Margo Burns

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Margo Burns is a historian and linguist specializing in the Salem witch trials and related events in North Andover. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Burns is the great-x10-grandchild of Rebecca Nurse one of the foremost protagonists of the trials in Salem and the grandchild of Armstrong Sperry. [2] [3] They received an A.B. from Mount Holyoke College in 1980 and an M.A. from University of New Hampshire in 1991. Burns studied animation for two years in the Rhode Island School of Design's continuing education program. [4] Burns lives in New Hampshire.

Career

Burns's initial interest in the Salem Witch Trials led them to explore its North Andover analog. Bernard Rosenthal invited them to be the project manager and associate editor of the book Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt. [5] [6] [7] The book expanded on previous scholarship, including new court documents and corrected earlier scholarship errors. [8] Burns' attention to paleography helped sort out the errors and idiosyncrasies from the original recorders of the handwritten manuscripts which had last been transcribed in 1938. [7] [9]

Burns appears in several history documentaries about the Salem witchcraft trials: "Salem Witch Hunt: Examine the Evidence" (2011)[ citation needed ] for the Essex National Heritage Commission and the National Park Service, [10] [11] and "Salem: Unmasking the Devil" (2011) with author Katherine Howe, discussing the case of Rebecca Nurse, for the National Geographic Channel. [12] It aired on the BBC under the alternate title "Salem Witch Trials Conspiracy". [13]

In 2016, they appeared with historian Mary Beth Norton, in Season 7, Episode 2, of the TLC cable television series, "Who Do You Think You Are?" discussing actor Scott Foley's ancestor, Samuel Wardwell of Andover, MA, who was one of the 19 people hanged during the Salem witchcraft trials. They later appeared on this show with Emerson Baker, in 2018 in Season 9, Episode 7, speaking with actress Jean Smart about their ancestor, Dorcas Hoar.

In addition to their work with the Salem and Andover events, Burns is a researcher into historical animated cartoons and gives lectures for the New Hampshire Humanities Council about cartoon history in the US. [4] They also created a font, Dana Library Hand, which was "inspired by a recommended penmanship style for librarians to use when writing out card catalogue cards." [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch hunt</span> Search for witchcraft or subversive activity

A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the Middle East. In medieval Europe, witch-hunts often arose in connection to charges of heresy from Christianity. An intensive period of witch-hunts occurring in Early Modern Europe and to a smaller extent Colonial America, took place from about 1450 to 1750, spanning the upheavals of the Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years' War, resulting in an estimated 35,000 to 60,000 executions. The last executions of people convicted as witches in Europe took place in the 18th century. In other regions, like Africa and Asia, contemporary witch-hunts have been reported from sub-Saharan Africa and Papua New Guinea, and official legislation against witchcraft is still found in Saudi Arabia, Cameroon and South Africa today.

<i>The Crucible</i> 1953 play by Arthur Miller

The Crucible is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the United States government persecuted people accused of being communists. Miller was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem witch trials</span> Legal proceedings in Massachusetts, 1692–1693

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging. One other man, Giles Corey, died under torture after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in the disease-ridden jails.

John Hathorne was a merchant and magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Salem, Massachusetts. He is best known for his early and vocal role as one of the leading judges in the Salem witch trials.

John Proctor was a landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He and his wife Elizabeth were tried and convicted of witchcraft as part of the Salem Witch Trials, whereupon he was hanged.

Ann Putnam was a primary accuser, at age 12, at the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts during the later portion of 17th-century Colonial America. Born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was the eldest child of Thomas (1652–1699) and Ann Putnam (1661–1699).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hale (minister)</span> American Puritan minister

John Hale was the Puritan pastor of Beverly, Massachusetts, and took part in the Salem witch trials in 1692. He was one of the most prominent and influential ministers associated with the witch trials, being noted as having initially supported the trials and then changing his mind and publishing a critique of them.

Elizabeth Proctor was convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the wife of John Proctor, who was convicted and executed.

<i>The Crucible</i> (1996 film) 1996 American historical drama film

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Burroughs</span> American pastor convicted of witchcraft

George Burroughs was a non-ordained Puritan preacher who was the only minister executed for witchcraft during the course of the Salem witch trials. He is remembered especially for reciting the Lord's Prayer during his execution, something it was believed a witch could never do.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Nurse</span> Convicted witch in Salem, Massachusetts (1621–1692)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials</span>

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George Jacobs Sr. (1609–1692) was an English colonist in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was accused of witchcraft in 1692 during the Salem witch trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts. He was convicted and hanged on August 19, 1692. His son, George Jr., was also accused but evaded arrest. Jacobs' accusers included his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Margaret.

Rev. Nicholas Noyes II was a colonial minister during the time of the Salem witch trials. He was the second minister, called the "Teacher", to Rev. John Higginson. During the Salem witch trials, Rev. Noyes served as the official minister of the trials.

Abigail Faulkner, sometimes called Abigail Faulkner Sr., was an American woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692. In the frenzy that followed, Faulkner's sister Elizabeth (Dane) Johnson (1641–1722), her sister-in-law Deliverance Dane, two of her daughters, two of her nieces, and a nephew, would all be accused of witchcraft and arrested. Faulkner was convicted and sentenced to death, but her execution was delayed due to pregnancy. Before she gave birth, Faulkner was pardoned by the governor and released from prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Carrier (Salem witch trials)</span> Puritan accused in the Salem witch trials

Martha Carrier was a Puritan accused and convicted of being a witch during the 1692 Salem witch trials.

The witch trials in Connecticut, also sometimes referred to as the Hartford witch trials, occurred from 1647 to 1663. They were the first large-scale witch trials in the American colonies, predating the Salem Witch Trials by nearly thirty years. John M. Taylor lists a total of 37 cases, 11 of which resulted in executions. The execution of Alse Young of Windsor in the spring of 1647 was the beginning of the witch panic in the area, which would not come to an end until 1670 with the release of Katherine Harrison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abigail Barker</span> Biography of Abigail Barker, accused during the Salem witch trials

Abigail Barker was among those accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692.

References

  1. ↑ Applegate, Sally (24 October 2008). "Why did witch history overlook North Andover?". North Andover Citizen.
  2. ↑ "My Lineage to Rebecca Nurse". 17thc.us. Retrieved 2018-03-15.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to ogram.org!". OGRAM. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  4. 1 2 "Celebrating 50 Years". New Hampshire Humanities. 1976-04-02. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  5. ↑ "Records of the Salem Witch Trials". National Endowment for the Humanities. 2014-11-12. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  6. ↑ "Read the Document That Condemned a Woman to Death in the Salem Witch Trials". HISTORY. 2017-06-15. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  7. 1 2 "The Salem witch trials LSD theory and the fascinating evolution of mummification in ancient Egypt". American Chemical Society. 2023-10-18. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  8. ↑ Karlsen, Carol F. (2008). "Salem Revisited". The William and Mary Quarterly. 65 (3). Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture: 489–494. ISSN   0043-5597. JSTOR   25096810 . Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  9. ↑ "Scholars Correcting Transcripts of Salem witch trials". Concord Monitor. June 7, 2003. p. 11. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  10. ↑ Macdonald, G. Jeffrey (8 November 2011). "Salem Witch Trials Get A Second Look". The Huffington Post.
  11. ↑ "Salem Witch Hunt:Examine the Evidence Premieres Oct. 4", Salem Gazette, September 30, 2011 Archived 2012-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ "Salem: Unmasking the Devil - National Geographic Channel". Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  13. ↑ "Homepage". 8 November 2017. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Dana Library Hand". margoburns.com. 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
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