Beth Hapgood Papers, 1818-2005 (bulk 1967-2005)

A self-described "observer," spiritual seeker, historian, and writer, Beth Hapgood was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, during the height of the great influenza epidemic of 1918, the first of three children in a family of intellectuals and writers. Her father Norman Hapgood, was a diplomat under Woodrow Wilson and a prominent editor of magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and the Christian Register. Her mother Elizabeth (Reynolds) was one of the first female professors at Dartmouth, a linguist who was instrumental in establishing the Russian department and who served as a translator for the legendary Russian acting teacher Constantin Stanislavki. Talent flourished elsewhere in Hapgood veins as well. Beth's uncle Hutchins Hapgood was a well-known writer who co-founded the Providence Players, a politically-active theatre group in Rhode Island, with his wife Neith Boyce. Another uncle, William Powers Hapgood, founded the Columbia Conserve Company, worker-owned a cannery in Indiana that is nationally recognized as an innovative experiment in workplace democracy.

As a child, Beth enjoyed a privileged life, traveling throughout Europe with her parents as they pursued various literary and diplomatic projects. However, after Norman's death from complications of pneumonia in 1937, Elizabeth found it difficult to travel so extensively with her three growing children. Following a final trip to Russia to visit Stanislavski, she brought her family back to the United States where they divided their time between homes in New York City and Petersham, Massachusetts.

Beth credits her upbringing in New York with making her a "seeker." She recalls being engrossed by the endless variety of people encountered during her long walks through the city, and although she was a quiet student, she remembers a teacher reassuring her that "still waters run deep." Through the influence of her mother, Hapgood became convinced at a young age that women are capable of being whatever they want to be. She carried this realization with her to Wellesley College, from which she graduated in 1940 with a degree in sociology, and through her masters degree in psychology at Farleigh-Dickinson University. Always fascinated with understanding the thoughts and motives of others and how people communicate, she chose to study graphology, the science of handwriting analysis. Her thesis, the first academic study of handwriting analysis in the United States, led to a successful career in graphology, spawning a weekly newspaper column and numerous articles and conference papers.

At one of these graphology conferences, Hapgood met Bob St. Clair, with whom she fell in love and, against the wishes of her family, married in 1940. She described St. Clair as a "blue-eyed grasshopper" for his inability to stick to one job, and for the first several years of their marriage, the family moved around with remarkable regularity. Before settling in Northfield, Mass. in 1952, the Hapgoods passed through Virginia, Maryland, Long Island, New York City, and Maine, all the while their family grew to include six children: Amy, Steven, Eva, Bea-Beth, Jon, and Tina. In Northfield, the St. Clairs purchased a youth hostel at 88 Main Street, a rambling house that had been one of the first youth hostels in the nation. Despite the demands of her young family, Beth afforded herself the opportunity to spend time in the hostel and listen in on the travelers' conversations, the constant ebb and flow of people through the hostel fit perfectly with her ideas about a global human family that was infinitely interconnected. By 1956, though, the responsibilities of running an active hostel grew too great, leading the St. Clairs to close down that portion of the house.

In 1963, she found a new opportunity to explore the philosophical and spiritual questions that had always occupied her by accepting a position teaching psychology and sociology at Greenfield Community College (GCC). A key event in her spiritual development came in 1969 when she was introduced to a local trance medium, Elwood Babbitt, by her maverick cousin, Charles Hapgood. Although fourteen years her senior, Charles and Beth enjoyed a close relationship founded on their equally unorthodox view of life and pursuit of a deeper understanding of personal relation and in Elwood, both found a close friend and inspiration. Clairvoyant from his youth, Babbitt had developed his psychic abilities at the Edgar Cayce Institute, and by the mid-1960s, was well known locally through his readings and lectures, often opening his home to other seekers. Charles, a professor at Keene State College, had worked closely with Babbitt studying the physical effects of the medium's trance lectures, and by 1967, he began to take on the painstaking process of transcribing and copying them. With communications purporting to come from Jesus, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, and the Hindu god Vishnu, among others, these lectures formed the basis for several books by Hapgood and Babbitt, including Voices of Spirit (1975) and Talks with Christ (1981). Like her cousin, Beth worked closely with Babbitt, establishing a non-profit, alternative school, the Opie Mountain Citadel, which was essentially run out of Babbitt's home in Northfield.

