The digitized content of The Witness. (Digitized Microfilm) consists of publications from Volume 1 Issue 1 (1837) to Volume 2 Issue 26 (1843). The periodical was published in Ithaca, New York for the first four issues and then published in Putney, Vermont by editors J. H. Noyes and H. A. Noyes.

The newspaper’s creator and editor, John Humphrey Noyes, was an American preacher and utopian socialist who founded the Bible Communists in 1836 in Putney, Vermont and the Oneida Community in 1848 in Oneida, New York.

The digitized content contains periodical issues discussing Christian perfectionism, collective settlements in Putney, Vermont, complex marriage, and utopian socialism. Issues contain doctrinal essays by John Humphrey Noyes, contributions on spiritual topics by members of the community, essays on other religions and their comparison to Perfectionism, editorials, and testimonies.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections unit at the University of Illinois Library manages the microfilm copies of The Witness (Digitized Microfilm). The collection was completely digitized in 2022. For more information, contact an archivist at ihlc@library.illinois.edu.