What intrigues me about Robert Owen’s New Harmony community is how and why it did not last. We have discussed many examples of utopias and where we have seen elements of utopia throughout history. We have only looked at conceptual ideas of utopias, but Robert Owen’s New Harmony community is a real world adaptation of what he envisioned a utopia to be. My research, so far, has given me a good amount of information about how New Harmony was created, how it was run, and general reasons why it did not last very long, but there’s something missing.
In order for my research to be full and to be able to answer my research topic completely, I need to get a better understanding of the individual perspective of someone who lived in New Harmony. The point of view of someone who moved to New Harmony could provide me an idea of why people went there in the first place, what they were hoping for, what the community was actually like, and how they felt about it.
What does the first person perspective reveal about New Harmony?