This Web page has been designed to assist students to:

1. Compare and contrast the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism.
2. Understand the living conditions in Massachusetts in the 1700s.
3. Examine the dynamics of Puritanism in 1692.
4. Gather historical perspectives of American Colonial period.

For ease of study, topics have been divided into 5 categories:

Information on the American Colonial Period, Puritanism, and Salem Witch Trials may be overlapped.

American Colonial Period

Archiving Early America. Exploring the World of Early America through the Media of the Day (newspapers, maps, magazines and writings). Read a page from the 18th century newspaper: The Massachusetts Centinel published on Saturday, April 24, 1790. See Map of 13 Original Colonies. Read the obituaries of famous people from early America. Learn How To Read a 200 Year Old Document, plus many other interesting pages from the Colonial past, e.g. Firsts!! Lives of Famous Early Americans, Gallery of Early American Portraits, Short Films, Notable Women, etc.

Colonial America 1600-1775. Great K-12 Resources. Links under History - Colonial Life in America, Colonial North America, An Outline of American History - The Colonial Period, etc. Under State History - The Colonies One by One with information on each of the 13 colonies (Massachusetts was one of the original 13 colonies), Under Military History - Colonial Era Photos. Includes also links to Maps, Cooking, Everyday Life in the Colonies, Plantations & Other Historic Buildings, American Literature, Holidays, Music, Dance, and Art.

A Colonial Family and Community. Be a history detective. Go back in time and investigate the daily lives of a real colonial family from Coventry, Connecticut. Collect clues to uncover answers to 7 questions about colonial life in the 1700s. A fun game with movies, sound, and music. Find what's wrong with two pictures.

The Colonial Period. Contents: New Peoples, New England, The Middle Colonies, The Southern Colonies, Society, Schools and Culture, Emergence of Colonial Government, The French and Indian War, and The Witches of Salem.

Daily Life in the Colonies. What would it have been like to live during colonial times? See descriptions of daily life in the Colonies by clicking on different parts of a farm scene.

Welcome to Colonial Williamsburg. "That the future may learn from the past."The History Explorer includes: Meet the People, See the Places, Colonial Dateline, Experience Colonial Life, and links to additional resources. Teacher Resources include Lesson Plans, Electronic Field Trips, A Day in the Life Video Series, and others.

The Crucible

The Crucible (Penguin Classics)

The Crucible (Cliffs Notes)

The Crucible (Plays, Penguin)

The Crucible (1996 Movie) (DVD)

17th Century Colonial New England with Special Emphasis on the Essex County Witch-Hunt of 1692. Site provides valuable links to other resource material on The Crucible, including: Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction, Hysteria and Ideology in The Crucible, The Arthur Miller Page, and others.

American playwright Miller dies from BBC News. Playwright Arthur Miller, the creator of The Crucible and Death of a Salesman, has died at the age of 89, on 10 Feb. 2005, includes video.
See also Arthur Miller dead at 89 from CNN.com.
Arthur Miller: death of a playwright by Reporter: Anthony Mason.
Playwright Arthur Miller dies at age 89 from MSNBC, includes slide show.
An American Classic: Arthur Miller, Enduring Playwright - Online NewsHour: Arthur Miller Discusses His Life and Work with Paul Solman, Feb. 10, 1999. Listen to segment in RealAudio, 11 min. 36 sec. with transcript.
Playbill News: Renowned Playwright Arthur Miller, Author of Death of a Salesman, Is Dead at 89 by Kenneth Jones, Robert Simonson, and Ernio Hernandez.

Anglia Campus: The Crucible by Arthur Miller. "The play, 'The Crucible', shows a community which ignites and burns with accusations of witchcraft, mass hysteria and retribution. Set in the small town of Salem Massachusetts in 1692, it explores the struggle of one man with his conscience, and his eventual purification." Notes and student activities - Contents include: Historical Background - An Introduction to Salem, Puritanism, Witchcraft, A guide to Witchcraft: Create a Web Page, Miller and McCarthyism. The Plot - An illustrated summary of each act, How well do you know the play? Setting and Atmosphere, The Characters, Quotation Quiz, Language of 'The Crucible', Extracts from the Salem Witchcraft Trial Records.

Arthur Miller - Biography from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Arthur Asher Miller, October 17, 1915 - February 10, 2005. See also Arthur Miller (1915-2005), Arthur Miller Timeline, American Masters: Arthur Miller from PBS, Arthur Miller Trivia.

Arthur Miller: Lesson plans for The Crucible and other plays from Web English Teacher. Selected links to: Arthur Miller Background & Biography and The Crucible.

