1...This series will focus on common misconceptions about the history of the American Spiritualism (SPM) Movement. Its origins, beliefs, and tenants. Citations will be noted and detailed at the close #qchistoryengages...
2...Fueled by modern t.v. personalities like Theresa Caputo and John Edwards, who claim they can connect the living with long lost loved ones, #Spiritualism has garnered a reputation of housing frauds who are only in it for the money...
3...The common answer to the question of "When did Spiritualism begin?" is "1848." But the events leading up to the boon of the New Religious Movement (NRM) did not occur without influence...
4...The rise of SPM in 19th Century America can be attributed to the combination of rising public interest in new scientific practices and recent religious reformation during the 2nd Great Awakening...
5...Pseudo-scientific discoveries were being made in the mid to late 1700s by Emanuel Swedenborg, Anton Mesmer, and Franz Gall. Philosophers turned scientists who sought ways to apply new and poorly understood electrical technology to their interpretation of existence...
6...Swedenborg writes of contact w/ angels and demons. Mesmer believes all living things have a force that can be influenced by magnets, later believing himself to be the influencer. Gall studied phrenology, the belief that the shape of one's skull determined personality...
7...As these European ideas migrated to the U.S., they offered new interpretations of how the world works. Merging with changing religious ideologies, they set in motion the self-professed scientists and investigators...
8...Religious revivals allowed Protestants to create a faith that fit their views and reject deterministic traditions of Calvinism. Apart from Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, this period also saw Mormons, Millerites, and 7th Day Adventists (R. Cope p248)...
9...Millennialism, the belief of the Christ's return and 1000 year reign was also gaining popularity. There were differing opinions on whether they were already living in the new millennium or if it was imminent. There was consistent belief the millennia was to be egalitarian...
10...SPM combined the pseudo-sciences with egalitarian practices while initially cooperating with established Protestant religions. By promoting an equal life after death SPM supported calls for abolitionism, women's rights, labor reform, and other social issues...
11...This reinforced the revivalist Protestants' message of doing good works rather than relying on predestination. Mediums held public and private seances to convey the teachings of the spirits, encouraging the curious to "see for themselves"... (Edmonds, Hardinge, Capron)
12...Several SPM actors wrote about what it meant to be an investigator who was seeking out "the truth." Judge John Edmonds, Emma Hardinge, and Eliab Capron recount their experiences in the personal memoirs...
13...SPM, unlike other religions, encouraged inquiry, from skeptics and believers alike. Because the spirits preferred to communicate through younger women, it gave them religious autonomy and authority (R. Moore p202-203)...
14...The questioning of religious traditions coupled with the great losses from wars and misunderstood discoveries like batteries and telegraphs only served to excite the imagination of the general population w/ hopes they would be able to contact lost relatives (Nation p53)...
15...The interpretation that SPM served a greater social and political purpose was introduced by #femalehistorian Ann Braude. Her work encouraged Molly McGarry and laid the foundation for Mark Lause...
16...Although the Fox Sisters may have initially sought to play a joke on their parents, their actions in Hydesville, NY ignited the movement. Using the teachings of Andrew Jackson Davis and his "Harmonial Philosophy" the girls encouraged communication with the beyond...
17...Primary Sources - Britten, Emma Hardinge "Modern American Spiritualism." 1870 - Capron, Eliab "Singular Revelations. Explanation and History of the Mysterious Communions with Spirits." 1850 - Editorial from Nation 4 no. 81 "Concerning Things Spiritual." Jan 17, 1867...
18...Primary Sources - Edmonds, John W., Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, and George T. Dexter "Spiritualism." 1854...
19...Secondary Sources - Braude, Ann "Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America." 2nd ed. 2001 - Cope, Rachel "Our Piety Began to be a Little Different than the Old Way." 2011...
20...Secondary Sources - Lause, Mark A. "Free Spirits: Spiritualism, Republicanism, and Radicalism in the Civil War Era." 2016 - McGarry, Molly "Ghosts of Futures Past: Spiritualism and the Cultural Politics of Nineteenth-Century America." 2008...
21...Secondary Sources - Moore, R. Laurence "The Spiritualist Medium: A Study of Female Professionalism in Victorian America." American Quarterly 27, no. 2 1975. #womeninhistory #womenofhistory #femalehistorians #womenhistorians #spiritualism #qchistoryengages #twitterstorians
3.1...Emma Hardinge recalls the events in Hydesville, NY in her book "Modern American Spiritualism" citing events leading up to the Rochester Knockings as precursors to the movement (Hardinge p21). Google Books Link: books.google.com/books?id=g_tZA… ...
6.1...The @MutterMuseum has the Joseph Hyrtl Skull Collection in Philadelphia, PA. From the Mutter website: "His work was an attempt to counter the claims of phrenologists..." muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/hy… ...
14.1...The Nation article is an editor writing that while they may disagree with SPM, they understand why great loses can cause people to seek unusual methods of comfort. #Magician Harry Houdini admits he too wishes SPM to be real to be able to contact his own mother (cont.)...
14.2...but admits that he cannot accept its deception as evidence for spirits of the afterlife returning to converse with the living. (Houdini pxx - Preface). archive.org/details/1924Ho… ...
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