Photography of the spirit was an important advancement within the rituals for grief in the 1860s.
Spirit photographs depict visually connect the grieving with the fleeting appearance of their loved relatives. Some people saw these images as proof to support the fundamental “spiritualist” beliefs. Spiritualists believe that the soul is still alive after death and that the possibility exists for ongoing bonds and connections between the deceased as well as those who live.
Mediums, largely women, worked with spirit photographers to facilitate spirits to make a “spiritual” reappearance of the deceased. My research has shown that women are a key part of this process: I name a woman as the possible inventor of the art of photography for spirits.
Women are being urged to join the campaign.
The rise of the concept of photography with a spirit at the beginning of Boston was an enthralling and widely publicized time that continues to draw the attention of people today.
The modern viewer may view images of spirits as funny artifacts from the past. Certain Victorian people were used to the use and effect of translucence in photos made for entertaining or for popular storytelling. In particular, certain people gathered and shared pictures taken by cameras, which produced different perspectives on the exact same subject to create the illusion of 3D. However, for those who requested photographs of their deceased loved ones, the objects were valuable as mementos of their own.
The spiritualist concept of the afterlife attracted women who were against the notion that children who were not baptized were destined for hell. Everyone who passed away young, such as soldiers, children as well as the numerous women who failed to have children, were taken care of in this world, and the emotional bonds they shared with them lasted for a long time..
In the presence of sympathetic eyes, Spirit photographs are evidence of unending love. Yet, in some spiritualist groups, they were subject to quite a number of critiques.
Fraud charges
Spirit image found on the reverse of the calling card. It is for Mrs. W.H. Mumler, the clairvoyant doctor. (Ackland Art Museum University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ackland Fund) The author has provided (no reuse)
William H. Mumler was credited at the time as the pioneer of spirit photography. He was accused of “obtaining money by pretended ‘spirit’ photographs.” After a long and revealing trial, Mumler was acquitted of all charges, and he continued to do his work.
In the course of Mumler’s trial, reports in the press referred to “Mrs. Stuart” being the person who managed the studios from which Mumler’s first spirit photos were made. Stuart was never before a judge. In contrast to the spirit photographers who used the same methods, those employed by Mumler and his ally, Stuart, were never established.
My research has identified Stuart to be the one of Boston’s top photographers and one of the one of the first photographer identified as a woman in city directories. Additionally, my discoveries indicate that “Mrs. Stuart” was probably an pseudonym.
Many significant stories regarding ghost photography have suggested the need for further investigation into the role played by Mrs. Stuart and Hannah Mumler Hannah Mumler, wife of William.
Commemorative hair jeweller
Hannah Frances Green was born in Marblehead, Mass., in 1832. She got married to Thomas Miller Turner 20 years after, and had two children with Turner. Divorce documents state that Green and her children were abandoned by 1859.
In the same year Green was making adjustments to her new being a single mom of two children, Mrs. A. M. Stuart was listed within Boston directories to be an artist wearing hair located at 191 Washington St., and as an ” hair work manufacturer” at the same address. Manufacturing hair work made up of Victorian art, weaving hair into jewelry, art, or ornaments with the intention of commemorating events. In the following year, she was listed as a hair stylist.
