Graham, Sylvester (1794-1851)
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Sylvester Graham 
was born on 5 July 1794 in Suffield, Connecticut and died on 11 September 1851 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Some controversy surrounded Graham's consumption of meat, ordered by his doctor, at the end of his life. He was a Presbyterian minster and preacher best known as a dietary reformer and promoter of the "Grahamite" diet that was widely adopted, especially in reform circles, in nineteenth-century America. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Lydia Maria Child, for instance, were Grahamites. He joined the Philadelphia Temperance Society in 1830, motivated by the belief that consumption of food and drink directly affects physical and spiritual health. He promoted the drinking of water and an "Edenic" vegan diet based on home-made bread made from coarsely-ground flour that contains no additives. As a consequence of the fame of this regime, his name was attached to products like "Graham bread" and "Graham crackers" that were marketed to his followers though he neither endorsed nor profited from them. Grahamism was promoted by the American Physiological Society (1837-1840), established by Graham, Colonel John Benson, and William Alcott; at the same time, with David Cambell, Graham founded The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity. In October 1839, William Alcott annouced the merger of Graham's journal with his Library of Health, “The New Arrangement” (The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity Vol. 3 no. 22 (1839): 355). Graham was a member of the group, including Alcott, William Metcalfe, and Russell Trall which, in 1850, founded the American Vegetarian Society in New York City.
was born on 5 July 1794 in Suffield, Connecticut and died on 11 September 1851 in Northampton, Massachusetts. Some controversy surrounded Graham's consumption of meat, ordered by his doctor, at the end of his life. He was a Presbyterian minster and preacher best known as a dietary reformer and promoter of the "Grahamite" diet that was widely adopted, especially in reform circles, in nineteenth-century America. Harriet Beecher Stowe and Lydia Maria Child, for instance, were Grahamites. He joined the Philadelphia Temperance Society in 1830, motivated by the belief that consumption of food and drink directly affects physical and spiritual health. He promoted the drinking of water and an "Edenic" vegan diet based on home-made bread made from coarsely-ground flour that contains no additives. As a consequence of the fame of this regime, his name was attached to products like "Graham bread" and "Graham crackers" that were marketed to his followers though he neither endorsed nor profited from them. Grahamism was promoted by the American Physiological Society (1837-1840), established by Graham, Colonel John Benson, and William Alcott; at the same time, with David Cambell, Graham founded The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity. In October 1839, William Alcott annouced the merger of Graham's journal with his Library of Health, “The New Arrangement” (The Graham Journal of Health and Longevity Vol. 3 no. 22 (1839): 355). Graham was a member of the group, including Alcott, William Metcalfe, and Russell Trall which, in 1850, founded the American Vegetarian Society in New York City.IMAGE: Miscellaneous Items in High Demand, PPOC, Library of Congress,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
PUBLICATIONS
The Aesculapian Tablets of the Nineteenth Century. Providence: Weeden and Cory, 1834.
A Defence of the Graham System of Living: Or, Remarks on Diet and Regimen. New York: W. Applegate, 1835.
https://archive.org/details/adefencegrahams00grahgoog/page/n4/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/adefencegrahams00grahgoog/page/n4/mode/2up
A Lecture on Epidemic Diseases Generally, and Particularly the Spasmodic Cholera. Boston: D. Cambell, 1838.
Lectures on the Science of Human Life. 2 vols. Boston : Marsh, Capen, Lyon and Webb, 1839.
A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity. Intended Also for the Serious Consideration of Parents and Guardians. Boston: G.W. Light, 1838. (Prefaced by a “testimonial” by William Alcott).
The Philosophy of Sacred History Considered in Relation to Human Aliment and the Wines of Scripture. Ed. Henry S. Clubb. London: Horsell & Caudwell, 1859.
A Treatise on Bread, and Bread-Making. Boston: Light and Stearns, 1837.
Last updated on September 26th, 2025
SNSF project 100015_204481
How to cite this page:
Madsen, Deborah et al. 2025. "Graham, Sylvester." Vegan Literary Studies: An American Textual History, 1776-1900. University of Geneva. <Date accessed.> <https://www.unige.ch/vls/bibliography/author-bibliography/graham-sylvester-1794-1851>.