1968 was a pivotal year for Hapgood, who was not immune to the social changes sweeping the nation. In that year, her marriage dissolved and health problems forced her to take leave from her teaching responsibilities at GCC , leaving her to question whether she should could her home. Although the hostel at 88 Main Street had officially shut down years previously, the tide of young people coming through Hapgood's life never slowed. Many came into her life through her children, and many seemed to be seeking an emotional safe haven from what Hapgood calls "(the) chaotic times, when the shattering of basic trust and order went way beyond the smashing of an atom." Whatever it was that initially drew so many young people to Western Massachusetts, these travelers would have a lasting impact on Hapgood and her family.

Among all the young people drawn to Hapgood in the mid-1960s, Michael Metelica stands out. Metelica first appeared at 88 Main Street as a sixteen year old in 1966, a friend of Hapgood's daughter Eva. From the beginning, he and Beth developed a close bond, remaining in contact when Metelica dropped out of school and traveled to San Francisco in 1966 to join the Hells Angels and take part in the cultural revolution shaking the Haight Ashbury district. She was there to greet him when he returned to his home in Leyden, Mass., two years later, burned out and disillusioned. Looking for an alternative way of living, Metelica moved into a treehouse in June 1968, joined shortly by eight of his friends. Almost immediately, others were drawn to the group who dubbed themselves the Brotherhood of the Spirit, forming the core of what would eventually become the largest commune in the eastern United States.

In rural Leyden, local reaction to the Brotherhood was decidedly mixed, and after the treehouse was burned in August 1968, the members built a shack to replace it. In the next year and half, the group moved several times, settling for a short time in Charlemont, Mass., in Guilford, Vermont, and Heath, Mass., before purchasing 25 acres in Warwick, not far from Babbitt's house. The early days of the Brotherhood were full of ideas and growth. The early members wholeheartedly embraced the sixties ethos by dropping out of the mainstream to rethink the values with which they had been raised and proclaiming that they were an "unintentional community," a group of peers without hierarchy or leadership who shared all in common. Drawn largely from the working class, rather than their middle class roots, the early members created a commune with a distinctive tenor. Although early on the Brotherhood adopted a strict policy of no drugs, alcohol, violence, or promiscuity, as the commune grew, it became increasingly clear that they would be unable to monitor every individual. By 1970, the Brotherhood was hosting over a hundred visitors a day in addition to the seventy permanent members, and particularly among the transients, many of the excesses of the sixties became commonplace. Coming from all across the country, the crush of visitors made it difficult to maintain the unity of vision and increasingly, an inner circle of original members assumed greater authority.

In 1970, Babbitt entered the scene at the Brotherhood and soon became a sort of "spiritual mentor" to the community, teaching Metelica how to develop his psychic abilities. With his charismatic personality, Metelica had little trouble taking on the role of spiritual leader, as he had community leader, even though he was barely in his twenties. By late in the summer, Metelica began to channel higher spirits on his own, claiming to be the reincarnation of St. Peter and Robert E. Lee. Several members of the Brotherhood credited him with helping initiate a "spiritual renaissance" within the community and with revealing a "purpose in life." But life in the Brotherhood was not without conflict. Adding to the hard labor of raising their own food and caring for the property were regular complaints about the quantity and quality of food. While members aspired to live truly communally by taking odd jobs in the area and signing over their income to the group, Metelica took the primary responsible for distributing the funds. Particularly in later years, many members felt that Metelica's generosity toward favored members of the commune was matched with miserliness toward others, an affront to the commune's stated egalitarian principles. Using communal funds, he relentlessly pursued a musical career. The commune's band, Spirit in Flesh, formed in 1970, spared no expense on equipment, touring, recording, or advertising, and in at least a limited way, Metelica earned the adulation and other trappings of a rock star's life.

