RBSCP holds and collects materials directly related to the Fox Sisters and, more broadly, to the development of the American spiritualist movement from 1848 to the present. Mainly a print collection, holdings include works regarding: the material culture of spiritualism; accounts by/about mediums and other seers; spirit writing/automatic writing, and phrenology.
Archival Collections
Isaac and Amy Post Family Papers
The Posts were abolitionists, suffragists, Quakers, and early Spiritualists. Includes correspondence from the Fox sisters to the Posts, exemplars of Spirit Writing, and letters mentioning both of these topics. These materials are accessible online.
Brief diary with scant entries describing spiritualist séances, including table tipping and contact with deceased friends and relatives, Jan and March 1884 by VanDusen of Glen Falls, NY.
Bragdon Family Papers: See Box 68 for exemplars of automatic writing by Eugenie Macaulay Bragdon, some of which appeared in the published work Oracle.
Several collections include phrenological charts. These include: Helen Aldrich De Kroyft Papers, William Henry Seward Papers, Fletcher Steele Papers, and Thurlow Weed Papers. See also published phrenological books.
Print / Rare Books Collections
Published works, including books, periodicals, and broadsides, are represented in the Library catalog.
Various Spiritualist newspapers from the Post Family Papers. To see a list of titles/issues held, search the Library catalog for “Post family newspapers.”
Digital materials
The Posts were abolitionists, suffragists, and early Spiritualists. The collection includes correspondence from the Fox sisters to the Posts, exemplars of Spirit Writing, and letters mentioning both of these topics.
RBSCP holdings of Spiritualist newspapers published in NY State are available in NYS Historic Newspapers. Titles include: Olive Branch, The Principle, Spiritual Clarion, Spiritual Telegraph, The Spiritualist at Work, Truth Seeker.
International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals
A US-based private organization focused on the digital preservation of Spiritualist and occult periodicals published between 1914-1945.
