Thank you for visiting NewThoughtHistory.org.
NewThoughtHistory.org is an independent historical reference project dedicated to documenting the people, organizations, publications, ideas, and events that shaped the New Thought movement.
Questions, corrections, research suggestions, and information about historical sources are welcome.
General Questions
For general questions about NewThoughtHistory.org, its content, or the project, please use the contact form below.
Before contacting us about a historical subject, please check the relevant article and its references. Many questions can be investigated further through the primary sources, books, archives, and scholarly materials cited there.
Report a Historical Error
Historical accuracy is one of the project’s primary goals.
If you find a possible error involving a:
- date;
- name;
- biography;
- quotation;
- book;
- publication;
- organization;
- historical event;
- teacher-student relationship;
- image;
- citation;
- or other factual claim,
please let us know.
A useful correction includes:
Page:
The title or URL of the article.
Current statement:
The specific information you believe is incorrect.
Suggested correction:
What you believe the information should say.
Evidence:
A primary source, archival record, scholarly publication, library catalog, historical newspaper, or another verifiable source supporting the correction.
You do not need to be an academic historian to submit a correction.
Evidence matters more than credentials.
Please see our Corrections Policy for information about how correction requests are evaluated.
Submit a Historical Source
New Thought history survives across thousands of books, magazines, newspapers, letters, photographs, organizational records, and archival collections.
Some sources remain difficult to discover.
If you know of material that could improve NewThoughtHistory.org, we welcome research leads.
Useful submissions may include:
- historical books;
- New Thought periodicals;
- letters;
- diaries;
- manuscripts;
- photographs;
- newspaper articles;
- advertisements;
- conference programs;
- organizational records;
- church histories;
- pamphlets;
- directories;
- unpublished papers;
- library collections;
- archival finding aids;
- and digitized primary sources.
Whenever possible, include information about where the material came from.
Useful details include:
Creator or author
Title or description
Date
Publication
Archive or library
Collection
Box, folder, or item number
Stable source URL
Rights or licensing information, if known
A link to an identifiable library or archival record is generally more useful than an unattributed copy circulating online.
Family Papers and Private Collections
Are you a descendant of someone involved in the New Thought movement?
Do you have historical letters, photographs, books, diaries, conference programs, or other materials relating to a New Thought teacher, minister, organization, publisher, or community?
We would be interested in hearing about them.
Privately held materials can sometimes preserve information that does not survive in institutional archives.
When contacting us, please explain:
- who or what the material relates to;
- approximately when it was created;
- how it came into your possession;
- what type of material it is;
- and whether you know of any restrictions on its use.
Please do not send irreplaceable original documents through the mail unless arrangements have specifically been made with an appropriate archival institution.
NewThoughtHistory.org is primarily a historical reference project, not a physical archival repository.
Historical Photographs
Photographs are particularly valuable for documenting New Thought history.
We welcome information that can help identify:
- historical figures;
- ministers;
- teachers;
- churches;
- conferences;
- publishing offices;
- headquarters;
- study groups;
- organizations;
- and other historical subjects.
If you believe an image on NewThoughtHistory.org has been incorrectly identified, please provide:
the page where the image appears,
the current caption,
the proposed identification,
and
the evidence supporting the correction.
Whenever possible, include a link to the original library, archive, museum, publication, or collection.
See our Image Credits page for additional information about image sourcing and attribution.
Image Attribution and Rights
If you are a photographer, artist, archive, institution, copyright holder, or other rights holder and believe an image has been incorrectly attributed or used under an incorrect rights designation, please contact us.
Include:
- the page URL;
- identification of the image;
- the nature of your concern;
- your relationship to the work;
- the correct attribution, if applicable;
- and supporting documentation where available.
Credible attribution and rights concerns will be reviewed.
Quotation Corrections
Misattributed quotations are common in religious and philosophical history.
If NewThoughtHistory.org attributes a quotation incorrectly, we want to know.
The most useful evidence is an identifiable original source such as:
- a book;
- letter;
- sermon;
- lecture transcript;
- historical periodical;
- manuscript;
- or archival record.
Please include the edition, publication date, and page number when available.
A modern quotation website repeating an attribution is generally less useful than the historical source from which the quotation originated.
Book and Publication Information
If you have information about an overlooked New Thought book, magazine, pamphlet, or other publication, please send the bibliographic details.
Helpful information includes:
Author
Title
Publisher
Place of publication
Publication date
Edition
Volume/issue
Library catalog record
Digitized copy
Historical publishing information is particularly useful when it helps establish chronology or relationships between writers and organizations.
Research Suggestions
Suggestions for subjects that deserve additional research are welcome.
These might include:
- overlooked New Thought figures;
- women in New Thought history;
- early mental-healing teachers;
- historical churches;
- publishers;
- periodicals;
- local New Thought communities;
- conferences;
- organizations;
- important books;
- international New Thought history;
- or connections between people and institutions.
A topic suggestion is particularly useful when accompanied by reliable sources.