Meanwhile, Hapgood, whose marriage to Bob St. Clair had ended and health was failing, was still looking to sell her home on 88 Main Street. Seeing that many of the visitors to the Brotherhood were forced to sleep outside in the cold, she decided to sign over the deed to 88 Main Street to the Brotherhood, whom she viewed not only as sharing her spiritual outlook, but as "reaching out with a strong and radiant faith to help other young people toward true spiritual awareness and affirmation of life." 88 Main soon became the headquarters for the inner circle of the Brotherhood who, as Hapgood later wrote, descended "like a swarm of locusts," forcing her and her family out. Despite this, Hapgood continued her relationship with Metelica, even as her involvement with the commune diminished.

Local opposition to the Brotherhood, a constant from the Leyden days, reached a crisis point in 1972, in part due to Metelica himself. The revelation that many members had signed up for welfare checks piqued local ire, and the fact that Metelica had required members to sign over their assets while he could be seen driving expensive cars added fuel to the generic mistrust of the community's esoteric beliefs. Metelica's increasingly erratic behavior and drug and alcohol abuse became points of further contention, both between the Brotherhood and the local community and within the Brotherhood itself. Metelica responded to the tensions by dissolving the Brotherhood in 1973, forming in its stead a for-profit corporation that he called Metelica's Aquarian Concept. Changing his name to Rapunzel, Metelica required members to apply for admission to the Concept, promise to take jobs and sign over their full income. Spirit in Flesh was later rechristened Rapunzel, and the members of the commune embarked on a diverse series of commercial enterprises, including a highly successful greeting card company, Renaissance Greeting Cards, a music store, bus service, vegetarian restaurant, and pizza shop.

In 1974, the Aquarian Concept was renamed Renaissance Community to signify the commune's rebirth. At the time, membership numbered in the hundreds, and as individual members began working and earning their own money, many became even less willing to accept the hierarchy that had developed. Several members came even to question Metelica's sanity and ability to run the commune. In 1975, the house in Warwick had become so dilapidated that it was virtually uninhabitable, and commune members began fanning out to other Brotherhood owned properties in western Massachusetts. By 1978, one faction came into full rebellion against Metelica, who, for all intents and purposes, had ceased to be any kind of spiritual leader as he focused almost exclusively on his band and a few select members. Babbitt's interaction with the commune also came to an end after a falling out with Metelica. In 1981, a faction associated with Renaissance Greeting Cards officially split and moved their operations to Maine (where they have continued to prosper). Life in the Renaissance Community became increasingly tense as Metelica was drawn increasingly to a life of drugs, guns, and motorcycles. In a particularly telling instance, his proposal to build a shooting range on the property caused at least one longtime member to leave the community. Despite drug use and financial mismanagement, Metelica remained on the commune off and on until 1988, when the remaining members paid him $20,000 to leave.

Though ousted from her home in Northfield, Hapgood continued on her quest for spiritual enlightenment. At the same time she signed ownership of 88 Main Street over to the Brotherhood, Hapgood officially resigned from GCC, explaining in her letter of resignation that her "first and primary commitment is to the inmost Spirit of the Universe." After seriously considering a career in the ministry, she married Bob Backman, a graphologist and founder of H.A.R.L. (Handwriting Analysis Research Library), one of the only graphology libraries in the country, and the couple moved to Peace Valley Farm in Royalston, Massachusetts. From there, Hapgood organized workshops and courses on a variety of subjects, including graphology, parenting, and grief counseling. In the mid-1970s she established One World Fellowship, a spiritual group that held regular meetings, published newsletters, and sponsored various events with spiritual focus. Ultimately, One World Fellowship became Hapgood's own publishing company.

The spiritual quest led Hapgood down several new paths during the 1970s, taking her into the Arcane School and the Findhorn Community in Scotland. Although she never held any official position in the Arcane School, an esoteric organization devoted to spiritual enlightenment, Hapgood was energetic in corresponding with other students, answering their responses to monthly reports on their spiritual progress, and writing lectures that were distributed among her peers. From 1978 to 1980, she lived at the Findhorn Community, a community dedicated to spiritual education and the transformation of human consciousness. All the while, Hapgood kept up a furious pace in writing letters and essays, and continued to teach and work closely with the GCC community through the International Students Program, the Opportunity Center, Campus Free College, and the International Students Program.

