* 17th Century New England *

Content at this Site

A Guide to the On-Line Primary Sources of The Salem Witch Trials by Margo Burns

This website is designed to make it easy to access primary source materials of the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, including digital images of the manuscripts, cross-referenced with transcription entries in Rosenthal's Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (2009), Boyer & Nissenbaum's Salem Witchcraft Papers (1977), Woodward's Records of Salem Witchcraft (1864), Levin's What Happened in Salem? 2nd ed. (1960), and Godbeer's The Salem Witch Hunt (2011).

People Accused of Witchcraft in 1692 List of the accused with links to the primary sources in their cases.

Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction (or Picky, Picky, Picky...), an essay discussing the historical inaccuracies of the play and screenplay, by Margo Burns
My FAQ

Other

Various video documentaries about the Salem witchcraft trials.

Using Primary Sources

Helpful guides for using original items produced at the time of an event.

The Library of Congess

Teacher's Guide to Analyzing Primary Sources:
     http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Primary_Sources.pdf
Teacher's Guide to Analyzing Manuscripts:
     http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Manuscripts.pdf
Teacher's Guide to Analyzing Books and Other Printed Texts:
     http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resources/Analyzing_Books_and_Other_Printed_Texts.pdf

Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association

Using Primary Sources on the Web:
     http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/resources/primarysources

Paleography - The Study of Old Handwriting

To decipher the handwriting in primary source manuscripts in English, you may want to get some help at the following interactive tutorials.

National Archives (UK): Reading Old Handwriting, 1500-1800, Interactive Palaeography Tutorial
Home Page: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/

Interactive Tutorial: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/tutorial/
Game: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/palaeography/game/

Cambridge University: English Handwriting 1500-1700, An Online Course
Home Page: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/
Transcription Conventions: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/conventions.html
Sample Transcriptions, with Lessons: http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/ceres/ehoc/samples.html

Website Information

This site is maintained by Margo Burns, Associate Editor and Project Manager of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt. Please let me know if there's something you can't find or that I've missed, or just to convey your appreciation: margoburns@gmail.com

Note: This site used to include numerous links to a variety of sites with content about 17th-century New England, but there were so many links that broke and too many changes to websites listed that it became impossible to keep up properly, and so has been retired, with the exception of the links above, to stable sites.