1 Research
An
ongoing project focuses on George Albert Smith (1864-1959). Smith played significant roles, in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, in both the Society for Psychical
Research (as hypnotist, secretary and paranormal investigator), and in the
early film business (as a filmmaker and the inventor of Kinemacolor). In addition, he ran a pleasure garden – St
Ann’s Well, in Hove – was a stage hypnotist, and a magic lantern lecturer. My research aims to bring together as much
information about Smith as possible, and situate it within the cultural context
of the period. I would be pleased to
hear about any unpublished material (letters, documents, photographs etc)
relating to Smith, or information concerning surviving relatives. Any help will be gratefully acknowledged.
2 The Society for Psychical Research
I
am the SPR’s Communications Officer, and as well as managing enquiries received
through the website (www.spr.ac.uk) I manage the SPR's Facebook page: ‘The
Society for Psychical Research (SPR)’ and Twitter feeds @SPR1882 (general) and @psiencyclopedia
(the SPR’s Psi Encyclopedia). I am happy
to promote relevant items of interest on the Society’s social media outlets.
3 Writing
As
my bibliography shows, my interests range across (but are not limited to)
historical aspects of psychical research and Spiritualism, literary fiction,
particularly in translation, detective fiction, film, photography, the
nineteenth century, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and central and eastern Europe,
particularly Romania. I am always
pleased to hear from authors and publishers.
You
can contact me at: tom.ruffles@yahoo.co.uk
(Last updated 9 April 2020)