ClassZone: Language Arts: Novel Guides: The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Theme: When Fear Drives Mass Hysteria. Grades 10-11. Summary: "The Crucible, a historical drama, reflects examples of how a dogmatic society's mistrust of nonconformity can result in injustice. As witchcraft accusations fly in Puritan New England, John Proctor must choose between his own personal safety and the truth." Includes: Theme Openers, Crosscurricular Activities, and Research Assignments.

The Crucible from West Springfield High School English Department, Springfield, Virginia. Site consists of selected links to The Play, Arthur Miller, Blacklists, HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee), Images, Joseph McCarthy, Salem, and Torture, plus a Teacher Packet.

The Crucible (1996). Reviews of the 1996 film produced by 20th Century Fox. Links to reviews published in Detroit News, San Francisco Examiner, Box Office Magazine, Movieline, Houston Chronicle, and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Includes The Crucible Film Review by Liam Lacey, published in The Globe and Mail [Toronto], Friday, December 20, 1996.

The Crucible (1996) MovieSynopsis from MovieWeb. "A timeless tale of truth on trial, THE CRUCIBLE is a relentlessly suspenseful drama of collective evil and personal conscience. And at its center is a vastly moving story of guilt, love and redemption." The Crucible (1966). Film info on Arthur Miller's timeless tale of truth on trial. Release Date: November 27, 1996. Director: Nicholas Hytner. Writer: Arthur Miller. Cast: Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, and others.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller from Social Studies School Service. An excellent teaching unit consisting of three student activities that address the following questions:
1. What are the relationships between the characters of The Crucible?
2. What contributed to the events leading up to the real witch trials of 1692? and
3. How do the political events of the 1950s contribute to an understanding of The Crucible?
Site includes selected links to Primary and Secondary Sources for additional research, plus a 4-part Final Test on The Crucible.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Drama. Tragedy. Contemporary. Another article from Summary Central. 16 descriptive paragraphs to help refresh your memory of the play in greater detail. Contents: The Author and His Times, Point of View, Form Structure and Plot, Character, Setting, Themes, Style, Diction, Syntax, Imagery, Symbolism, Figurative Language, Ironic Devices, Tone, Memorable Quotes, and Additional Comments .

Crucible Essay Topics. Over 40 suggested essay topics on The Crucible from Good Essay Topics.

Site being updated. Dr. Gleason's Crucible Web Site from Old Bridge HS, East Campus. Annotated links to Sites about Arthur Miller and “The Crucible”, "The Crucible" Sites, Sites about the Witches of Salem, McCarthy and “The Hearings”, and Teaching with "The Crucible" Movie. Includes a black and white portrait of Arthur Miller.

Site being updated. SparkNotes: The Crucible. Contents include: Context, Plot Overview, Character List, Analysis of Major Characters, Themes, Motifs, and Symbols, Summaries for Acts I, II, III, and IV, Important Quotations Explained, Key Facts, Study Questions (Answers provided), Suggested Essay Topics, and a Quiz.

Study Guides on The Crucible:
Book Rags
Novelguide.com
Pink Monkey
ClassicNote
Bookwolf
Summary Central.

Studying the Background of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. A WebQuest for 11th Grade English/Language Arts Classes, designed by April M. Moore.

Why I Wrote "The Crucible": An Artist's Answer to Politics by Arthur Miller.

McCarthyism

The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents. Contents: Communism and National Security: The Menace Emerges, The Growth of the Anti-Communist Network, The State Steps In: Setting the Anti-Communist Agenda, Congressional Committees and Unfriendly Witnesses, Blacklists and Other Economic Sanction, Interpreting McCarthyism, and The Legacy of McCarthyism.

The Cold War and the "Hot Economy:" the 1950s. Contents: The Second Red Scare (May 26, 1938,  the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was founded in order to investigate disloyalty among fascists and communists, but its focus soon became strictly anti-communist), The Trial of Alger Hiss, Truman loyalty program, and McCarthyism.

The Fight for America: Senator Joseph McCarthy. A biography of McCarthy: Contents: 1909-1950: Birth to Beltway, 1950-1954: A Man with a "Cause", and 1954-1957: The Bubble Bursts.

Hollywood Blacklist by Dan Georgakas in Buhle, Buhle, and Georgakas, ed., Encyclopedia of the American Left Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1992.

How did McCarthyism limit American political debate and freedom of speech in the 1950s? Site includes a video from CNN: McCarthyism during the Cold War. Lecture Outline: McCarthyism and Conformity in 1950s America, McCarthyism and Anti-communist Paranoia, and McCarthyism's affect on Americans' lives. Questions on McCarthyism. Web Links on McCarthyism.