The Renaissance Community has survived in Warwick, although membership is considerably lower and individuals now own their own property. Metelica eventually moved to Cairo, New York, where he was diagnosed with cancer. He remained in contact with Hapgood and, in 2002, attended a service held in his honor at Hapgood's house that was attended by former Brotherhood members. Although the animosities of the past had not been fully rectified by time of Metelica's death in 2003, many of the members cite this gathering as being a positive and healing experience. Elwood Babbitt passed away in 2001. As of 2005, Hapgood resides in Greenfield and continues her prodigious correspondence and writing projects.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Throughout her life, Beth Hapgood has been an observer standing near the center of social change. Whether it was the largest commune in New England emerging from her kitchen table or her friendship with Elwood Babbitt, who channeled Vishnu in her living room, it is difficult to argue that Hapgood's life has been a maelstrom of people, ideas, history, spirituality, and hard work. Hapgood's collection documents many facets of the alternative history of western Massachusetts from the 1950s through the 1980s and the varied people who came through her life. Her connection with emerging new thought and ways of living are well represented in the collection. This self-imposed responsibility to record the events and lives of the people around her has resulted in a diverse and comprehensive collection that spans over a century. From the history of the Hapgood family to the Brotherhood of the Spirit, Hapgood's collection documents the life of a woman who considered herself not only an observer but the memory of several generations of family, friends, and fellow human beings.

The Hapgood collection contains correspondence, diaries, e-mails, oral and written histories, poetry, newspaper clippings, tapes and transcripts of Babbitt's trance lectures, legal records, photographs, and a variety of printed materials that give flesh to Beth Hapgood's evolving interests in graphology and spiritual development, as well as her association with Michael Metelica and the Brotherhood of the Spirit commune. The collection also includes some genealogical material on the Hapgood family, family and town histories, miscellaneous books, welfare reports from the town of Greenfield, book and meeting notes, business and legal correspondence, a memorial scrapbook, various manuscripts, and information pertaining to Opie Mountain and One World Fellowship.

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Search Terms

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Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into ten series:

• Series 1. Brotherhood of the Spirit, 1968-2005
• Series 2. Elwood Babbitt, 1967-2003
• Series 3. Correspondence, 1969-2004
• Series 4. Writings by Beth Hapgood, 1932-2002
• Series 5. Teaching, 1959-2004
• Series 6. Spiritual Organizations, 1968-2002
• Series 7. Personal, 1933-2003
• Series 8. Hapgood Family, 1789-2004
• Series 9. Audio Visual, 1938-2002
• Series 10. Newspaper Clippings, 1970-2003

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Contents List

Series 1. Brotherhood of the Spirit 1968-2005

The history of the Brotherhood of the Spirit is complex and ongoing, and the documents that survive in Hapgood's collection pertaining to the commune represent only a fraction of the variety of experiences of members. Hapgood made a conscious effort to record the history of the commune through oral histories and interviews (mostly from the late 1980s and 1990s), letters, and audiotapes, and the resulting collection reveals much about the workings of the Brotherhood and Hapgood's relationship with its members. The correspondence in particular paints a vivid picture of daily life on the commune and relationships between Michael Metelica and other commune members. The question of whether the Brotherhood was a commune or a cult is a subjective one with no definitive answer, but through the correspondence, histories (oral and written), and publications, it is possible to get a glimpse into the inner-life of the largest commune in New England.

This series contains numerous articles and newspaper clippings about the Brotherhood, several newsletters and publications published by the Brotherhood, programs, announcements, notes, flyers, radio interviews with Metelica, Hapgood and others, poetry, group e-mails and pamphlets of events for former members. The bulk of the correspondence in this series is written to Metelica from various brotherhood members; these letters are filed under the name of the writer but it cases of single and unidentified letters they are filed under "Correspondence: Metelica, Michael." Most other correspondence pertains to legal, business and music matters or is communication between Hapgood and various commune members. Also included in this series are oral histories taken, for the most part, by Hapgood, written histories, collective journals kept by Brotherhood members, a lecture to Metelica through Elwood Babbitt, documents pertaining to musical group, "Spirit in Flesh," remaining documents of Daniel Pritchett, a former Renaissance Community member, reports from the Greenfield Welfare Department and a signed statement by members of the Brotherhood.

