In 1879, a group of Spiritualists purchased 20 acres of land, halfway between Buffalo, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania. The gated community they created, now a hamlet of Pomfret, New York, became known as Lily Dale. Each summer, people came to Lily Dale (and still come) to speak with the dead through Lily Dale’s many licensed mediums. In its early years, modern Spiritualism, which began with the young Fox sisters (Maggie and Kate), often intersected with Women’s Suffrage, and suffragists like Susan B. Anthony were frequent visitors to Lily Dale. Joining me in this episode to help us understand more about Lily Dale and Spiritualism more generally is Dr. Averill Earls, Assistant Professor of History at St. Olaf College, Executive Producer of Dig: A History Podcast, and one of the authors of Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale.
Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Night Whisper,” by by Sergio Prosvirini, Free for use under the Pixabay Content License. The episode image is a photograph of “The Lily Dale Museum,” by Plazak, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, and available via Wikimedia Commons.
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Averill Earls is a historian of sexuality and modern Ireland, and winner of a white ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair for her Honey Gingersnap Cookies. Sure, it's just third place, and it's in the honey competition, but still, not bad for a stodgy old historian.
After earning a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in History from the University of Vermont, Earls received her Ph.D. in History from the University at Buffalo, graduating in 2016. She started her first job as a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Mercyhurst University in Erie, PA, and stayed for six years. Then she landed a gig at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, a small liberal arts college known for its world-class choir (and Christmas Fest) and for being the "hometown" of Rose from the Golden Girls. She teaches courses on modern European and Irish history, gender and sexuality studies, and digital history methodology. With a face that can't lie and a very "East coast" vocabulary, Minnesotans and midwestern students find her "real interesting." The State Fair ribbon is helping, though.
Earls is one of the four feminist historians and award-winning podcasters who founded Dig: A History Podcast in 2017. Dig averages 3,000 downloads per week and is assigned annually in over 85 different colleges. She's been interviewed about podcasting by @AskHistorians, Buffalo Boss Babes, and AtBuffalo Magazine. Want to lean how to podcast? Earls has hosted half a dozen podcasting workshops, from middle school girls and their dads to p… Read More