Shaker Mother Ann Lee: A ’True Legend’

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Mother Ann Lee is one of the most consequential (and least understood) figures in early American religious history.

In just ten years in the colonies, during the chaos of the American Revolution, she helped give rise to a movement that would shape communal life, labor, design, music, and belief across America (and even Europe) for generations.

This episode of The Jiffy traces Ann Lee's life from industrial Manchester to upstate New York, from persecution and imprisonment to the founding of the Shakers' first American settlement near Albany and across New England.

With guidance from Kathleen Lynch, curator and director of collections at Hancock Shaker Village, we examine what can be known about Mother Ann, and what survives only as testimony, memory, myth, and legend.

As renewed attention turns toward Ann's life, this episode offers the long view that intends to place her where she belongs: not as an abstraction or aesthetic, but as a human being whose convictions helped shape a country still defining itself.

By the way, Kathleen took me on a tour of the 1830 Brick Dwelling in 2024 for my series, "This Old Vibe," and showed me the Shaker concept of borrowed light. You can watch that video here.

You can visit Hancock Shaker Village at: https://hancockshakervillage.org

Here's more info on "Ann the Word: the Story of Ann Lee, Female Messiah, Mother of the Shakers, the Woman Clothed with the Sun," by Richard Francis

This is part of my series throughout 2026 looking at how New York looks at itself during the Semiquincentennial: The Jiffty250. 

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"The Jiffy Audio Newsletter Podcast" is an audio documentary zine – the official podcast of The Jiffy – exploring the odd histories, cozy mysteries, and surprising characters of upstate New York. Each episode is an adventure, and new episodes drop every other week.

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