Series 2.Elwood Babbitt 1967-2003

However much some may question Elwood Babbitt's true powers as a psychic, his channeling sessions, slowly and painfully transcribed by Hapgood, had an undeniable effect on the people who bore witness. Babbitt was the spiritual advisor of the Brotherhood in the early years and his influence on Michael Metelica, while ultimately unknowable, may have played a huge role in the politics of the Brotherhood. He also started two alternative schools, Opie Mountain and Caduceus School and was at one point taken to court for not sending his sons to public school.

This series consists mainly of trance lectures through Babbitt and transcribed by Hapgood. He channeled various figures such as Albert Einstein, Krishna, Jesus, Edgar Cayce, Cornelius and James Parker Mills but none more than the Hindu god Vishnu, whom Babbitt channeled for most of 1970. Numerous documents pertaining to Opie Mountain are included in this series such as membership lists, newsletters, progress reports, resource information, legal documents, events, lectures, articles and announcements. Also included are manuscripts of Joseph Armellino's "Autobiography of Elwood Babbitt," correspondence, trance lectures through Babbitt's wife, Daria Babbitt, book notes, a manuscript of "Dare the Vision and Endure," information on Caduceus School and oral histories by Hapgood, Elwood Babbitt and Emily Babbitt.

Series 3. Correspondence 1969-2004

Hapgood was a prodigious writer and nowhere is this more evident in her correspondence. The detail and thought of each letter provides a clear window into Hapgood's compassion and human understanding. The sheer volume of people that have passed through Hapgood's life are also evident in this series. Some of correspondence, such as with friends Steve O'Rourke, Ardy and artist Beatrice Wood, spanned for several decades. Hapgood also kept in touch with several former member of the Brotherhood such as Lois Sellers, David Schonbrunn, Alaina Snipper and Rachel Goldstein. These letters are interesting because they discuss the Brotherhood and Michael Metelica with the benefit of time and distance. Hapgood's correspondence with prison inmates, Mark Defriest, Gregory Powell Lateef and others offer concrete evidence of Hapgood's generosity and faith in the human spirit.

Series 4. Writings by Beth Hapgood 1932-2002

After retiring from Greenfield Community College, Hapgood worked tirelessly on her writing projects. Hapgood's need to record the events of her life and those around her is evident in talking with her and reading her work. When talking to Hapgood, many times she answers questions about the past by saying, "it's in the book!" Several of her books, "Heirs of Fission-Pioneers of Fusion," "88 Main Street" and "Tidal Wave in Our Time" record the history of the Brotherhood, her home in Northfield that she eventually gave to the Brotherhood and the ramifications of the atom bomb on her children's generation. Other titles such as "Fire Weed Flowers," Musings from Benie's Notebook," and "Beyond Musings" are collections of poetry of poetry and other writing by Hapgood and others.

Series 5. Teaching 1959-2004

Materials in this series pertain to Hapgood's life as a professional graphologist, a psychology professor at Greenfield Community College (GCC) and a self-appointed educator. Graphology materials include newsletters, correspondence, articles by Hapgood and her ex-husband, Bob Backman, notes, meeting notes and academic papers. Other materials documenting Hapgood's professional life include activities reports from GCC, course materials, documents from the International Student's Program, proposals for classes, resumes, letters of recommendation and resignation, newspaper clippings, and correspondence. Also documented in this series are Hapgood's work with Campus Free College, Creative Growth Counseling, Elder Services, Rowe Liberation Camp, GCC Opportunity Center, Peace Valley Farm and "Being a Parent Today" workshops.

