Witchcraft in Salem Village

Local Resources

Noodlebib Bibliography Maker

      The student should choose from the following projects. 
- Create a newspaper that might have been published in 1692
in Salem Town or Salem Village
- Develop a panel discussion which includes representatives of 
the accused as well as the accuser
- Create a current map that properly labels where the events took place, 
including the location of the homes of the accusers and the accused. 
You must also include a brief biography of at least six of the people involved.
- Create a re-enactment of the events, using both primary and secondary sources
- Create a brochure that illustrates and discusses the markers and monuments that have been erected in memory of the victims
- Create a news broadcast that includes interviews with
various participants in the hysteria
-Create a detailed explanation of the various theories of 
why the Salem Witch Trials took place

Each project must include the use of two primary sources 
which must be documented properly.

Definitions:
Primary source - source created by people who actually saw or participated in an event and recorded that event or their reactions to it immediately after the event.
Secondary source - source created by someone either not present when the event took place or removed by time from the event. From http://www.ohiohistory.org/resource/teachers/primary.html#definitions

Types of Primary Sources: The Learning Page
This lesson introduces students to primary sources -- what they are, their great variety, and how they can be analyzed. The lesson begins with an activity that helps students understand the historical record. Students then learn techniques for analyzing primary sources. [The final portion of the lesson involving applying these techniques to analyse docuemnts about slavery in the United States is optional for Aquarius Students.]

A primary source gives the words of the witnesses or the first recorders of an event. Primary sources include manuscripts, archives, letters, diaries, and speeches. ... Secondary sources are 'descriptions of the event derived from and based on primary sources'. The line between primary and secondary sources is often indistinct, for example, a single document may be a primary source on some matter and a secondary source on others." (Helen J. Poulton, The historian's handbook (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1972), p.175-76). 

Names
The following people will be the major focus of our study:
Cotton Mather
Rebecca Nurse
Martha and Giles Corey
Elizabeeth and John Proctor
The Putnam Family
Gertrude Pope

Goals and Objectives
- to read a work of literature based on historical facts
- to study local landmarks
- to understand the basis of a "witch hunt"
- to learn from the past
- to use primary sources in research
- to document sources