Introduction to The Salem Transcripton Project
Sources:
- Salem court records (950 documents)
- The Salem Witchcraft Papers
- Digitized and re-transcribed manuscripts, mostly borrowed from Boston area archives and museums
- “Church Book Belonging to Salem Village? of 1692-3 written by the aggressive witch-hunter pastor of Salem Village, the Reverend Samuel Parris.”
- Geographic maps of the town of Salem in 1700, a separate map of Salem Village in 1692, and a map of the house locations of 17th century Andover
- Letters and personal notes (and even a couple books) from various villagers of Salem
Process:
- Created a dynamic map showing locations, dates, and names of the accused and the spread of accusations
- Archived, transcribed, and/or digitized as many known Salem documents as possible from the period, including court docs, maps, books/notes, etc.
- Geologically located the execution site in Salem with help from other scholars and previous written information about it (It was originally lost to history due to Salem’s erasure of its past)
- Created a searchable list of all 1400-ish names mentioned to be related to Salem during the time period
Presentation:
- Books and letters (both images of them and typed transcription)
- Same with transcription of court documents
- Digitized maps/images of maps from the period
- Profiles detailing the lives/contributions of Salem residents during the period
- Links to archives from libraries/archivists across the nation
