Amana and Grinnell: Creating Community on the Iowa Prairie in 1854

Mar 11, 2015

In celebration of the 160th anniversary of the establishment of the Amana Colonies in Iowa and the founding of the town of Grinnell, the exhibition “Amana and Grinnell: Creating Community on the Iowa Prairie in 1854” is now on display on the main floor and in Burling Gallery on the lower level. The exhibit aims to explore the shared intentionality, prairie location, and religious motivations of the Congregationalists who founded Grinnell College and settled Grinnell and the Inspirationists who established the Amana Society. Also explored is the differences between the two communities.

Materials displayed in the collection come from the Burling Library Special Collections and Archives, the private collection of Anthropology professor Jon Andelson, and the Amana Heritage Society.

The Amana Society

The Community of True Inspiration, also known as the Amana Society, was a theocratic community that settled in Iowa in 1854. Property was owned communally and all members worked for community owned businesses, such as the woolen mill and flour mill. Members of the Society rejected ordained clergy, but instead followed church elders and those they called “instruments” who they believed to be divinely inspired.

Iowa College and Grinnell

Iowa College – later renamed Grinnell College – was established in 1846 by eleven Congregational ministers who formed under the name the Iowa Band. The college was originally located in Davenport, Iowa, but at the urging of J.B. Grinnell moved to the new town of Grinnell.

J.B. Grinnell was a Congregationalist minister and capitalist entrepreneur who helped found the town of Grinnell. He hoped to establish a religious and educational community and set about preparing for the formation of an institution of higher learning.

The exhibit was curated by Chris Jones, Allison Haack, and Jon Andelson. Thanks to Jon Andelson and the Amana Heritage Society for their loan of the items featured in the exhibit, and to Diane Lenertz for her graphic design skills.