Series 6. Spiritual Organizations 1968-2002

Hapgood's work with the Arcane School compromises the majority of this series. The Arcane School is an esoteric school that Hapgood was involved with throughout the 1970s. This series contains Hapgood's correspondence, monthly reports and lectures from her work with the Arcane School. For two years in the late 1970s, Hapgood studied at Findhorn Institute in Scotland and her correspondence, notes, exercises, oral histories and articles from this period are included in this series. One World Fellowship, an organization started by Hapgood in the mid-1970s, was a spiritual group but ultimately morphed into her publishing company. Agendas, announcements, by-laws, correspondence, membership lists, meeting notes, newsletters, a proposal for tax-exempt status and events from One World fellowship are housed within this series. There is also a considerable amount of printed material on organizations such as The Pond, Seed Group International, Society for a Conscious Evolution, The World Congress Foundation, Planetary Citizens, Planetary Initiative and Traprock Peace Center. Additionally, writings, newsletters and correspondence of Ellafern (Mata) Poindexter, an accomplished poet and yogi, is included in this series.

Series 7. Personal 1933-2003

The majority of this series contains Hapgood's personal journals. Most of these are handwritten with the exception of "car tapes" which are transcribed by Hapgood from tape recordings made while driving. The journals provide great insight into the people in Hapgood's life and help establish a timeline for events of the Hapgood family and, through her personal relationship with Michael Metelica, the Brotherhood of the Spirit. This series also contains the writings of other people such as Mark Defriest, Craig Gerard, Cathy Drew, Ray Hargreaves, Marishka Kuzontkoski, Pamela Mikalson, Irene Resenfeld, Gregory Powell Lateef, Joel Stanley, Walker Thomas, Cliff Tobey, Scott Hunter and several unknown authors. Additionally, interviews and oral histories with Hapgood's friends Ardy, Martha B. Hoagland, Ted Martineau and Stanley Joel, artwork, notes, prayers, quotations, articles, political and Native American literature and parapsychology readings are included in this series.

Series 8. Hapgood Family 1789-2004

The Hapgood Family has a long history in this country that dates back to the 18th century in Petersham, Massachusetts. Hapgood's parents, Norman and Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood, were respected writers and prominent figures. Her father was the editor of Harper's Weekly and wrote books on Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and others. Her mother was a linguist who helped establish the Russian department at Dartmouth College and served as primary translator to Stanislavski, the famed Russian acting teacher. Her uncle, Hutchins Hapgood was married to writer Neith Boyce with whom he founded the Providence Players theater group. Her other uncle, William Powers Hapgood founded the first worker owned corporation and was instrumental in the labor struggle during the first early part of the 20th century. Writing, correspondence and other miscellaneous materials from all these people and, in some cases their children, is included in this series. Additionally, there is considerable correspondence between Hapgood, her children (Steven St. Clair, Amy Goepp, Bea-Beth St. Clair, Tina Visscher, Eva Langlois, Jonny St. Clair), grandchildren, and former husbands (Bob St. Clair, Bob Backman). The locations of other Hapgood family collections, Hapgood family materials dating from the 19th century and the history of Petersham, Massachusetts are also included in this series.

Series 9. Audio Visual 1938-2002

The bulk of this series consists of audiotapes of interviews with former members of the Brotherhood of the Spirit and trance lectures of Elwood Babbitt. Most of these are transcribed and can be found in either Series 1 or 2 (Brotherhood of the Spirit and Elwood Babbitt). There are also other interviews with a number of Hapgood's friends or contributors to her work. These can be generally found, transcribed in Series 7 (Personal). Other audiotapes included in this series are radio interviews with Beth Hapgood, graphology lectures, radio shows, interviews from Findhorn, personal journal entries ("car tapes") and other unidentified cassettes. The reel to reel subseries consists mostly of Elwood Babbitt trance lectures, some of which are to Michael Metelica. The videotapes pertain mostly to Renaissance Community and Elwood Babbitt. Both the photographs and the scrapbooks include photos of the Hapgood family, the Brotherhood of the Spirit, Elwood Babbitt and other unidentified people.

Series 10. Newspaper Clippings 1970-2003

This series contains newspaper clippings collected by Beth Hapgood. They cover a variety of topics including small presses in Massachusetts and the 1960s generation.

Contents List

Series 1. Brotherhood of the Spirit 1968-2005

Series 2.Elwood Babbitt 1967-2003

Series 3. Correspondence 1969-2004

Series 4. Writings by Beth Hapgood 1932-2002

Series 5. Teaching 1959-2004

Series 6. Spiritual Organizations 1968-2002

Series 7. Personal 1933-2003

Series 8. Hapgood Family 1789-2004