The American Union of Associationists (founded May 1846), was devoted to the propagation of Fourierism, a philosophy developed by François Marie Charles Fourier (1772–1837), a French utopian socialist and philosopher. An affiliate group, The Boston Religious Union of Associationists, was organized in January of 1847, lasting until June of 1850, for the purpose of reconciling the Christian Church and social reform. Important persons in the group were: John Allen, William Henry Channing, John S. Dwight, George Ripley, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, James T. Fisher and many others. Many members of this organization were also participants in their sister society, the Boston Union of Associationists, as well as the Brook Farm Community, which was a transcendentalist Utopian experiment in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.
From the guide to the Boston Religious Union of Associationists records, 1847-1851., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)
