24 Facts About Josiah Warren

Josiah Warren was an American social reformer, inventor, musician, businessman, and philosopher.

Later, Warren rejected Owenism, giving birth to the Time Store Cooperative Movement.

Josiah Warren is recognized for his contributions to the development of coal-oil stoves and for being one of the first to establish a trade school in the United States.

Josiah Warren moved from Boston to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked as a music teacher and orchestra leader.

Josiah Warren invented a tallow-burning lamp in 1821 and manufactured his invention for a number of years in Cincinnati.

In 1825, Josiah Warren became aware of the "social system" of Robert Owen and began to talk with others in Cincinnati about founding a communist colony.

Josiah Warren decided to join Owen's experiment at New Harmony.

Early that year, Josiah Warren sold his lamp factory and, along with his family, joined Owen and nearly 900 Owenites from across the country on the Rappite estates, which Owen had acquired.

Josiah Warren's store served as a depot for items that could be sold.

Josiah Warren kept the Equity Store simple, with only a brief notice:.

Josiah Warren approached Warren, explained his situation, and asked for guidance to transition his business to this new system to regain lost customers.

Josiah Warren was happy to help his fellow merchant convert his shop into a "Time Store" based on Equity principles and delighted to witness how competition could drive fairer trading methods.

In 1850, Josiah Warren came back to Boston from the Midwest and began searching for an area near a major city, with low land prices, to establish a utopian community.

The inexpensive land enabled Josiah Warren to be able to implement his plan to provide homes for families that had never owned one before.

Josiah Warren then moved back to Boston, where he remained until his death.

Josiah Warren died on April 14,1874, in Charlestown at the home of a friend after developing edema.

Josiah Warren is buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Josiah Warren said that Stephen Pearl Andrews' The Science of Society, published in 1852, was the most lucid and complete exposition of Josiah Warren's own theories.

In 1827, Josiah Warren conceived the idea of labor notes, a scheme which was later practised in socialist Owenite labour exchanges in the mid-1830s.

Josiah Warren termed the phrase "cost the limit of price," with "cost" here referring not to monetary price paid but the labor one exerted to produce an item.

Josiah Warren believed that goods and services should trade according to how much labor was exerted to produce them and bring them to market, instead of according to how individuals believed them to be subjectively worth.

Josiah Warren was the inventor of the first rotary press in the United States, an invention that was later improved by Robert Hoe.

Josiah Warren anticipated a future where individuals would operate personal printers; his contributions are recognized by the American Printing History Association.

Catalan historian Xavier Diez reports that the intentional communal experiments pioneered by Josiah Warren were influential in European individualist anarchists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries such as Emile Armand and the intentional communities started by them.