Ida C. Craddock

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In: 19th Century Women, Activists, Authors, Spiritualism, Women's Rights

In honor of Banned Books Week, I am sharing more about Ida Craddock , the heroine of my novel Censored Angel. Bright and studious, Ida was an unlikely woman to become the enemy of Anthony Comstock. Upon rejection from the University of Pennsylvania, she decided to carry out her own research. She chose as her topic Female Sex Worship, motivated by the question of why there were no women ministers. This research and the pain and abuse women at the time experienced in their marriages, led her to write, lecture, and distribute a series of sex education pamphlets, intended to help men and women experienceRead More →

Ida C. Craddock

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In: 19th Century Women, Activists, Authors, Education, Motherhood, Spiritualism, Women's Rights

Ida Celenire Craddock (1857-1902) was born into a world where middle class women were expected to have little ambition, dutifully marry, and keep their mouths closed about sex. Brilliant and constrained by a domineering mother, Ida wanted more from life. She wanted a career, and she wanted to be heard. So, she left home to teach stenography at Girard College, a school for orphaned boys and write stenography textbooks. She also applied to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences. In 1882, she passed the exams and was accepted by the faculty to be the first female undergraduate, but her application was rejectedRead More →

Georgiana Houghton abstract expressionist artist

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In: 19th Century Women, Artists, Spiritualism

Georgiana Houghton (1814-84) is credited with being the first abstract expressionist. A well-educated middle-class British woman, she devoted her life to spiritualism and hypnotism. One of her practices was to create spirit paintings using watercolor and pen and ink. On the back, using automatic writing, she wrote the symbolic meaning and attributions to her spirit guides who represented famous artists. For example, “The Eye of God” was attributed to Italian Renaissance artist Correggio who “endeavored through Georgiana’s hand, to represent The Eye of God, in the Three Persons of the Trinity.” In 1871, Houghton was encouraged to put on an exhibition of her works. ImpoverishingRead More →

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In: 19th Century Women, Religion, Spiritualism

From Ghosts to Palestine Many 19th century women turned to occultism and spirituality as a way to escape the patriarchal bent of the major religions of the time. An example of this is Ada Goodrich Freer. Born in 1857, Ada Goodrich Freer was a British psychic, poet, and folklorist. Orphaned at a young age and fostered by an aunt who ran a girls’ boarding school, little is known of Freer’s early life other than that she was a very talented student. Much of what is available are stories she told about herself. For example, Freer claimed she had psychic premonitions and phantasmal experiences from childhood,Read More →