Hazard's papers are part of the Nathaniel Terry Bacon collection, held by the Special Collections department of Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
Joseph Peace Hazard (1807-1892) was born into a wealthy Rhode Island family. When he failed in the family's textile manufacturing business, Hazard's family supported him in pursuing his personal interests, which included travel, architecture, and Spiritualism.
Things of Beauty: Joseph Peace Hazard's Observations of Nature (Online Exhibit)Joseph Peace Hazard: Rhode Island Spiritualist (Online Exhibit)
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Letter to Joseph Peace Hazard, 1889-04-09
Luther Colby
Letter responding to inquiry regarding Mrs. Hull, who holds private sittings in Boston. Includes post-script regarding Dr. Slade, a "drunk" medium in Maine: "What a pity it is that our psychics, after - like an unruly cow - giving plenty of milk, then kick the pail over! - Mrs. Sawyer is another kicker. We must drop such mediums, don't you think so?"
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Letter to John C. Bundy, 1889-03-14
Joseph Peace Hazard
Letter in which Hazard comments on "The Fox Girls" who have "in their old age - disavowed Spiritualism" and confessed their fraud. Hazard notes that because the women have become "intemperate" that their confessions are suspect. Includes mentions of "The Cock Lane Ghost," divining rods, haunted houses, and "The White Lady" who haunts a German castle.
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Letter to Joseph Peace Hazard, 1889-02-16
Luther Colby
Letter acknowledging Hazard's donation to "God's Poor Fund" and relaying message from Hazard's brother Thomas, "now a resident of the Spirit World" who "would like to communicate privately" through Colby's office's new medium, Mrs. Smith.
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Letter to Joseph Peace Hazard, 1889-02-12
Luther Colby
Letter describing "needy and sick Spiritualists and mediums" and recommending working mediums. Includes instructions to send lock of hair to a healing medium if medical treatment is needed.
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Letter to John C. Bundy, 1889-02-02
Joseph Peace Hazard
Letter describing the use of a water divining "wand" to find a stream.
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Mysteries of Hypnotism, 1889
Joseph Peace Hazard
“Mysteries Of Hypnotism” 1889
Clipping describing Dr. Henry S. Drayton’s lecture on “The Evolution of a ‘Sixth Sense’” and experiments involving duplicating unseen drawings. Includes this description of the dual perception of Spiritualism:
“Modern Spiritualism is a thing of tinsel, deception, and unbelief; but, however this may be, when the London society set about collecting evidences of psychical phenomena it was overwhelmed with the great number of letters. In Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore they consider this matter seriously and study it as a science. They use children as subjects, for they believe that the results from such a source are more likely to be freed from extraneous influence.” -
Are Spectres with Us? 1887-12
Joseph Peace Hazard
Clipping describing "psychical research" related to dreams, hallucinations, and spirits.
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Remarkable Spiritual Manifestations, 1887-07-15
David Harrower
David Harrower’s Letter to the Editor, describing spiritual painting session. Harrower cites Joseph Peace Hazard’s recommendation of Mrs. Debar, who is responsible for “wonderful spiritual manifestations” in New York City.
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Letter to Joseph Peace Hazard, 1886-04-20
Luther Colby
Letter relaying message from Joseph Peace Hazard's recently deceased brother Thomas. Includes query regarding $600 Thomas had put up to bail out a medium.
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Notes on "Modern Spiritualism"
Joseph Peace Hazard
Notes discussing the history of “Modern Spiritualism,” including “rapping Mediumship” of Kate Fox, the “Cock Lane Ghost”, the “Salem Witches”, and Church’s suppression of mediums and seers. Includes description of Hazard’s early visions of children dancing in the air and later visions of Barbados and Singapore.
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Stray Thoughts on Spiritualism, 1880.
Peary Chand Mitra
Booklet with account of Spiritualist practices around the world. Includes instructions for conducting a seance, as well as listing of different kinds of mediums. Medium specialties include: clairvoyant and test medium, physical manifestations, developing medium, materializing medium, trance speaker.
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How to Try Remarkable Experiments at Home, ca. 1870
Joseph Peace Hazard
Leaflet describing how to conduct a séance at home. Describes how to set up the room and prepare for the sitting, as well as the “symptoms” of spiritual communication. Originally published in "The Spiritualist" newspaper, ca. 1870.
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Rules to be Observed when Forming Spiritual Circles, 1870
Emma Hardinge
Booklet with instructions for conducting seances at home.
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Travel letter no. 07, Series 2
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his brother and sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from the steamship LaPlace about his journeys around South America. Topics include social reports; a discussion and sketch of the "Alligator Pear" [avocado]; conversations with fellow passengers (including one about transatlantic telegraph cables); and whale sightings.
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Travel letter no. 05, Series 2
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his brother and sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from Tijuca neighborhood of Rio about his travels in Brazil. Topics include the local waterfall; chats with the owner of the hotel (a Mr. Bennett) and other social calls; the process of shoeing mules; and a visit to the Imperial Palace [Museum] in Petrópolis.
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Travel letter no. 04, Series 2
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his brother and sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from Rio de Janeiro about his travels in South America. Topics include the prevalence and importance of churches; a visit to James Monroe, U.S. Consul in Rio (and former Congressman from Ohio); visits to the Botanic Garden; the flora and fauna he observed; local customs; and the houses and villas he saw.
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Travel letter no. 03, Series 2
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this travel letter to his brother and sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from the steamship traveling from Pará to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Topics include the Amazon River; the Magellanic Clouds [galaxies]; and the flora and fauna he observed.
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Travel letter no. 02, Series 2
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his brother and sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes about his travels in the Caribbean and in South America. Topics include going ashore in St. Thomas despite dangers of cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox; the hotel and harbor in Saint Thomas; the Amazon River; and the flora he observed.
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Incoming Correspondence, Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
This letter from naturalist Louis Agassiz at the Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, MA confirms receipt of a sample of wool Joseph Peace Hazard submitted to the Museum.
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Travel letter no. 28, Series 1
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to an "Esteemed friend" [possibly a Daniel B. Smith], written from La Pierre House in Philadelphia, Joseph Peace Hazard provides instructions for the recipient to keep his previous letters organized.
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Notes, Bologna, 1860-05-27
Joseph Peace Hazard
Notes on an encounter with the spirit of the recently deceased Theodore Parker , who attributed Hazard’s “difficulty as a medium” to his “unwillingness to be led by others.”
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Travel letter no. 43, Series 1
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from Rome and Florence about his travels in Italy. Topics include the view of Rome from Monte Mario; social calls; visits to Villa Borghese and the Opera; and Papal bulls.
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Travel letter no. 36, Series 1
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this travel letter to his sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from Windsor about his time in England. Topics include social calls; visits to Sevenoaks, the Crystal Palace, and the Dulwich [Picture] Gallery; and his observations of the flora and fauna in the area.
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Travel letter No. 35, Series 1
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes from London about his travels in England. Topics include the prices and offerings at the market; a visit to the South Kensington Museum; social calls; and his observations on the weather and foliage.
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Travel letter no. 31, Series 1
Joseph Peace Hazard
In this letter to his sisters, Joseph Peace Hazard writes about his travels in Algeria (a French territory at the time) and France. Topics include the geography, flora, and fauna and the daily life of the people he observed.