Book Club! SPIRITUALISM'S PLACE with Authors of SPIRITUALISM'S PLACE: REFORMERS, SEEKERS, AND SEANCES IN LILY DALE

Session Description: Join the hosts of the popular DIG: A HISTORY PODCAST for an exclusive virtual Book Club discussion of their co-authored book, SPIRITUALISM'S PLACE: REFORMERS, SEEKERS, AND SEANCES IN LILY DALE! In Spiritualism's Place, the four friends and scholars who produce the acclaimed Dig: A History Podcast share their curiosity and enthusiasm for uncovering stories from the past as they explore the history of Lily Dale. Lily Dale has been a home for Spiritualists attempting to make contact with the dead, as well as a gathering place for reformers, a refuge for seekers looking for alternatives to established paths of knowledge, and a target for skeptics. This intimate history of Lily Dale reveals the role that this fascinating place played within the history of Spiritualism, as well as within the development of the women's suffrage and temperance movements, and the world of New Age religion. As an intentional community devoted to Spiritualist beliefs and practices, Lily Dale brings together multiple strands in the social and religious history of New York and the United States over the past 150 years: feminism, social reform, utopianism, new religious movements, and cultural appropriation. Participants in the Book Club will receive a signed copy of Spiritualism's Place, and an opportunity to discuss the book with the authors!

Presenter Bio: Averill Earls, Sarah Handley-Cousins, Marissa Rhodes, and Elizabeth Garner Masarik are the co-authors of SPIRITUALISM'S PLACE: REFORMERS, SEEKERS, AND SEANCES IN LILY DALE, and the co-hosts of DIG: A HISTORY PODCAST. Irreverent podcasters and astute historians, Earls, Handley-Cousins, Masarik, and Rhodes identify sites in Lily Dale and themes that its history illuminates. They also reflect on their own relationships, contending that it's never quite possible to separate grief, hope, faith, and friendship from understandings of the past. Spiritualism's Place breaks myths, unveils unexpected stories, and finds new ways to contemplate Spiritualism's role in American history.