An Emerging Museum Professional with a Focus on Advocacy and Play

in 1886, a group of Spiritualists near Anderson, Indiana founded the oldest Spiritualist meeting place in Indiana: Historic Camp Chesterfield. In its founding, along with the Indiana Association of Spiritualists, the leaders of Camp chesterfield sought to expand its resources to include a church, expansive grounds, a museum, a school, and even a hotel. All of this was to help create a place for rest, relaxation, and a center for Spiritualist practice. 

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In Spring of 2021, my Museums and Audiences class partnered with Historic Camp Chesterfield in order to create evaluation plans for different parts of their site in order to see if they are meeting their mission. My group oversaw the evaluation of Camp Chesterfield's religious services and sought to understand who is coming to their services, attendee motivations, and to understand what the benefits are of being a Member in the Indiana Association of Spiritualists.