Spiritualism at Surratt: A Descent into the Macabre Archives

The Civil War made death far more common and only deepened people’s longing for a connection with the spirit world. The archives and collections at the Surratt House Museum Research Center are full of references to these macabre practices and chilling recorded ghost stories. This talk will focus on the efforts collections staff have made to catalog, rehouse, and make finding aids for the spiritualism collection while sharing the stories of these spine chilling artifacts. At the talk you will be able to try out one of our educational activities inspired by the collection, but to do all of the spooky hands on activities, tour the house at night, and see the artifacts discussed in person consider attending the longer program at the Surratt House Museum on October 4th and 25th: https://www.pgparks.com/event_list/spiritualism-at-surratt

About the Speaker

Lex (Alexa) Rose (She/They)

is the Archivist and Collections Assistant at the Surratt House Museum. Previously, she has given ghost and spiritualism tours, which satisfies her spooky heart as a practicing witch. She has worn many hats in museums including: curator, exhibits professional, collections, and research assistant at a variety of museums in the DC area currently and up and down both coasts in the past. She is most interested in researching spooky topics, women, LGBTQ+, digital humanities, disability history, and having an MA in Ancient Greek and Roman Studies, tries to relate American History to Rome (because her “Roman Empire” is actually the Roman empire)! She invites you to see her work, ask questions, and connect on LinkedIn.

You may also like the following events from National Museum of Civil War Medicine:

• Next Saturday, 4th October, 03:00 pm, “A Wonderful Tenacity of Life”: The Story of Old Baldy, General George Meade’s Trusted Warhorse in Frederick
• Next Sunday, 5th October, 02:00 pm, Frederick in the Civil War - A Bus Tour of the Historic City in Frederick
• Next month, 11th October, 05:00 pm, Haunted History at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick