A talk in honor on the 140th year of the Society for Psychical Research

1. The Formidable Women of the SPR
NANCY L ZINGRONE, PHD
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY (CALIFORNIA)
JOHN F. KENNEDY SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

2. Or not .…
• The research journey
• A promissory note for a paper on
the formidable women of the
SPR
• The motivation to focus on an
exceptional academic
partnership
• And the final narrowing to one
of the three “remarkable Balfour
girls”, Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick
1845-1936
1838-1900

3. A short list of the other women who need to be studied
further …
Early SPR
• Margaret de Gaudrion Merrifield Verrall (1857-1916), SPR
editor, council member, and experimenter
• Ina Jephson (?-1861), artist and child guidance expert
• Alice Johnson (1860-1940), zoologist and psychical
researcher
• Helen Verrall Salter (1883-1959), psychologist and
psychical researcher

4. Academic Partnerships

5. Marital Collaboration in the 19th Century

6. Just to have in mind the Sidgwick group as we move
towards the Balfour family …
1847-1888
1843-1901 1838-1900 1845-1936
F. W. H. Myers Henry Sidgwick Eleanor Sidgwick Edmund Gurney

7. Life writing
AND THE REMARKABLE BALFOUR GIRL

8. From Opitz (2022) …

9. Thank you for your patience
NZINGRONE@NU.EDU
NANCY@THEAZIRE.ORG

10. References
Anonymous. (2022). Alice Johnson (zoologist). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Johnson_(zoologist)
Anonymous. (2022). Margaret Verrall. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret-Verral
Gauld, A. (1968). The founders of psychical research. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Hamilton,T. (2009). Immortal longings: FWH Myers and the Victorian search for life after death. Imprint Academic.
Hamilton, T. (2017). Frederic WH Myers. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/frederic-wh-
myers
Ogilvie, M. B. (1987). Marital collaboration: An approach to science. In P. G. Abir-Am & D. Outram (Eds.) Uneasy careers and intimate lives: Women in science 1789-
1979 (pp. 104-125). Rutgers University Press.
Oppenheim, J. (1995). A mother’s role, a daughter’s duty: Lady Blanche Balfour, Eleanor Sidgwick, and feminist perspectives. Journal of British Studies, 34(2), 196-
232.
Opitz, D. L. (2022). Eleanor Mildred Sidgwick, country house science, and personae for British women in science at the turn of the twentieth century. European
Journal of Life Writing, 11, WG13-W43.
Petriglieri, J. L., & Obodaru, O. (2019). Secure-base relationships as drivers of professional identity development in dual-career couples. Administrative Science
Quarterly, 64(3), 694-736.
Ruickbie, L. (2022). Helen Salter. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/helen-salter
Sommer, A. (2013). Crossing the boundaries of mind and body: Psychical research and the origins of modern psycholology. Doctoral thesis submitted for the degree,
Science and Technology Studies, University College London.
Sommer, A. (2015). Edmund Gurney. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/edmund-gurney
Willin, M. (2021). Alice Johnson. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/alice-johnson.
Willin, M. (2021). William Salter. Psi Encyclopedia. London: The Society for Psychical Research. https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/william-salter

11. Image Acknowledgements
Slide 1: Henry Sidgwick, WikiTree, uploaded on 27 Nov 2020 by Philip Sidgwick
Slide 1: Eleanor Sidgwick, Koestler Parapsychology Unit Blog, University of Edinburgh, in post
authored by Caroline Watt posted on April 17th, 2017
Slide 5: Henry Sidgwick, Courtesy of Dr Hortense Geninet, from The March of Women: Eleanor
Mildred Sidgwick (1845-1936), Exploring Surry’s Past.
Slide 5: Eleanor Sidgwick, Twitter Feed of Donald L. Opitz on the occasional of the publication of
his EJLW article (2022) on EMS
Slide 6: Edmund Gurney, Psi Enclopedia entry
Slide 6: Frederich W. H. Myers, Fredrich W. H. Myers - O Pesquisador da Imortalidade
(autoresespiritasclassicos.com)