The Salem witch trials of 1692 are a fascinating and complex event in American history. This page has been created to assist educators as they incorporate this important subject into their curriculum.

Our FAQ page has been developed to answer commonly asked questions related to this topic.

Our Student Question Video Series also addresses many of these questions, and includes short videos for younger audiences, as well as longer videos about twentieth century witch hunts for older learners.

Check out our Recommended Reading list for suggestions of books about the Salem witch trials, witch trials in New England, European witch trials, and for young readers.

This overview of the existing Salem Witch Trials Primary Sources describes the various surviving records of the witchcraft trials and provides links to digital transcriptions.

We offer virtual programming for students from elementary through university level. Current programs include; The Salem Witch Trials (grades 6-12); The Crucible Fact vs. Fiction (grades 9-12); Life in Colonial New England (grades 3-7); Witches: Evolving Perceptions (grades 9-12); The Salem Witch Trials and Public Memory (grades 9-12); The Salem Witch Trials and Seventeenth-Century Law (grade 12 and university courses).

Each year our Department of Education offers virtual lectures covering a variety of subjects. Past lectures include: “Learning from our Mistakes: Researching the Salem Witch Trials”; “Race and the Salem Witch Trials”; “Hidden History: Japanese Internment and Other Asian American Witch Hunts”; “‘Crazed in her Understanding:’ Women’s Woes During the Salem Witch Trials,” “Beyond Salem: The Witch Trials in Torsåker Sweden”; and more!

Our Witch Trials Online Sites Tour allows you to view sites related to the 1692 Salem witch trials in Essex and Middlesex counties, plus the greater Boston area. Select a town or city to learn about relevant locations and view pictures. Included are original houses, foundations, grave sites, historical markers, and approximate locations of homes that are no longer standing.

 

Lesson Plans

Elementary

Life in Colonial New England Make Your Own Fabric Doll Activity

Life in Colonial New England Make Your Own Hand Loom

Colonist Coloring Sheet

 

Middle School

Salem Witch Trials Creative Writing Lesson Plan

 

High School

Salem Witch Trials Primary Sources Lesson Plan

Historiography Lesson Plan

Arthur Miller and House Un-American Activities Committee Lesson Plan

 

Archival Resources

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project

This is an exceptional online resource containing primary source and secondary source materials related to the Salem witch trials. If you would like to view images of the original court documents from the Salem witch trials, this website has a selection of many of the digitized records.

Danvers Archival Center

The Danvers Archival Center houses a rich collection of objects, including several items related to the Salem witch trials. In 1692, what is now the town of Danvers was known as Salem Village. The first afflictions, witchcraft accusations, and examinations took place in this area. This website contains a lot of great information, including an “Ask the Archivist” FAQ, information about Salem witch trials sites located in Danvers, and information about the Danvers Witchcraft Victims Memorial.

The Phillips Library

Located in Rowley, Massachusetts, this library is one of the oldest in the country and houses numerous seventeenth century documents. Primary and secondary sources can be viewed by appointment. Additionally, a selection of witch trials documents included in the Peabody Essex Museum’s collection can be viewed here.

Congregational Library and Archives

The Congregational Library and Archives is an excellent resource for early colonial history. They have created a research guide to help find resources related to the Salem witch trials. These include church records from communities involved in the trials, such as Danvers (formerly Salem Village), Salem, Marblehead, and Topsfield as well as records from Boston’s Second Church where both Increase Mather and Cotton Mather served as ministers.

 

Recommended Articles and Lectures

  • “Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: Fact & Fiction (or Picky, Picky, Picky)”, Margo Burns. Created by historian Margot Burns, co-editor of Records of the Salem Witch Hunt, this website gives a detailed overview of the many historical mistakes and exaggerations in Arthur Miller’s famous play The Crucible.
  • “The Case of Giles Corey,” David Brown, Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 121, October 1985, pg. 282-299. This article considers the major misconceptions surrounding the traditional explanation for the pressing of Giles Corey. Rather than submit to this brutal torture to save his land, Brown illustrates how this is longstanding interpretive error is actually contrary to the law in Massachusetts of the day.
  • “That Child, Betty Parris’: Elizabeth (Parris) Barron and the People in her Life”, Marilynne Roach, Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 124, January 1988, pg. 1-27. Written by historian Marilynne Roach, author of the Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege and Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials, this article gives detailed information about the lives of Samuel and Elizabeth Parris after the witchcraft trials.
  • “Cotton Mather and the Salem Witch Trials: Separating Fact from Fiction,” Marilynne Roach, Rachel Christ-Doane, Tricia Peone. This collaborative lecture hosted by the Congregational Library and Archives and Salem Witch Museum delves into Reverend Cotton Mather’s complicated involvement in the Salem witch trials and subsequent portrayal in popular culture.
  • Historian On Set: The Filming of Three Sovereigns for Sarah, Richard Trask, Danvers Archival Center. This fascinating article describes the process of bringing accuracy and realism to the filming the PBS mini series Three Sovereigns for Sarah. Richard Trask is a noted historian and Archivist of the Town of Danvers.
  • Portrait of Samuel Parris, Danvers Archival Center. This website gives a brief overview about the only known portrait of Samuel Parris.
  • “Salem Gallows Hill Project”, Marilynne Roach. This lecture discusses the search for the site of the 1692 executions.
  • “The Salem Witchcraft Trials and Ergot, the ‘Moldy Bread’ Hypothesis”, Margo Burns. This is lecture gives an engaging overview of the ergot theory, how it was debunked, and why this misconception has remained prevelent in popular culture to this day.
  • The Salem Witch Trials Memorial: Finding Humanity in Tragedy, Jill Christiansen and Rachel Christ-Doane, Smithsonian Folklife Magazine. Published during the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, this article gives an overview of the complicated process of creating this monument.
  • “The Untold Story of Dorothy Good: A Tragic Life After the Salem Witch Trials”, Rachel Christ-Doane. Written by the Salem Witch Museum’s Director of Education, this article discusses the discovery of records which shed new light on the tragic adult years of Dorothy Good, the youngest person arrested during the Salem witch trials.
  • “Why I Wrote the Crucible” Arthur Miller, The New Yorker. Reflecting on experiences from the sociopolitical landscape of the 1940s and 1950s as well as his personal life, this 1996 retrospective discusses Miller’s motivations to write The Crucible

Modern Witch Hunts