By preserving New Harmony's utopian legacy, we inspire innovation and progressive thought through our programs and collections.
Historic New Harmony exists because the experiments that happened here still matter. The Harmonists, Owenites and the generations who followed asked fundamental questions about how people can live together, learn together and build something better. They didn't always succeed. But their questions and their willingness to actually try shaped American education, science and social reform in ways that still influence us today.
Our job is to preserve that history and make it accessible. We care for collections that document these experiments from 1814 to the present. We develop programs that help people engage with these stories. We support researchers exploring questions about utopian communities and social change. And we work with partners in New Harmony and beyond to connect past experiments with present possibilities.
Our archives hold primary and secondary sources that document New Harmony's communities: letters, manuscripts, rare books, photographs, objects, architectural drawings, published materials and more. We care for these materials, make them accessible to researchers and digitize collections so people anywhere can explore them. These aren't just artifacts, but evidence of what people tried, what worked, what didn't and what they learned.
From guided tours to lectures, workshops to community events, we create opportunities for people to engage with New Harmony's history. We work with school groups, host scholars, collaborate with community partners and welcome visitors from around the world. Good programs don't just deliver information, but create space for curiosity, conversation and connection.
Scholars, students and independent researchers use our collections to explore questions about utopian communities, educational reform, early American science, intentional communities and more. We provide access to primary sources, support grant projects, facilitate faculty collaborations and help researchers find what they need. New Harmony's history is still being written, and research keeps it alive.
Historic New Harmony serves multiple communities: residents of New Harmony, visitors to the town, the USI community, scholars worldwide and anyone interested in these stories. We work with local partners, welcome student interns, host community events and build relationships that strengthen both the program and the place.
The University of Southern Indiana's involvement in New Harmony began with a vision: to nurture a living laboratory where students and teachers, visitors and scholars, residents and researchers could come together to experience history, explore ideas and create new understanding.
That vision still drives our work. New Harmony isn't just a collection of historic buildings. It's a place where past experiments continue to raise questions worth asking. We're here to preserve those experiments, share their stories and help people figure out what they mean today.
There are many ways to engage with Historic New Harmony's mission:
Learn more about ways to engage with us.