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The New England Spiritualists' Camp-Meeting Association. The Largest In New England. Seventh Annual Camp-Meeting at Lake Pleasant! Montague, Mass., on the Vt. & Mass. Division, Fitchburg R.R., commencing Wednesday, 4, 1880 and Ending Wednesday, September 1st 1880.

Boston: Rockwell & Churchill, Printers, 39 Arch Street, 1880. Broadside, 29” x 21”, recently reinforced with Japanese tissue on verso. CONDITION: Very good, old folds and creases, separation at some fields now repaired with Japanese tissue backing, chipping along the upper and left margins; no losses to the text.

A scarce, large broadside for an annual, month-long Spiritualist camp-meeting in Massachusetts that included concerts, mediums, lectures, and more.

Spiritualist camp-meetings were annual summer events where like-minded individuals gathered to hear lectures and demonstrations and talk with others who shared their belief in the immortality of the soul and communication between the living and the dead. Over time, they also came to resemble resorts, with permanent cottages and hotels, auditoriums, bandstands, dancing pavilions, and even roller-skating rinks.

The New England Spiritualists Association, founded in Boston in 1854, here invites “all within or without the pale of church membership to come to Lake Pleasant.” Attractions advertised include the 24-piece Fitchburg Military Band, Russell's Celebrated Orchestra, mediums, lectures, singing, programs of Grant Sacred concerts, and concerts performed by the Grattan Smith Family of Ohio. It is noted that “many of the celebrated mediums who were present last year will attend, and several others of great merit will visit Lake Pleasant for the first time this year. A good public test medium to give tests from the grand stand is expected.” The speakers listed include Mrs. Lizzie Manchester (an inspirational singer from Vermont); Bishop A. Beals of Versailles, NY; Rev. J. H. Harter of Auburn, NY; Prof. Henry Kiddle of New York City; Anna M. Middlebrook of Bridgeport, CT (also a leader in the Suffragist Movement); C. Fanny Allyn of Stoneham, MA (known for her trances), and Emma Hardinge Britten (author of Modern American Spiritualism (1870) and Nineteenth Century Miracles (1883)). Britten herself elsewhere promoted the 1880 Lake Pleasant gathering as follows: “Some of the best Mediums in the country will be present, and the phenomenal phases of the Spiritual Gospel will be invited to full manifestations through circles and séances.” The Fitchburg Railroad offered reduced excursion rates with special trains leaving for Lake Pleasant from Fitchburg and Greenfield. Camping rates and items that could be purchased by attendees are specified. The officers of the Association are listed as well.

Lake Pleasant was first developed as a resort campground by the Fitchburg Railroad in 1872. By 1874, it had become the site of a Spiritualist camp meeting. The New England Spiritualists' Camp-Meeting Association was founded in 1879 to "provide and maintain a place or places for holding grove and other meetings of a social, educational and religious character," and to receive funds and property to be used for purchasing and maintaining the grounds, buildings, and other assets. By 1880 the Lake Pleasant site had a new hotel, over 100 cottage homes, restaurants, tent platforms, and other structures to accommodate camp-meetings. In 1887, the Lake Pleasant Association entered into an agreement with the New England Spiritualists' Camp Meeting Association to assume control of the site. A major fire in 1907 destroyed over 100 of the buildings.

No copies recorded in OCLC.

REFERENCES: “1880 Spiritualist Camp Meetings” SpiritHistory online.

Item #7387

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