Spiritualism in the Gilded Age
With Kathryn Sheehan, Executive Director of the Hart Cluett Museum
Spiritualism was a religious movement claiming that spirits of the dead are able and willing to communicate with the living. The spiritualist movement began in the 19th century and continued through the early 20th century. Prominent individuals, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, supported spiritualism. Along with the spiritualist movement there was a growing religious movement in New York State that spread to New England and included the use of spiritualists and mesmerists in the treatment of physical and mental disorders. This period gave rise to a fascination with mediums and séances and the lasting impact can be seen in today’s haunted houses and Ouija boards.
Photo on Events & Programs page: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1922 (detail), photograph by Ada Emma Dean. Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kathryn Sheehan
Kathryn Sheehan is Executive Director of the Hart Cluett Museum, formerly the Rensselaer County Historical Society. A native of Troy, N.Y., she has been historian for the Rensselaer County and Troy County since 2006. She has lectured on topics including Uncle Sam, the Underground Railroad, woman suffrage and most recently "The Gilded Age" in Troy. She has presented her work on local radio and television as well as the History Channel, PBS, C-Span and Russian and Japanese network television. She resides in the historic district in downtown Troy and is the author of Architecture Worth Saving in Rensselaer County Revisited, 50 Years Later.
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