On the Road — Oneida Community Mansion House 

In the world of antiques, Oneida, New York, is famous for its silver. The Oneida brand is still in operation today, making dinnerware, kitchenware and stainless steel and silver flatware. It introduced stainless steel flatware in the 1960s. The company began as Oneida Community Ltd., one of the first joint-stock corporations in the United States, in 1881. It produced silver-plated hollowware and flatware. The name changed to Oneida Ltd. in 1935.

Before it was a company, Oneida was a utopian community. The Oneida Community was founded in 1848 and lasted until 1880, making it one of the longest-lived communal societies of the 1800s. The community built their Mansion House in phases from 1861 to 1878.

Today, the Oneida Community Mansion House is a museum and inn. If you’re in the area for antiques shopping, say, at the Oneida Commons Vendor Mall, The Bull Farm Antiques, the recently expanded The Eclectic Chic or any of its many other options, you can stop by the Mansion House for a tour or stay overnight. You will learn about the history of the community and the preservation of the historic architecture. Works that the community made and sold, like silverware, textiles and game traps, are on exhibit.

Rooms are furnished with reproduction Stickley furniture, fitting the setting and philosophy of the community. The Stickley brothers, originators of American Arts and Crafts furniture, founded their first furniture company in New York in the 1880s. The Arts and Crafts movement and the utopian movement shared the values of industry, simplicity and community. Some Arts and Crafts makers, like the Rose Valley Association, were also utopian communities.

Other decorations in the rooms of the Mansion House include silver and textiles. Oneida Community crafters made an unusual kind of pictorial textile. They used strips of braided fabric, like the kind used for rugs; but instead of shaping them into rounds or ovals, crafters made them into pictures.

In the world of antiques, Oneida, New York, is famous for its silver. The Oneida brand is still in operation today, making dinnerware, kitchenware and stainless steel and silver flatware. But before it was a company, it was a utopian community.

South side of the Mansion House with the South Tower.

The Big Hall was considered the center of the community. Instructions were given there, and the stage was for performing arts.

 

A clock in the Upper Sitting Room, a large room with comfortable furniture.

 

A dresser in the Upper Sitting Room that probably stored table linens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Each adult in the community had a small sleeping room where they would keep personal belongings like the ones in this exhibit.

A close-up of the personal belongings, above. The glasses have a magnifier on one lens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A reproduction Stickley side table holds an Oneida silver plate ice bucket and tray in a guest room.

 

A garden on the south lawn.

 

This tapestry was made by Jessie Catherine Kinsley. She was interested in colonial braided rugs. She made her own “braidings” and created many intricate pieces of art like this one.