Publication decisions ultimately depend on historical significance, available evidence, and the project’s editorial priorities rather than search popularity alone.
Researchers, Librarians, and Archivists
NewThoughtHistory.org welcomes communication from historians, religious-studies researchers, librarians, archivists, museum professionals, graduate students, and others working with New Thought-related collections.
Please contact us if you know of:
- newly digitized collections;
- uncataloged or little-known archival holdings;
- relevant finding aids;
- newly published scholarship;
- primary-source collections;
- digitization projects;
- or significant corrections to existing historical literature.
One of the project’s long-term goals is to make reliable New Thought primary sources easier for general readers to discover.
New Thought Organizations
Churches, associations, schools, archives, and other New Thought organizations are welcome to contact us regarding historical information.
Organizations can provide valuable access to institutional records and historical knowledge.
However, NewThoughtHistory.org remains an independent historical reference.
Requests to alter historical content are evaluated according to the same evidence standards applied to other correction requests.
Organizational preference alone does not determine the historical record.
What We Cannot Provide
NewThoughtHistory.org is a historical reference project.
We cannot provide individualized:
- medical advice;
- mental-health advice;
- spiritual counseling;
- prayer counseling;
- legal advice;
- financial advice;
- diagnosis;
- or treatment recommendations.
Questions about personal health should be directed to an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
Questions about personal religious practice are better directed to an appropriate religious or spiritual community.
Our coverage of mental healing, prayer, affirmation, and related practices is intended to document their historical role in New Thought.
We Cannot Identify Every Historical Person
We are happy to receive identification evidence, but we cannot guarantee that we can identify unknown people in historical photographs, letters, or family records.
Historical identification requires evidence.
A resemblance to a known historical figure is not enough by itself to establish identity.
Where identification remains uncertain, uncertainty should remain visible.
Academic Assignments
Students are welcome to use NewThoughtHistory.org as a starting point for research.
However, we cannot complete assignments or provide individualized academic supervision through the contact form.
Students are encouraged to follow the references in our articles to primary sources, scholarly books, journals, archives, and library collections.
Whenever possible, cite the underlying historical source rather than relying exclusively on a summary.
Permissions
If you wish to reproduce original material created specifically for NewThoughtHistory.org, please identify:
- the material;
- the page URL;
- how you intend to use it;
- whether the use is commercial or noncommercial;
- and where it will appear.
Please note that NewThoughtHistory.org cannot grant permission for material owned by third parties.
Historical photographs, archival documents, Creative Commons material, book images, and other third-party content may be subject to separate rights or licensing terms.
Consult the credit associated with the specific item.
Guest Posts and Promotional Requests
NewThoughtHistory.org prioritizes historically useful, evidence-based material.
Unsolicited promotional articles, paid-link requests, generic guest posts, and mass-produced SEO content may not receive a response.
Commercial payment does not determine historical coverage or editorial conclusions.
Research contributions supported by useful historical evidence may be considered separately from promotional requests.
Advertising and Partnerships
For legitimate advertising, sponsorship, licensing, or partnership inquiries, use the contact form and clearly identify the nature of your request.
Commercial relationships do not provide editorial control over historical articles.
Sponsored or commercial material should remain distinguishable from independent historical research.
Response Times
Messages are reviewed as time and research priorities allow.
A response is not guaranteed.
Research-intensive requests may take longer because historical claims often require comparison of multiple sources.
Sending repeated copies of the same message will not necessarily produce a faster response.
Privacy
Please do not submit sensitive personal information through the contact form unless it is genuinely necessary.
Information submitted through the website may be processed for the purpose of responding to your inquiry, investigating a correction, evaluating a historical source, or addressing another legitimate request.
For additional information about how personal information is handled, please consult our Privacy Policy.
Before You Send a Correction
The most useful correction messages follow a simple formula:
Claim → Evidence → Correction
For example:
Claim:
The article states that a book was first published in 1902.
Evidence:
The first-edition title page and library catalog identify the publication date as 1901.
Correction:
Change the first-publication date from 1902 to 1901.
This format helps us investigate efficiently.
Contact NewThoughtHistory.org
General inquiries:
[Insert Email Address]
Historical corrections:
[Insert Email Address or Contact Form]
Source and archive submissions:
[Insert Email Address or Contact Form]
Image and rights concerns:
[Insert Email Address or Contact Form]
Or use the contact form on this page.
Please replace these placeholders with the project’s actual contact details before publication.
Help Improve the Historical Record
New Thought history is distributed across institutional archives, university libraries, old periodicals, digitized books, newspapers, private collections, organizational records, and family papers.
No single website contains all of it.
If you discover a source that clarifies a date, identifies a forgotten participant, corrects a quotation, documents an organization, or challenges an established historical narrative, that evidence may help improve NewThoughtHistory.org.
The most valuable contribution is not simply:
“I think this is wrong.”
It is:
“Here is the evidence that allows us to investigate it.”
That is how a historical reference becomes more accurate over time.