Our Collection
Our Archivist-in-Residence is currently working diligently to digitize our entire collection to make it more accessible to the viewing public. This page will be updated on an ongoing basis. Check out the Archivist-in-Residence blog for real time updates.
Ephemera + Rare Finds
Our collection focuses primarily on ephemera, including letters, posters, small-run publications, and other objects that were never intended to last. Their historic value surrounding Spiritualist and Esoteric practices remain vital to understanding the past and negotiating the future.
Photographs + Works on Paper
Included in our archive are artworks on paper, such as fine art prints, watercolors, and drawings, as well as various forms of photographic processes ranging from 19th century calotypes to modern gelatin silver prints and negatives.
Cyrus and Niklaus
The story of two men, known only by their first names, and mysterious happenings in the Cincinnati area during the late 19th century. For more information, as well as transcripts of every single letter as they’re digitized, visit the Archivist-in-Residence blog.
Acquisition #1076-1075-1 The first letter from Niklaus describes a haunting experience of a pink glow and a rumbling sound late at night.
Acquisition #1076-1075-2 Our Archivist-in-Residence infers that Niklaus is a researcher of some sort whose field is yet to be confirmed.
Acquisition #1076-1075-3
Acquisition #1076-1175-1 Cyrus' initial response to Niklaus's first letter. Cyrus seems to have an almost paternal or mentor-like relationship with Niklaus.
Acquisition #1076-1175-2 Page 2 of Cyrus' response.
Acquisition #1076-1175-2 Page 3 of Cyrus' response.
Acquisition #1076-1175-4 In response to Cyrus, Niklaus begs him to visit so he may recount another story of something he experienced that he keeps vague for the time being.
Acquisitions #0176-1175b-1 Beginning of a hastily written letter from Niklaus to Cyrus, explaining his choice to see Laura Carter, aka Laura C. Pruden, a famous psychic from Cincinnati.
Acquisitions #0176-1175b-2 Niklaus goes on to describe what made him trust Miss Carter due to revealing elements of his past Cyrus did not even know.
Acquisitions #0176-1175b-3 A frightening experience involving "the sound" originally described in "Acquisition #1076-1075-1-3" and an unexpected word appearing on Miss Carter's slate.
Acquisitions #0176-1175b-4 At the end of the letter, Niklaus implores Cyrus he is not going mad and to consider Occam's Razor.
Acquisition #0178-1175a Cyrus drops everything to visit Niklaus, sensing something is wrong.
Acquisition #0178-1175b A tightly folded love letter from Niklaus, presumably hidden in Cyrus' luggage after his visit, confirming their status as lovers.
Acquisition #0482-1175a Niklaus describes an encounter with a beast in his home. An unidentified pink residue is smudged on two of the pages, seemingly over the text. Niklaus claims this residue is from the beast itself.
Acquisition #0482-1175b
Acquisition #0482-1175c Niklaus ends his letter claiming that he is leaving Cincinnati as soon as possible and reuniting with Cyrus, abandoning his current posts. This is the last letter from Niklaus that we've found.
Acquisition #0482-1175a Cyrus finds Niklaus' love letter (Acquisitions #0178-1175-a-b) and responds in kind. He claims to be closing his bookselling business in order to move to Cincinnati and be with Niklaus.
Acquisition #0482-1175a-2 It is apparent he had not received Niklaus' final letter about the beast upon drafting and sending this letter.
Acquisition #0478-1175b Cyrus' response to the beast letter, waiting for Niklaus to arrive.
Acquisition #0482-1175d The final piece in this collection, it is unknown whether or not Cyrus and Niklaus reconnected at this point in time.
Seance Ephemera
Ranging from automatic writings to artistic works in their own rights, our collection of seance ephemera is primarily a series of works on paper created during various group seances held in Cincinnati and Columbus in the late 19th century. This collection started with our Founder, whose interest in attending seances was sparked in his late 40s. Learn more about our Archivist’s thoughts here.
Acquisition #1078-1084-1 Undated drawing, by an unknown artistin the 19th century. Note the saturated colors and abstract motifs that pre-dated the Modernist movement of Europe and America. Among the first objects acquired by the Luscinia Historical Society.
Acquisition #1078-1084-2 Undated drawing, likely from an anonymous medium artist using their connection to spirits to inspire their colors and shapes. It is likely the colors, shapes, and textures all have significance that are lost to time due to a lack of documentation of its creation.
Acquisition #1083-1084 Undated drawing, likely from a seance in the 19th century, with automatic writing. Without proper context, we may never know what the text is meant to mean.
Acquisition #0324-1084-1 These seem to have been all created by the same hands as they share similar iconography, scale, and materiality. 9 x 12 in., date and artist unknown. We have reason to believe these were originally collected by the Lusicinia Historical Society and only just now returned to our archives.
Acquisition #0324-1084-2 Linear and geometric motifs are similar to those used by Georgiana Houghton and artists like her from the late 19th century. 9 x 12 in., date and artist unknown.
Acquisition #0324-1084-3 Many early spiritualist artists were women and other marginalized people, often utilizing their work as a means of expression during a time where their voices were silenced.
Acquisition #0324-1084-4 Given the scale and energy contained within these images, it is likely the artist had quite the prolific career making these drawings.
Acquisition #0324-1084-5 Our Archivist-in-Residence believes the maker was most likely an upper middle class socialite, given the makeup of many spiritualists at the turn of the century as well as the quality of pigments that seem to have lasted with vibrancy over a hundred years.