Primary Sources
Cotton Mather’s account of the Salem witch trials, 1693
www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/cotton-mathers-account-salem-witch-trials-1693 These primary sources of the Salem Witch Trials offer a wealth of information on these infamous trials. The sources include official court records as well as several books, diaries and letters written by the various people involved in the trials. Many of these primary sources were published in the latter half of 1692, while the trials were still going on. historyofmassachusetts.org/salem-witch-trials-primary-sources/ |
Secondary Works
Religion and Witchcraft in Colonial America
In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 (Mary Beth Norton lecture)
www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/videos/devil%E2%80%99s-snare-salem-witchcraft-crisis-1692
Lesson
Students are often captivated by the story of the Salem witch trials. But do they understand the deeper causes of the crisis? And do they see what the crisis reveals about life in Massachusetts at the end of the 17th century? In this lesson, students use four historical sources to build a more textured understanding of both the causes and historical context of these dramatic events.
sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/salem-witch-trials
sheg.stanford.edu/history-lessons/salem-witch-trials