Spiritualist Church/Bonita Freeman Witthoft Collection
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of a series of interviews and recordings of various meetings and sessions of the Spiritualist Church in Maine and especially at Camp Etna. The interviews were conducted by Bonita Freeman Witthoft in connection with her thesis From the Other Side of Life: Modern Spiritualism in Maine, in 1975. Witthoft was primarily interested in fundamental religious concepts, forms of apprenticeship, acquired patterns of perception and behavior, the discipline of mediums as spokesmen for spirit guides, and on the complex act of delivering messages. Among topics covered are healing, physical versus mental mediumship, projection, trance, controls and guides, and automatism. Church meetings and healing sessions are covered.
Dates
- 1971-1972
Conditions Governing Access
For digitized items free from access restrictions, we are working to upload this material (pdfs, mp3s, jpgs) for public access, but it is an ongoing project. If you don’t find what you are looking for here, contact Special Collections (um.library.spc@maine.edu).
Conditions Governing Use
Rights assessment remains the responsibility of the researcher. No known restrictions on material.
Extent
3 items
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
NA0669 Loretta Fairjeon, Forest Dinsmore, Marjory Flewelling, Elmer Stewart, Frank Libby, Margaret Stevens, Henry Gardiner, interviewed by Bonita Witthoft, 1971 - 1972, Etna, Bangor, and Orono, Maine. Accession includes interviews and recordings of church meetings, healing sessions, etc. in connection with the Spiritualist Church. Text: 75 pp. transcript. Recording: mfc_na0669_t0369_01-mfc_na0669_t0370_02 4 hours.
NA0673 Henry Hewitt, Pierre Fairjeon, Loretta Fairjeon, Irene Fratello, Rev. Mountain, Lenona Flanders, Gladys Laliberte, Emer Stewart, interviewed by Bonita Witthoft, 1971-1972, Etna, Bangor, and Orono, Maine. Accession includes interviews, recordings of church meetings, and healing session in connection with the Spiritualist Church. Text: 312 pp. transcript with brief index. Recording: mfc_na0673_t0376_01-mfc_na0673_t0382_01 11.5 hours.
NA0710 Clarence Stewart, Elmer Stewart, Robert Simpson, Louise Hagar, Vera McGregor, Loretta Fairjeon, Helen Morgan, Millie Glover, Zelma Dickerson, Bernice Damon, interviewed by Bonita Witthoft, summer 1972, Etna, Maine. Series of interviews in connection with Witthoft’s dissertation. Interviewees talk about spiritualism at Camp Etna, a Spiritualist Church camp. Text: 437 pp. transcript with brief catalog. Recording: mfc_na0710_t0435_01-mfc_na0710_na0711_t0450_02 16 hours.
Existence and Location of Originals
Located at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress: AFC 2012/047 https://lccn.loc.gov/2013655211
Materials Specific Details
Audio files are the primary source material. Transcriptions are the transcriber's best effort to convert audio to text, but should be considered secondary to the audio.
- Camp Etna (Me.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Folklore Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Oral histories Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Spiritualism Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to Spiritualist Church/Bonita Freeman Witthoft Collection
- Status
- Digital Objects Available
- Author
- Thomas Libby
- Date
- May 2018
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English.
Repository Details
Part of the Northeast Archives of Folklore and Oral History Repository
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono ME 04469-5729 United States
207.581.1686
