Inside the Vault: The Salem Witch Trials
by Gilder Lehrman Institute Staff
In 1693, Puritan preacher Cotton Mather published The Wonders of the Invisible World, providing a detailed account of each Salem witch trial case. Over time, the witch hunts have become heavily mythologized and embedded in our collective memory. However, popular depictions of the Salem witch trials rarely examine their complex global and social roots.
On October 3, 2024, our curators discussed what the Salem witch trials reveal about gender in seventeenth-century New England and how they fit into a larger global phenomenon with Dr. Karin Wulf, director of the John Carter Brown Library and professor of history at Brown University.
View slides from the presentation here.
FEATURED DOCUMENTS
RELATED RESOURCES
- Spotlight on a Primary Source: Cotton Mather’s account of the Salem witch trials, 1693
- Video: “Religion and Witchcraft in Colonial America” by John Demos (Yale University)
- Video: “In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692” by Mary Beth Norton (Cornell University)
- Essay: “The Years of Magical Thinking: Explaining the Salem Witchcraft Crisis” by Mary Beth Norton (Cornell University)
USE THE TIMESTAMPS BELOW TO JUMP TO THE TOPIC YOU WANT TO VIEW
0:52–1:30: Today’s documents
1:30–2:56: Introduction to Dr. Karin Wulf
2:56–10:06: Background on the Salem Witch Trials
10:06–12:18: Witchcraft in Popular Culture
12:18–13:47: Reflections on the Salem Witch Trials
13:47–19:57: Explanations for Salem: European Background
19:57–26:16: Explanations for Salem: Social Conflict
26:16–36:54: Explanations for Salem: Gender and Warfare
36:54–42:26: Cotton Mather Responds: Background and Context
42:26–59:40: Q&A