HUAC, McCarthy, and the Reds. A brief timeline, from 1908 to 1957 (dates of birth and death of Senator Joseph McCarthy), on House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), the role played by McCarthy against Communism.

Kazan and Miller. "Long, Bitter Debate From the '50's: Views of Kazan and His Critics" by Richard Bernstein, from New York Times, May 3, 1988.

McCarthyism from PBS.

McCarthyism. On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, claimed to have a list of 205 people in the State Department who were members of the American Communist Party.  The possibility of communist subversion caused some people to lose their jobs when they admitted to have been Communist Party members. To save their own skins, accused Communist Party members had to expose other members of the Party during McCarthy's investigations. The ensued witch-hunt and anti-communist hysteria was known as McCarthyism.

Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective. A brief summary of Richard Fried's book about the 1950's when Americans were experiencing the beginnings of fevered anti-communism that came to be known as McCarthyism.

The Politics of Scholarship: Liberals, Anti-Communism, and McCarthyism. An academic paper that analyzes the McCarthy phenomenon. See also The Legacy of McCarthyism for a different analysis of McCarthyism.

The Testimony of Walter E. Disney Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, 24 October, 1947. Full text documentary.

Victor Navasky's Naming Names. A general description of Hollywood blacklisting, from Chapter 10, Degradation Ceremonies in Victor Navasky's book Naming Names, published by New York: Viking Press, 1980.

Puritanism

The American Sense of Puritan. An in depth analysis of Puritanism and its historical roots. Includes a short analysis of the Salem Witchcraft as it related to Puritan beliefs.

The Puritan Way. Explains who the Puritans are and what are some of the common misconceptions about Puritans.

Puritanism: General Information. From A Christ Walk Church.

Puritanism in New England. A brief description of the Puritan movement in America.

Salem Witch Trials

The 1692 Salem Witch Trials: Documents and Participants. From the Salem Witchcraft Papers. Contents: Complete court documents (Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692), Accusers, Defenders, Accused, "Afflicted Girls" (their names, place of residence, and location on map), Jurors, Puritan Ministers, and Judges.

17th c. Colonial New England with Special Emphasis on The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. Includes numerous links to primary sources, e.g. texts of writings from the 17th century (court papers, first-person accounts of events, wills and deeds, image scans of actual documents, and more). Includes Arthur Miller's The Crucible: Fact & Fiction.

Accused of Witchcraft. Case history of individuals accused of witchcraft, some were from Salem, Massachusetts, others from as far away as England and Germany.

The Carey Document: On the Trail a Salem Death Warrant. See color photo of the actual Salem Death Warrant for Martha Carey, dated Salem, Massachusetts, June 10, 1692.

Colonial America 1600-1775 - K12 Resources. Topics covered Include General History of Colonial America, State and City Histories, Military History, Maps, Plantations and Other Historical Buildings, including Salem Massachusetts Georgian Architecture. View photos of Architecture in the 17th and 18th Centuries.

Days of Judgment: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Series of lesson plans developed by teachers and the Peabody Essex Museum for students Grades 6-12. The entire Days of Judgment curriculum (52 pages) is available for download in PDF format.

Famour American Trials: Salem Witchcraft Trials 1692. Contents: Chronology, Cotton Mather (Minister of the Old North Church in Boston), Biographies, Arrest Warrant, Examinations and Evidence, Petitions of Accused Witches, Death Warrant and List of Dead, Letters of Governor Phips, Petitions for Compensation, Images, The Crucible (by Arthur Miller, 1952), Bibliography & Links. Includes An account of the Salem witchcraft investigations, trials and aftermath by Law Professor Douglas Linder.

Life and Times of Bridget Bishop. Biography of Bridget Bishop, the first woman to be put on trial in the historical Salem witch hunts. She was found guilty of being a witch and was hanged on June 10, 1692.

Mary Bradbury's Trial. On July 2, 1692,  Mary Bradbury was charged with certain detestable acts called Witchcraft and Sorceries. Web page provides details of Mary Bradbury's trial.

Milestone Historic Events. See original documents depicting milestone events in the U.S. as they actually appeared in the 1700s in newspapers, magazines, books and pamphlets.

National Geographic - Salem Witchcraft Hysteria. Interactive online game. Experience the Trial. Find out what happens if you confess to witchcraft. Find out what happens if you deny that you are a witch and claim that you are innocent. All events portrayed in this feature are based upon historical records.

Possible Causes of the Salem Witch Hunts. An anonymous author gives reasons for causes of the witch hunts: "Salem villagers were ... simply acting out their economic, political and social frustrations by blaming an intangible force."

