History of American Socialisms - dana ward's homepage

MACDONALD. 3
gentleman in charge of them who was willing we should
take them and use them as we pleased.
On examining our treasure, we found it to be a
pile of manuscripts, of letter-paper size and three
inches thick, with- printed scraps from newspapers
and pamphlets interspersed. All was in the loosest
state of disorder; but we strung the leaves together,
paged them, and made an index of their contents.
The book thus extemporized has been our companion,
as the reader will see, in the ensuing history. The
number of its pages is seven hundred and forty-seven.
The index has the names of sixty-nine Associative
experiments, beginning with Brook F arm and ending
with the Shakers. The memoirs are of various lengths,
from a mere nlention to a narrative of nearly a hundred
pages. Among them are notices of leading
Socialists, such as Owen, Fourier, Frances Wright, &c.
The collection was in no fit condition for publication;
but it marked out a path for us, and gave us a mass
of material that has been very serviceable, and probably
could not elsewhere be found.
The breadth and thoroughness of Macdonald's intention
will be seen in the following circular which, in
the prosecution of his enterprise, he sent to many
leading Socialists.
PRINTED LETTER OF INQUIRY.
"New York, March, 1851.
"I have been for some time engaged in collecting
the necessary materials for a book, to be entitled 'The
C01n1nun'it'ies of the U1l'ited· States,' in which I propose
giving a brief account of all the social and co-operative
experiments that have been made in this country