Achsa W. Sprague

Achsa W. Sprague was one of the best-known Spiritualists during the 1850s in the United States. Primarily a medium and trance lecturer, she also wrote articles and poetry for Spiritualist publications such as the Banner of Light, the Green Mountain Sibyl, and the People's World. [ [http://www.vermonthistory.org/arccat/findaid/sprague.htm Vermont Historical Society ] , Braude 2001]

Sprague was born at Plymouth Notch, Vermont on November 17, 1827. An able student, she began teaching other children at age 12. In 1847, at the age of 20, she became ill with rheumatic fever and credited her eventual recovery in 1854 to intercession by spirits. Between 1854 and her death in 1861 she traveled about the United States and Canada, entering into trances before audiences and speaking with the voices of alleged spirits. Like most Spiritualists of the time, she was an abolitionist and an advocate of women's rights. Sprague's papers are archived in the library of the Vermont Historical Society. [ [http://www.vermonthistory.org/arccat/findaid/sprague.htm Vermont Historical Society ] , Braude 2001]

Notes

References

*cite book | last = Braude| first = Ann| authorlink = | title = Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America |location=Bloomington| publisher = Indiana University Press | date = 2001 | isbn = 0-253-21502-1
*cite book | last = Britten| first = Emma Hardinge| authorlink = Emma Hardinge Britten| title = Nineteenth Century Miracles: Spirits and their Work in Every Country of the Earth | publisher = New York: William Britten | date = 1884 | isbn = 0766162907
*cite book | last = Buescher| first = John B.| authorlink = | title = The Other Side of Salvation: Spiritualism and the Nineteenth-Century Religious Experience |location=Boston| publisher = Skinner House Books | date = 2003 | isbn = 1-55896-448-7
*cite book | last = Carroll| first = Bret E.| authorlink = | title = Spiritualism in Antebellum America |location=Bloomington| publisher = Indiana University Press | date = 1997 | isbn = 0-253-33315-6
*cite book | last = Doyle| first = Arthur Conan| authorlink = Arthur Conan Doyle | title = The History of Spiritualism, volume 1 |location=New York| publisher = G.H. Doran | date = 1926 | url= http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/arthur-conan-doyle/the-history-of-spiritualism-vol-i |isbn=1-4101-0243-2
*cite book | last = Doyle| first = Arthur Conan| authorlink = Arthur Conan Doyle | title = The History of Spiritualism, volume 2 |location=New York| publisher = G.H. Doran | date = 1926 | url= http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/arthur-conan-doyle/the-history-of-spiritualism-vol-ii |isbn=1-4101-0243-2

External links

[http://www.vermonthistory.org/arccat/findaid/sprague.htm Description of the Achsa W. Sprague papers at the Vermont Historical Society Library]