Florence Huntley

Died 1912

Florence Huntley was an American journalist and humorist who became a central writer and editor in the School of Natural Science associated with John Emmett Richardson. Her career ranged from political correspondence and comic fiction to the philosophy of individual development. In The Great Psychological Crime, her contribution is explicitly editorial: she helped bring the volume into print and connect it with the wider Harmonic Series.

Journalism, humour and earning a living

Born Florence Chance in Ohio, Huntley graduated from the Methodist Female College at Delaware. Accounts disagree about her birth year, variously giving dates in the 1850s or 1861. Her early professional life is more clearly documented. In 1879 she married Stanley Huntley at Bismarck in Dakota Territory, where he edited the Tribune. The couple returned east the following year.

Stanley became known for his comic sketches about Mr. and Mrs. Spoopendyke in the Brooklyn Eagle. Florence suggested subjects and supplied newspaper copy when illness prevented him from working. In the account she gave to A Woman of the Century, she identified one Spoopendyke sketch as her own, along with other humorous writing and instalments of a serial. The pressure of bills and unfinished commissions had pushed her to take up the work herself.

After Stanley’s death in 1885, Huntley pursued an independent newspaper career. She reported politics from Dakota Territory for the Minneapolis Tribune, then worked on its editorial staff. At the Washington Post she managed a women’s page and contributed editorial and humorous paragraphs. Political correspondence for the Hutchinson News and writing for other papers extended a career that combined serious public affairs with comic observation.

The Harmonic Series and a continuing sense of humour

Huntley’s interests increasingly turned toward the esoteric philosophy developed with John Emmett Richardson, who wrote as TK. Her novel The Dream Child appeared in 1892, and Harmonics of Evolution followed in 1897 as the opening volume of the Harmonic Series. The project sought to present spiritual development through the language of natural law, individual responsibility and disciplined study.

Books and contributions

1 work in the current library

The Great Psychological Crime

John Emmett Richardson; edited by Florence Huntley

Consciousness & Psychic Phenomena

Sources and further reading

Her change of direction did not erase her humour. The Gay Gnani of Gingalee, published in 1908, satirizes the entanglement of mysticism and modern science. In its prelude she recalls leaving newspaper work for instruction in the School of Natural Science while retaining her enjoyment of nonsense and literary parody. She also identifies an interlude contributed by TK, making the division of work within that book explicit.

Huntley married Richardson in 1910. She also guided women students within the movement, a responsibility acknowledged in his memorial notice after her death on 1 February 1912. The notice describes the interruption of the women’s department that followed her loss. Its spiritual interpretation of her death expresses the convictions of those writing it; the practical account nevertheless shows how much of the movement’s teaching and correspondence had depended on her.

Her editorial role in The Great Psychological Crime

The held Chicago edition of The Great Psychological Crime was issued by the Indo-American Book Company in 1903. Its title page names Huntley as editor and identifies the work as the second volume of the Harmonic Series. The subtitle, The Destructive Principle of Nature in Individual Life, states the concern that connects its three parts: hypnotism, spiritual mediumship and retributive justice.

The volume argues that surrendering individual control to another person, or to a supposed spirit intelligence, damages the soul’s development. It treats self-command as a moral necessity and presents its conclusions as the knowledge of a spiritual school. These are the book’s historical claims, rather than findings established by the fact that it calls itself scientific.

Huntley’s postscript explains the publishing project in her own voice. She presents the series as a bridge between spiritual teaching and physical science, but distinguishes a shared literary undertaking from coauthorship of each volume. For this book, she describes her task as handling publication details and maintaining continuity between the published volumes. That statement gives her a definite place in its history while preserving Richardson’s authorship.