Embeddings from the point of view of immersion theory: Part II

Let M and N be smooth manifolds. For an open V of M let emb(V,N) be the space of embeddings from V to N. By results of Goodwillie and Goodwillie-Klein, the cofunctor V |--> emb(V,N) is analytic if dim(N)-dim(M) > 2. We deduce that its Taylor series converges to it. For details about the Taylor series, see Part I.Comment: 16 pages. Published copy, also available at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/gt/GTVol3/paper4.abs.htm

Calculus of functors and model categories

The category of small covariant functors from simplicial sets to simplicial sets supports the projective model structure. In this paper we construct various localizations of the projective model structure and also give a variant for functors from simplicial sets to spectra. We apply these model categories in the study of calculus of functors, namely for a classification of polynomial and homogeneous functors. In the $n$-homogeneous model structure, the $n$-th derivative is a Quillen functor to the category of spectra with $\Sigma_n$-action. After taking into account only finitary functors -- which may be done in two different ways -- the above Quillen map becomes a Quillen equivalence. This improves the classification of finitary homogeneous functors by T. G. Goodwillie.Comment: 22 pages. Exposition is substantially improved. Few minor mistakes are correcte

Light and Dark Sides of Spiritualism: The Eddy Brothers and the Shakers

In his 1899 work Manifestation of Spiritualism Among the Shakers Elder Henry Blinn reflected on the marvelous events that dominated life in Shaker communities from 1837 into the 1850s. Looking back on these events fifty years later Blinn realized that what the Shakers experienced was but a precursor to the popular movement called Spiritualism that swept America and Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. In fact, the experience of the Shakers as progenitors of, and then participants in, the Spiritualist movement, is far more complex than Blinn’s retrospective stated. This article will examine one dimension of that experience—the interaction of individual Shakers with the notorious Vermont mediums, the Eddy Brothers. This interesting episode in Shaker history involved both Blinn and Evans, as well as many other Shakers. The Shakers relationship with the Eddys provides substantial evidence of their attitude toward the Spiritualist movement as it evolved beyond the realm of the Shaker communities

The Shakers in Eighteenth-Century Newspapers, Part Three: “Calvin” versus “A Lover of Truth,” Abusing Caleb Rathbun, the Death of Joseph Meacham and the Tale of His Sister

Accounts of the Shakers in eighteenth-century American newspapers help to shed light on the murky early history of the sect in the United States. They range from openly hostile to mildly sympathetic, and often provide details about the Shakers and Shaker life that are not found in the sect’s relatively meager eighteenth-century manuscript record. This article, the third and final in a series, will examine newspaper items relevant to the Shakers in the extraordinarily busy news years of 1796 and 1797

A Postscript to Writings of Shaker Apostates and Anti-Shakers, 1782-1850: New Light on Benjamin West, William Scales, Benjamin Green, and Zebulon Huntington

The collection, annotation, and editorial writing associated with the set of apostate and anti-Shaker writings I published in 2013 consumed much of my free time for two years prior. Months of intensive research yielded quite a bit of new information about many heretofore obscure ex- or anti-Shakers, but I knew as I concluded my work that much was left to be found. This brief piece will share some of what has since come to light about Benjamin West, William Scales, and Benjamin Green (whose texts were in the collection), as well as the discovery of a previously unknown Shaker apostate work by Zebulon Huntington

The Founding Fathers and the Shakers

The era of the founding in America, roughly from the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775 through the presidency of Andrew Jackson (the last president who was a veteran of that conflict), was also the era of most dynamic growth for the United Society of Believers. How large did the Shakers loom in the consciousness of the founding fathers, the very people who crafted a government that protected the religious liberty that allowed the Shakers to flourish? Searching the magnificent resource at Founders Online provided at least a partial answer to that question.That site, combined with John Quincy Adams’s remarkable diaries, digitized by the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a few select print publications, have yielded a number of fascinating references to the Shakers in the writings of the founders—and also one of the few known letters written by a Shaker directly to a president. This article does not pretend to be the final word on this subject, but it is hoped that the information below—some of which I believe is new to scholars—will spur further research into perceptions of the Shakers in the early Republic