Dr. Nick Richbell

Archivist and Historian

Dr. Nick Richbell recently received his PhD in History from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. His area of research is the history of Spiritualism, and his doctoral dissertation is a biographical history about the medium Maurice Barbanell and his guide, Silver Birch. The teachings of Silver Birch are still talked about in Spiritualist churches today, however, Maurice Barbanell’s name is rarely mentioned. Barbanell spent 61-years dedicated to Spiritualism and Dr. Richbell’s research has started to correct this omission and put’s Barbanell back into the historical discourse about him being the twentieth-century’s leading propagandist of the religion and movement.

Nick has long believed that there is more to life than an earthly existence. However, it was not until he started work as the Head of Special Collections and Archives at the University of Waterloo Library that he started to further consider the afterlife. The archives had two séance related collections. The Maines-Pincock Family collection holds records of seances conducted by the American medium William Cartheuser in the private home of Jenny O’Hara Pincock in St. Catharines, Ontario. Another collection, the Thomas Lacey Lecture collection contains over 400 lectures given by Lacey while in trance. Nick was able to bring in a new Lacey collection during his tenure at Waterloo: the Thomas Lacey séance collection: over 100 reel-to-reel tapes from the 1960s of recordings of seances conducted by Lacey in a Kitchener, Ontario home. Nick is fascinated by the people in Spiritualism, and he began a journey, that continues today, to learn more about the British-born medium, Thomas Lacey. He is often invited to give talks about his research about this magnificent collection. Nick was the research associate on the audio-documentary, The Ghost of Thomas Lacey, produced by Anthroscope Media.

A Spiritualist himself, Nick fully subscribes to the Spiritualist belief that you should question what you read or hear and set aside that which does resonate with you.

Originally from London, England, Nick is currently the Head of Special Collections and Archives at Clemson University in South Carolina. Prior to moving to South Carolina, Nick oversaw the Special Collections and Archives department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He also managed the archives of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Montreal and worked at the McGill University Archives as well as the McGill University Health Centre.