Part 3: Confluences in Shakers at the Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles in Nineteenth-Century America

Authors

• Douglas L. Winiarski, University of RichmondFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

Douglas Winiarski: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1847-1158

Abstract

Introduction to Part 3 of Shakers at the Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles in Nineteenth-Century America

"One of the last inspired message Eunice Bathrick recorded was also one of her longest— and most controversial. One day in November 1851, a Harvard sister “gifted in spiritual sight” informed her that Socrates had entered their room and “wanted to make himself known.” Bathrick hesitated. “I did not feel the least disposed to find out what this Spirit wanted,” she later explained, and so she ignored the presence of the “Ancient Philosopher.” She returned to her employments in the Square House, where she was caring for the ailing Sarah Kendall, Harvard’s last living link to Mother Ann Lee. But as Bathrick tended to her domestic responsibilities, Socrates’s words began flowing into her mind. She paused to jot down a few sentences from the Greek scholar, and before she knew it, she was following the “impulse of his spirit,” writing without pause for hours. When the communication ceased, she sat before a completed manuscript booklet of forty- two carefully lined pages comprising five chapters and over ten thousand words."

Document Type

Book Chapter

ISBN

9781625349477

Publication Date

2026

Comments

Book may be purchased at: https://www.umasspress.com/9781625349460/shakers-at-the-center/

Publisher Statement

© 2026 University of Massachusetts Press. All Rights Reserved.

Recommended Citation

Winiarski, Douglas L., "Part 3: Confluences in Shakers at the Center: Manifesting Spirits & Spectacles in Nineteenth-Century America" (2026). Religious Studies Faculty Publications. 67.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/religiousstudies-faculty-publications/67