Bowdoin Professor Briefel Launches Ghosts and Things at Hawthorne-Longfellow Library

Aviva Briefel, Bowdoin College professor of English and Cinema Studies, presented her new book Ghosts and Things: The Material Culture of Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism at the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library in Brunswick on Jan. 23, 2026. The public launch drew students and community members for a conversation about how 19th-century spiritualist practices relied on physical media, objects, and performance to communicate with the dead and shape social meaning.

Briefel laid out an archival argument that spiritualist encounters were not purely ethereal experiences but were mediated through material culture - séance props, letters, printed ephemera, and staged demonstrations - which in turn structured public belief and private grieving. A colleague joined the conversation to probe connections between performance studies and social history, and Briefel described the archival research that underpins the book’s assertions about how objects circulated in communities and configured relations of trust and authority.

For Brunswick and Sagadahoc County, the event reinforced the role of the Hawthorne-Longfellow Library as a civic forum where academic inquiry meets community needs. The turnout of Bowdoin students alongside longtime residents highlighted the library’s role in intergenerational exchange and informal learning. Local libraries hosting events that engage archival materials and social history can strengthen neighborhood social infrastructure by providing accessible spaces for collective reflection on loss, ritual, and belonging.

Public health and social equity implications of Briefel’s work were evident in the conversation’s focus on bereavement practices and communal coping. Understanding how past communities used objects and performance to process death offers contemporary relevance for mental health providers, social workers, and civic organizers who seek culturally grounded approaches to grief support. The book’s archival emphasis also raises questions about who has access to historical materials and which narratives have been preserved - issues that affect representation and equity in regional memory and heritage work.

The launch added to Brunswick’s cultural calendar and underscored the value of partnerships between higher education and public institutions. For students, archivists, and local historians, Briefel’s project models how scholarly research can be shared with the public in ways that invite dialogue rather than distance. For library staff and municipal leaders, the event is a reminder that investment in programming and archival access supports both cultural vitality and community well-being.

The conversation at Hawthorne-Longfellow left attendees with a sharper sense of how objects carry history and how public spaces in Brunswick can host conversations about loss, memory, and civic life. As local programming continues this winter, residents can expect more events that bridge Bowdoin scholarship and community concerns about history, health, and social equity.