Benn Pitman\u27s Visit to the Shaker Settlement—Whitewater Village, O. : Introduction

What may be the most interesting and detailed outsider’s account of the White Water community also has a history of scholarly elusiveness. It was written by Benn Pitman (1822-1910), a pioneer in the field of phonography and phonetics, who played a leading role in the development of the science of stenography. Pitman visited the White Water Shakers in 1855, two years after he had immigrated to Cincinnati from Wiltshire, England. Following his visit, he wrote and published an article entitled “Visit to the Shaker Settlement — Whitewater Village, O.” in The Phonographic Magazine in 1855