Complete biographical information about Melvina E. Hostak is not available. However, it is known that she was a leader among Wisconsin spiritualists during the first half of the twentieth century. Born Melvina E. Taylor, she married Frank Hostak in 1933 and Jerry Kraus in 1949.
Hostak became active in spiritualist organizations through her involvement with the Morris Pratt Institute of Spiritualism. Founded in 1903 in Whitewater, Wisconsin, the institute's purpose included the teaching, preaching, and promulgation of the doctrine of spiritualism. Its one brick building housed dormitories, class rooms, and a seance assembly hall. Diplomas were granted, and in 1921 the school had twenty-one students. During the Depression the school closed for a period of three years due to financial hardship, but it reopened in 1935. During the late 1940's the institute relocated in Milwaukee.
Hostak occupied various positions at Morris Pratt Institute. She was a teacher and a member of its board of trustees, and she served as secretary and treasurer from about 1928 to 1931. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Hostak was also active with the Spiritualists' Progressive Lyceum, and she worked closely with Anna Wallace, superintendent of the National Spiritualist Association's Bureau of Lyceums, in the editing and distribution of lyceum materials. Following the death of her husband Frank in 1946 she succeeded him as president of the Western Wisconsin Camp Association. This camp in Wonewoc, Wisconsin had been established in 1901 as a summer retreat for the study of spiritualism.
Hostak continued to expand her involvement in spiritualist organizations, and she became an ordained spiritualist minister. By 1948 she was noted as a teacher, mental medium, lecturer, and lyceum leader. She was also the pastor of the Kraft Memorial Spiritualist Center, Milwaukee, and served as vice president of the Wisconsin State Spiritualist Association, an affiliate of the National Spiritualist Association.
