{"exhibit":{"id":17,"title":"Building Jerusalem in America: William Ashton and a Trans-Atlantic Utopia","description":"<p>In 1834, the Manchester laborer William Ashton crossed the Atlantic with a group of fellow-thinkers to found a utopian colony in Mount Carmel, Indiana.&nbsp; This exhibit tells the story of that colony: from its origins in early nineteenth-century radical thought, to its establishment on the Indiana frontier, to its eventual dissolution in 1836.&nbsp; Ashton's endeavor was not unique.&nbsp; Numerous utopian societies (including, most prominently, the Shakers) emigrated from England in the nineteenth century to \"build Jerusalem\" on the remote edges of American civilization.&nbsp; While this exhibit focuses primarily on the history of Ashton's Manchester Social Community Company, it also suggests reasons for British would-be utopians' attraction to America's frontier, and addresses the challenges involved in maintaining a trans-Atlantic utopian community.<\/p>","credits":"Curated by Mary Bowden. All photographs of Ashton mss. documents taken by Zach Downey, courtesy of the Lilly Library, Bloomington, Indiana.","featured":0,"public":1,"theme":"minimalist-utopia","theme_options":"a:3:{s:17:\"minimalist-utopia\";a:4:{s:4:\"logo\";N;s:11:\"footer_text\";s:0:\"\";s:24:\"display_footer_copyright\";s:1:\"0\";s:19:\"use_advanced_search\";s:1:\"0\";}s:6:\"berlin\";a:5:{s:4:\"logo\";N;s:12:\"header_image\";N;s:11:\"footer_text\";s:0:\"\";s:24:\"display_footer_copyright\";s:1:\"0\";s:19:\"use_advanced_search\";s:1:\"0\";}s:7:\"emiglio\";a:5:{s:4:\"logo\";N;s:12:\"header_image\";N;s:11:\"footer_text\";s:0:\"\";s:24:\"display_footer_copyright\";s:1:\"0\";s:19:\"use_advanced_search\";s:1:\"0\";}}","slug":"ashton","added":"2013-06-27 15:24:19","modified":"2015-02-11 13:19:17","owner_id":15,"use_summary_page":1,"cover_image_file_id":null},"item":{"id":1389,"item_type_id":6,"collection_id":13,"featured":0,"public":1,"added":"2013-06-27 13:27:06","modified":"2014-11-20 11:41:40","owner_id":15}}