MG-354. OLD ECONOMY VILLAGE COLLECTION [ca. 1813-1953].
Old Economy Village is the restored nineteenth-century home of the Harmonists, a utopian Christian community known for both its piety that also operated numerous industrial enterprises in western Pennsylvania. The Harmony Society was founded by George Rapp, a German Pietist who sought a return to what he perceived to be the greater purity in the practice of the Christian faith. Gathering a group of followers, Rapp left Württemberg, Germany to come to America in 1803 and first established a community at present-day Ambridge in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in 1805. In 1814, the group moved to Harmony, Indiana, hoping to further their industrial growth with the advantage of river transportation. In 1825, the Harmony Society returned to Pennsylvania, establishing their third and final home in Economy, Pennsylvania. George Rapp died in 1847 and eventually the society was dissolved in 1905. In 1919, Old Economy Village became a historic site operated by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Historical Photographs, [ca.. 1866-1950]. Photographic prints, postcards, news clippings, engravings, and similar items collected by the staff of Old Economy Village. Each item is numbered and arranged numerically. Photographs that depict African Americans are:
• No. 74-"Cider Press," several African American men standing outside of a large building.
• No. 312-"Mercer Street, Harmony, Pa.," two African American girls standing on the sidewalk.
• No. 689-"Bee Yard," an African American man holding a hose.
• No. 706-"Unknown Harmony," appears to contain some African Americans.
• No. 758-"Typical Dwelling," a young African American girl in front of a large house with other people.