1925-1983; bulk: 1938-1956
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The Leslie Shah Qualls papers are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
Abstract
The papers of Leslie Shah Qualls mainly consist of her spiritual writings. They include lectures from her guide Arlo and sessions with Arlo through psychic connection. Also included are personal papers, diaries, audio recordings of spiritualist group sessions, and some writings of her husband Rev. Alfred Lawrence Qualls.
Biographical Sketch
Leslie Shah Qualls was born Leslie Sears Tolman on 24 November 1903 to Dr. Henry Everett Tolman (1879-1954) and Jessie Stuart Carter Tolman (1880-1971) of Salem, Massachusetts. In 1932, she married Khawja Mahmoud Shah (1907-1972), a psychology teacher from India. She married again in 1956 to Rev. Alfred Lawrence Qualls (1925-1986), son of Samuel William Qualls and Myrtle Irene Harvey Qualls of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Qualls was a spiritualist who engaged in psychic readings and mediumship. She often spoke, through psychic connection, with her guide Arlomoranno or Arlo. Arlo would provide knowledge to Qualls about the nature of souls, emotions, psychic ability, and the spiritual world, among many other topics. These often drew on Judeo-Christian and Eastern religion, spiritualism, and philosophy. She was possibly influenced by her mother's family's participation in the Swedenborgian religion. In her sessions with Arlo, Qualls would ask about her own psychic ability and mediumship development and her understanding of connections to the spiritual world, as well as questions about people in her life. Leslie Shah Qualls died 11 November 1989.
Collection Description
The Leslie Shah Qualls papers consist of one carton of handwritten and typed material. The collection mostly pertains to spiritualist writings surrounding her psychic abilities and mediumship and includes personal papers consisting mainly of copies of vital records, correspondence, scrapbook pages, and printed material; diaries (1925, 1927); lectures from Qualls's spiritual guide Arlo on a range of topics that draw from Judeo-Christian and Eastern traditions; transcripts of sessions between Qualls and Arlo; and notes on various topics written by Qualls, including in-person classes given by cult leader Krishna Venta (1947). Also included are audio recordings of spiritualist group sessions led by Arlo.
Acquisition Information
Gift of David Gowler, in memory of Esther Peterson O'Brien, June 2021.
Restrictions on Access
The Leslie Shah Qualls papers are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Personal papers, 1953-1983
Arranged chronologically.
This series contains Alfred Lawrence Qualls's certificate of ordination for the First Spiritual Alliance Church in Boston, copies of Leslie Shah Qualls's birth record, a handwritten draft of The Laughing Cat: Witches' Monthly Periodical (April 1969), a letter written by Qualls in 1983 seeking legal advice and representation regarding a financial dispute with members of the Jessie S. Tolman Trust, and an edition of The Neighborhood Associate. Also included are photocopies of a photograph of Qualls and 2 pages from a scrapbook with photographs of Qualls and Alfred Lawrence Qualls.
II. Diaries, 1925-1927
Arranged chronologically.
The diaries of Leslie Shah Qualls detail her daily life, family and friends, social activities, personal thoughts, painting, writing, school life at Mount Ida College, her brief work as a crafts teacher at Beverly Hospital, and her growing interest in developing her psychic abilities and mediumship. She also writes in detail about her clothing and costumes she created.
1925
1927
III. Spiritualist writings,1938-1956
Arranged chronologically and alphabetically.
Arlo's lectures, 1938-1956
This subseries contains lectures from Leslie Shah Qualls's guide Arlomoranno, or "Arlo." They consist of information given to Qualls from Arlo through a psychic connection. A range of topics are covered that pull from Judeo-Christian and Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophical traditions. Recurring themes discussed include the nature of souls, meditation, emotions, forms of magic, the spiritual spheres/centers, the silver cord, soul vibrations, spiritual electricity, and the etheric web. Included are some transcriptions of psychic readings and medium sessions mainly between Qualls and Arlo, diagrams of spiritual centers and the etheric web, and a few songs, poems, and sermons by Rev. Alfred Lawrence Qualls.
Disbound notebook, 4 January 1938
Disbound notebook, 14 February 1940
Disbound notebook, 3 December 1940
1941
30 March 1941
6 April 1941
20 April 1941
27 April 1941
15 February-14 June 1954
Disbound notebook, 27 May-9 September 1956
Undated
"Fire Magic", 12 October-5 November 1948
"The Centers and the Part the Silver Cord Plays," undated
"Spiritual Centers," undated
"Treatise for Initiate Psychiatrist," undated
"The Three Principles of Life," undated
Sessions with Arlo, 1940-1954
Arranged chronologically.
This subseries consists of transcripts of sessions between Leslie Shah Qualls and her guide Arlo. The two speak through a psychic connection with Qualls writing what is said. Discussions include Qualls asking questions about her life in a larger spiritual sense and questions about people she knows, and Arlo providing information on various topics that were then collected into their lectures.
Disbound notebook, 3 January 1940
19 February-5 May 1940
6 January-26 June 1941
October 1941-October 1942
23 November 1941-29 July 1942
14 February-22 March 1947
14 December 1952-30 May 1953
Disbound notebook, 29 November 1953-7 March 1954
Disbound notebook, 12 March-7 May 1954
Notes, 1941-1947
Arranged chronologically.
This subseries includes various notes written by Leslie Shah Qualls. They relate to some of the topics discussed in Arlo's lectures. Also included are notes on hand gestures or mudras, yoga poses, recipes, and in-person classes Qualls attended given by cult leader Krishna Venta in 1947. Some notes may have been written by Esther Peterson O'Brien.
"Dream of Conversation between Mother, Granny, and I," 1 December 1941
June-July 1947
Undated
IV. Spiritualist session recordings, 1955, undatedDigital Content
Arranged chronologically.
This series contains audio recordings of spiritualist sessions led by Leslie Shah Qualls and her spirit guide Arlo. Recurring themes include the nature of souls, meditation, emotions, forms of magic, the spiritual spheres/centers, the silver cord, soul vibrations, spiritual electricity, and the etheric web.
Spiritualist Group Session 01, 14-22 March 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:04:43.Spiritualist Group Session 02- Side 1, 26 April-3 May 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:08:18.Spiritualist Group Session 02- Side 2, 26 April-3 May 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:02:21.Spiritualist Group Session 03- Side 1, 10-17 May 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:57:47.Spiritualist Group Session 03- Side 2, 10-17 May 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:58:52.Spiritualist Group Session 04- Side 1, 27 June 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:45:14.Spiritualist Group Session 04- Side 2, 27 June 1955
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:45:10.Spiritualist Group Session 05- Side 1, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:54:34.Spiritualist Group Session 05- Side 2, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:00:34.Spiritualist Group Session 06- Side 1, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:35:35.Spiritualist Group Session 06- Side 2, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:37:17.Spiritualist Group Session 07- Side 1, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:27:00.Spiritualist Group Session 07- Side 2, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:06:24.Spiritualist Group Session 10, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 00:05:49.Spiritualist Group Session 11- Side 1, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:35:28.Spiritualist Group Session 11- Side 2, undated
Open-reel audiotape, running time: 01:32:45.Preferred Citation
Leslie Shah Qualls papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Organizations:
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Materials Removed from the Collection
Photographs from this collection have been removed to the MHS Photo Archives.