Date of Graduation
5-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in History (MA)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
History
Advisor/Mentor
Stanley, Matthew
Committee Member
Hammond, Kelly
Second Committee Member
Daily, Ruby
Keywords
Ghosts; Mediums; Spiritualism; Trance Writings
Abstract
This thesis examines how women mediums in the late nineteenth-century United States and Britain shaped Spiritualism and interpreted their respective social landscapes. Spiritualist mediums claimed the ability to communicate with spirits in the spirit world. These conversations with ghosts allowed mediums to speak on recent events, traverse social boundaries, and assume positions of authority. Drawing on trance writings, spirit-authored books, newspaper articles, and the performances of women mediums, this study compares the development and practices of Spiritualism in both countries. This thesis argues that proximity to violence significantly shaped Spiritualism during its formative years. The Civil War placed Americans in closer contact with mass death than in Britain, and in the war’s aftermath, American Spiritualists developed ghost archetypes that sought to reconcile the nation’s violent past and envision peace through spiritual guidance. With a later arrival in 1850, Spiritualism in Britain was often regarded as a form of popular entertainment and was practiced in small, intimate settings. British Spiritualism began to be characterized by increasingly theatrical performances and the development of new ways to communicate with spirits. By placing mediumship in a comparative context, this study demonstrates how Spiritualism formed part of a broader global movement in which women entered public spaces in new ways.
Citation
Tucker, A. (2026). Across the Pond and Veil: Spiritualists, Female Mediums, and Ghosts in the Nineteenth-Century United States and Britain. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/6135
