Cyber-Utopias: Notes on How Historic American Communal Groups are represented on the World Wide Web

Like so many other museums, restorations of many historic American communal societies have created sites on the World Wide Web. 1 These websites generally attempt to give visitors a sense of what the place is like, as well as the nature and history of the group whose settlement it was.They also provide travel directions and related information plus, in some cases, a taste of what is available at the gift shop.This article is a first look at how historical communal groups are interpreted on their websites.Given that museum websites have become important new tools for disseminating information and for marketing, it is reasonable to suppose that site staff would try to put forward a view of their museum that, among other things, makes it stand out from an increasingly crowded field.Thus, inspecting the websites of restorations of historic communal societies might tell us what staff think is important for would-be visitors to know, as well as what they think will entice people to visit.Of particular interest here is whether lessons are drawn or themes introduced that attempt to connect the historic group with the presumed concerns of contemporary Americans.What relevance, if any, do historic communal societies have for contemporary North Americans?Do restorations of such groups have distinctive messages for visitors?Do these messages express themes that resonate with the concerns of contemporary people?Do these messages differentiate them from other historic villages and house museums?These are some of the questions addressed in this article.As an official at the Ephrata Cloister once remarked to me, the question that had to be answered was, "Ephrata Cloister, so what?"Table 1 lists the historic communal societies consulted and the addresses of their websites.Only websites put up by the sites themselves or