LibGuides: Historical Immersion (Yale-NUS College): The Witchcraft Trials of Colonial New England

Welcome

This guide is designed to suggest useful sources in your learning and research in the Historical Immersion course, "The Witchcraft trials of Colonial New England". Click on the tabs to explore relevant books, primary sources, journal articles, and databases. The largest digitization project, "Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive & Transcription Project" at the University of Virginia is the major source of digitized primary source material on this subject.

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Abagail Williams

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Suggested sources

This is a list of some of the books available on or about the Salem witchcraft trials. See the suggested search terms on the left to search for more sources.

New England's Crises and Cultural Memory by John McWilliams
ISBN: 9780521826839
Publication Date: 2004-07-22
McWilliams presents a study of New England through its crises including starvation, the Indian wars, the Salem witch trials, the revolution of 1775–76 and slavery. This book explores the history, literature, politics and religion of New England.
Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England by David D. Hall (Editor)
ISBN: 9780822336136
Publication Date: 2005-02-04
Hall illuminates the history of witchcraft and witch-hunting in seventeenth-century New England in this book.
The Witch in History by Diane Purkiss
ISBN: 0415087627
Publication Date: 1996-10-14
Purkiss investigates witches in history and culture from different perspectives.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller; Christopher W. E. Bigsby (Introduction by)
ISBN: 9780142437339
Publication Date: 2003-03-25
Arthur Miller's 1953 play is an examination of groupthink and mass hysteria. "I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote in the introduction to this play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts.
Salem Possessed by Paul Boyer; Stephen Nissenbaum
ISBN: 0674785266
Publication Date: 1976-01-01
"Salem Possessed explores the lives of the men and women who helped spin that web and who in the end found themselves entagled in it."
Public Choice Economics and the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria by Franklin G. Mixon
ISBN: 1137506342
Publication Date: 2015-01-13
This book explores the Salem witchcraft trials from an economics perspectives and adds to the growing body of scholarship that approaches historical events with economic tools.
Witch Hunts: From Salem to Guantanamo Bay by Robert Rapley
ISBN: 0773531866
Publication Date: 2007-02-09
Rapley studies three historical witch-hunts (in Bamberg and Wurzburg, Germany, in Loudun, France, and in Salem, Massachusetts) and draws parallels to the current hunt for terrorists and contemporary miscarriages of justice.
Lois the Witch by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell; Jenny Uglow (Foreword by)
ISBN: 1843910497
Publication Date: 2003-05-01
This novella is set in colonial New England at the time of the Salem witch trials.
The Enemy Within by John Demos
ISBN: 9780670019991
Publication Date: 2008-10-02
This novel explores the social, cultural, and psychological roots of witch-hunting.
Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem by Elaine G. Breslaw
ISBN: 0814712274
Publication Date: 1995-12-01
This book claims to have rediscovered Tituba, the mysterious and mythologized woman accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692.
Satan and Salem by Benjamin C. Ray
ISBN: 9780813937083
Publication Date: 2015-05-29
Ray explores multiple interpretations and a nuanced view of why the Salem witch-hunt spiraled out of control. The book explores court records, documents, and maps, providing analysis of the geographic spread of accusations and trials.
A Fever in Salem by Laurie Winn Carlson
ISBN: 1566633397
Winn Carlson focuses on the afflicted rather than the accused. This book compares the symptoms recorded in colonial diaries and court records to those of the encephalitis epidemic in the early twentieth century and argues that the victims suffered from the same disease. This book employs historical epidemiology and sociology.
The Specter of Salem by Gretchen A. Adams
ISBN: 9780226005423
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
This book explores the effect of the Salem witch-trials on the collective memory of the United States.
A Delusion of Satan by Frances Hill
ISBN: 0385472552
Publication Date: 1995-10-01
This book approaches the Salem witch-trials from a psychological perspective and seeks to explain the origins of witch-hunting with new psychological analysis.
In the Devil's Snare by Mary Beth Norton
ISBN: 9780375407093
Publication Date: 2002-09-10
The historian Mary Beth Norton gives a unique account of the events of the Salem witchcraft trials from the perspective of those who lived through the frenzy.
Judge Sewall's Apology by Richard Francis
ISBN: 0007163622
Publication Date: 2005-08-09
Biographer and novelist Richard Francis looks at the witchcraft trials through the personal story of Samuel Sewall.
Six Women of Salem by Marilynne K. Roach
ISBN: 9780306822346
Publication Date: 2013-09-03
A narrative that allows readers to experience the history of the Salem witch trials through six specific women.
Escaping Salem by Richard Godbeer
ISBN: 9780195161304
Publication Date: 2005-01-06
Escaping Salem reconstructs the "other witch hunt" of 1692 that took place in Stamford, Connecticut.
Spellbound by Elizabeth Reis (Editor); Kriste Lindenmeyer (Contribution by); Diane L. Murphy (Contribution by)
ISBN: 0842025774
Publication Date: 1998-06-01
Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America is a collection of twelve articles that revisit crucial events in the history of witchcraft and spiritual feminism in the US.
The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L. Starkey
ISBN: 0385035098
Publication Date: 1969-08-05
This historical narrative of the Salem witch trials takes its dialogue from actual trial records but applies psychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria.