Salem witch craft. In the 17th century, a belief in witches and witchcraft was almost universal. Written in the 1800s, this excerpt provides a glimpse into the history of Massachusetts.

Salem witch craft trial. In 1692, a mass hysteria occurred in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. 140 arrests, 19 hangings, one crushed by rocks, and several dying in jail while awaiting their trial. Everything that occurred was done in the name of ridding Salem of its supposed witches.

The Salem witch hunts. The Salem witch-hunt was the largest witch-hunt in colonial New England. 350 people were accused of witchcraft in New England; 185 of those were in Salem.

Salem Witch Museum: 1692 Sites Tour. Click on the town and city names on the map to view pictures (where available) and read about the sites in these locations. Locations include Salem, the scene of the witchcraft trials in 1692. View map of Salem to see the Site of the Courthouse in 1692, Site of Meetinghouse of First Church, Charter Street Cemetery, Superior Court Building, Broad Street Cemetery, Summit of Gallows Hill, etc.

Salem Witch Trial Conspiracy. The story of Sarah Wild, and the story of Rebecca Nurse, both hanged on July 19, 1692. 

Salem Witch Trials. A Complete History in short paragraphs with links to related articles.

The Salem Witch Trials. Contents: Salem Witchcraft, Trial Transcripts, Your Thoughts, The Accused, The Victims, Biographies, and FAQ with questions such as Were the victims of the Salem witch trials burned at the stake? What caused the Salem witch trials? What ended the trials? What is spectral evidence? Did witches really exist in Salem?

Salem Witch Trials. Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. Contents: 17th Century Documents & Transcriptions (Original Court Records, Record Books), Historical Maps (Map of Salem Village 1692, Map of Andover 1692, Map of Witchcraft Accusations February 29 - March 31, 1692, Province of Mass Bay 1692, Salem 1692), Archival Collections, Contemporary Books, and Project Mission.

The Salem Witch Trials. A short analytical essay on the Salem Witch Trial, with an animated image of burning flames.

Salem Witch Trials - The People. From About.com. Contents: Individuals involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692: accusers, accused, judges and others in Salem Village and the wider Puritan community. Includes biographies, testimony, petitions and other documents.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692. An essay by an American History student. Contents: The Development of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692: A Summary, Witchcraft Beliefs in 17th Century New England, The Problem of Proving Witchcraft, The Afflicted Girls, Witchcraft and Puritanism, Social, Political and Economic Reasons for Witchcraft Accusations.

Salem Witch Museum - Salem Massachusetts. Salem 1692 Sites Tour, Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

The Salem Witch Trials 1692: A Chronology of Events.  Daily summaries of the witch trials from January 20 to November 25, 1692. Includes links to Witch Trials Memorials depicting the stones dedicated to the victims of the Salem Witch Trials.

Salem Witch Trials: The World behind the Hysteria. In 1692, 19 innocent men and women were hanged for witchcraft. DiscoverySchool.com provides information on: Life in 1692 Salem (Religion and Witchcraft, Economic and Social Divisions, and Puritan Children), The Story of the Witch Hunt (View a 6-minute multimedia movie narrated with sound and music), and The People behind the Trials (with primary sources, from letters to trial transcripts).

Secrets of the Dead II. Case 1. Background - The trouble in Salem began during the cold dark Massachusetts winter, January, 1692. Clues and Evidence - Possible cause of strange behavior might be Ergotism (ergot poisoning) which had indeed been implicated in other outbreaks of bizarre behavior. Interview with Linnda Caporael, Behavioral Psychologist, who believes ergot poisoning was possible in the 16th century. Site also provides an interactive exploration of Salem.

Today in History: March 1. On March 1, 1692, Salem, Massachusetts authorities charged Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and a slave woman, Tituba, with practicing witchcraft.

What About Witches. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 - A Brief Introduction, Photo of the Witch House in Salem, Massachusetts, Photo of the Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary memorial dedicated in 1992. Site also explains the word "Witch" for in order to understand the Salem witch trials, it is necessary to know the 17^th-century definition of witchcraft.

Witchcraft in Salem Village: Intersections of Religion and Society. In 1691, the witch hunt episode began to unfold in a small rural neighborhood on the outskirts of Salem town, then the second-largest seaport in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Includes Historians Debate on the episode.

Witchcraft Archives. Links to Holdings of various archives from University of Virginia Special Collections Department.

Witchcraft Collection from Cornell University Library.

Witchcraft Links. Include Salem.

Witchcraft, Religious Fanaticism and Schizophrenia - Salem Revisited. Author points out that Puritan religious fanaticism was evident in Massachusetts a few years before 1692 and explains the role of Puritanism in the cause and actions of the witch hunt in 1692.

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