“Seized by the Jerks” Wins Article Award!

I’m pleased to announce that my recent William and Mary Quarterly article, “Seized by the Jerks: Shakers, Spirit Possession, and the Great Revival,” has been named the Outstanding Publication Article Award for 2019 by the Communal Studies Association. Founded in 1975, the CSA sponsors a wide range of professional programs and publications designed to “encourage and facilitate the preservation, restoration, and public interpretation of America’s historic communal sites” and “provide a forum for the study of intentional communities, past and present.”

The CSA annual meeting is taking place this weekend at the spectacular Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library near Wilmington, Delaware. Yesterday, I presented “The Ballad of Anne Bunnell: Troubled Families in the Shaker West, 1805–1825,” alongside fellow Richmond-area historian Ryan Smith (Virginia Commonwealth University) , who delivered a fascinating paper on the material and spiritual dimensions of Shaker tables. Christine Heyrman served as the moderator, and, for the first time in three decades, my dad was able to attend one of my conference presentations. Very much looking forward to the awards banquet tonight!

To learn more about my work on the jerks and other somatic religious phenomena associated with the revivals in the trans-Appalachian west, check out “Seized by the Jerks,” my two-part “Shakers & Jerkers” articles, and “History of the Jerks: Bodily Exercises and the Great Revival (1803–1967),” a curated digital archive of primary texts chronicling this fascinating religious practice and its controversial role in the development of American evangelicalism.

Reflections on Richmond's Historic Cemeteries

Ok, this post doesn't really belong on a blog about the People Called New Lights. But I was recently invited by the Richmond Times-Dispatch to reflect on "Richmond: City of the Dead," a material culture seminar I teach at the University of Richmond, and to share some thoughts on the plight of East End Cemetery, an important African American burial ground that has suffered from decades of neglect and vandalism. Here's a link to the interview, which also discusses the work of my colleagues in the East End Collaboratory. To learn more, check out the Collaboratory's innovative digital map of East End; Richmond Cemeteries, an interactive website created by Collaboratory member Ryan Smith (History, Virginia Commonwealth University); volunteer opportunities with  John Shuck and the Friends of East End; and the haunting photographs and powerful essays of journalist and activist Brian Palmer.