The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.
R. W. Simpson and H. W. Raisse, Jr. (editors)

The Psychic Era, Vol. I, No. 5. May, 1902.


Pittsburgh: The Psychic Era Pub. Co., 1902.

"A monthly magazine devoted to Spiritualistic Truths and Psychological Phenomena." Printed wraps, 8vo; 83, (7) pp. About Very Good with moderate soil to wraps and retaining only 2.5 inches of the paper spine covering; residual tidemark to the last 5 leaves, contents otherwise clean.

An obscure imprint referenced in a contemporary issue of the Spiritualist journal "Light" (among their "recently received publications") and found in newspaper archives connected to a lecture by "Dr. R. Angus, the Trance and Clairvoyant Medium, and Magnet Healer" in Saginaw in August, 1903. There is also reference to a 'Psychic Era' magazine edited by a Mrs. Billingsley out of Des Moines later that decade, but there is no record of any namesake publications in OCLC from that era. According to the ads, the company also published George Kates' Plain Talks About Spiritualism and Death by John Wilson; but the only title attributed to a "Psychic Era" imprint was an anthology A Sinner's Release... published in Detroit in 1903, suggesting along with the Michigan events that it may have relocated shortly after this was published.

Contents: Biography of Andrew Jackson Davis; Clairvoyance and Psychometry by W. J. Colville; The Import of Mediumship by Ella Royal Williams; Man's Destiny—A Poem by Maggie Olive Jordan; Facts About Spiritualism, Series 5 (Psychometry) by George W. Kates; a translated installment of "Illumination" by Heinrich Zschokke. Plus book reviews, news, and advertisements for books (many by Moses Hull, Emma Rood Tuttle and Hudson Tuttle), spiritualist happenings and psychic services. The rear cover has a pictorial ad for Pittsburgh-based Stevens Chair Co., which produced wheelchairs and early recliners.

The publication devotes a substantial amount of space to regional updates, mostly focused on the National Spiritualists Association in the United States and reflecting the proliferation of Spiritualist organizations and their institutionalization along familiar religious constructs—there are even youth groups, like the Young People's Psychic Inquiry Club. The prevalence of women as authors, public figures and even church leaders is striking, as well as the focus on "Rust Belt" cities. Buffalo, St. Louis, Detroit and Evansville are among the cities covered. Texas, particularly Galveston, also receives considerable attention.