright Law. They may not be used elsewhere without permission. In most cases, the owner of the image is credited on the webpage, and the owner may be contacted for permission.
Many people have helped in the gathering of materials for this site, especially interlibrary loan librarians at the University of Evansville: Kathryn Bartelt, Wendy Nesmith, Juanita Chappell; the secretary of the U. E. mathematics department, Nancy Heim; U. E. instructional media coordinator, Javon Brunk; and student helpers Sabino Humbane, Melia Aldridge and Lori Walter. For assistance in specialized subjects, I thank especially Mark Mitchell, Charles Boewe, Keir B. Sterling, William Cox, Bradley D. Cook, Sorin Damian, and Chris Phillips, and the librarians at Willard Library in Evansville and Working Men's Institute in New Harmony. Especially, I thank Josephine Elliott, historian, Working Men's Institute.
