It would have been impossible to complete a book of this length
without the assistance of many people. The staffs of numerous li-
braries, but especially those of the New York Public Library Annex,
the Rare Books And Manuscript Division of the Firestone Library of
Princeton University, Speer Library of the Princeton Theological Semi-
nary, and the Rare Book Room of the Syracuse University Library were
most helpful in locating materials and facilitating the process of re-
search. Special thanks are due to Ruth Beasley of the Institute for Sex
Research at Indiana University for providing photocopies of the papers
of Anita N. McGee relating to the Oneida Community. Elaine Dixon of
the Putney Historical Society, Putney, Vermont, graciously provided ac-
cess to the small collection of letters from Noyes family members housed
there.

The whole project was encouraged by and profited enormously from
many fruitful discussions with Warren Susman, who also read the manu-
script at various stages of completion. I am indebted to him for calling
my attention to the unique body of manuscript material on the Oneida
Community located in the Institute for Sex Research. Helpful comments
were also provided by Gerald Grob, Walter Bezanson, and Philip Greven.
I am especially grateful for the careful, detailed reading given the manu-
script in its later stages by Laurence Veysey. His kind encouragement and
constructive suggestions have contributed materially to making this a
stronger book.

My greatest debt is to my wife, for her many sacrifices and her commit-
ment to seeing the project through to its conclusion with me. For her
courage and determination to persevere, I am most grateful.

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