The Oneida Cult and the Assassination of President James Garfield

Join us for a discussion of one of the most unusual cults in American history, the Oneida Community. Founded in 1848 in upstate New York, the Oneidas were one of several planned utopian communities in the United States during this time.  In 1881, a one-time member of the Oneida Community—Charles Julius Guiteau—assassinated President James Garfield in a brutal crime that shook America to its core. Much political intrigue, hucksterism, epidemics, and spectacle happened between those two events.

Susan Wels, author of An Assassination in Utopia, will join us virtually through Zoom to tell us more about this astonishing time in history.  Her book can be purchased through the Main Street Books website.

Leading the in-person discussion will be history/true crime podcaster, Laura Shimel, of the Fact or Fiction Podcast.

This is a hybrid event.  You may register to watch at home or experience the event at the Middendorf-Kredell Branch.

This is an event in the True Crime and Curiosities Series.  Dark and sometimes adult subject matter will be discussed.