About Spiritualism
Spiritualism is a religious movement based on the belief that the living can interact with the souls of the dead. To make contact with spirits, Spiritualists often seek the assistance of a medium, someone with the ability to enter a trancelike state and act as a vessel for communication.
Scholarship regarding Spiritualism traditionally targets the height of the movement and its birthplace; the decades ranging from 1850 through 1880 in the eastern United States.
Few scholars have focused on Spiritualism’s influence in the western states towards the decline of the movement; the decade approaching the end of the 19th century.
Spiritualism is still alive today, with practitioners and churches around the country. See the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) for more information.
For a critical and intersectional feminist perspective on the history of the movement, see Radical Spirits by Ann Braude (see Further Reading section for details).