The online portal,"Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive & Transcription Project" is a rich resource for primary sources on or about the Salem witchcraft trials. Below are two specific components of the portal which might be of use.

Documents & Transcriptions, The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project (University of Virginia)
The Salem Witchcraft Papers are a collection of verbatim transcriptions of the court records, originally published by De Capo Press (Eds. Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum). They are available online as part of the University of Virginia's documentary archive and transcription project.
Histrorical Maps, The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project (University of Virginia)
These maps are part of the University of Virginia's documentary archive and transcription project. It includes maps of Salem as well as 'accusation maps'.

This is a short list of relevant journal articles. Use the databases tab to search for more articles using keywords. Consider using the bibliographies and notes from relevant books and articles to discover more related journal articles.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is an online platform with access to academic journals, books, and primary sources. It will be especially useful in your secondary source research; JSTOR provides full text access to the archives of several thousand journal titles.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Project Muse is a a database which provides access to full text articles from leading Social Science and Humanities journals as well as e-books. This is an excellent source to search for secondary sources specific to the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts is an index available on the EBSCOhost platform. As an index it aims to provide comprehensive bibliographic information on History scholarship. While not all titles in this index are immediately available in full text, Historical Abstracts is an excellent tool for discovery when, for example, conducting a literature review. Contact the Library to get help accessing the full text of items found in an index.
Early English Books Online
Early English Books Online is a web-based e-book database providing scanned microfilm images of over 125,000 early English publications in the areas of English literature, linguistics, history, religion,music, arts, physical science and women's studies, published from 1475 to 1700
America: History & Life
This index on the history and culture of the United States and Canada includes selective indexing of over a thousand journals dating back over 55 years.

Good Wives
ISBN: 0195033604
Publication Date: 1983-09-08
This book examines the lives of women in New England from 1650-1750.
Governing the Tongue by Jane Kamensky
ISBN: 0195130901
Publication Date: 1999-02-18
Governing the Tongue explains why the spoken word assumed such importance in the culture of early New England. This book explores 'disorderly speech' and discusses curses and spells.
A Little Commonwealth by John Putnam Demos
ISBN: 9780195128901
Publication Date: 1999-09-09
This book explores family in the context of the colony founded by the Mayflower Pilgrims.
The Times of Their Lives by James Deetz; Patricia Scott Deetz
ISBN: 9780716738305
Publication Date: 2000-09-15
This book looks at the community life of Plymouth Colony pilgrims and includes a chapter on witchcraft.
Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment by David D. Hall
ISBN: 0674962168
Publication Date: 1990-10-01
This book looks at people of early New England and their spiritual lives. It explores the religious culture of colonial New England.