The 500-plus pages of authorized paperwork that inform the story of the notorious Salem Witch Trials are returning to the Massachusetts Judicial Archives, officers mentioned on Thursday.
Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library has been the short-term repository of this assortment of 527 paperwork since 1980. Now, the authorized data are heading again to the Judicial Archives following the growth and modernization of the Massachusetts State Archives facility in Boston.
The Peabody Essex Museum and the Supreme Judicial Court — the state’s highest appellate courtroom that was based within the wake of the Salem Witch Trials — started the courtroom doc switch on Thursday.
The museum’s Lynda Roscoe Hartigan famous the significance of the authorized data from the tragic hearings and prosecutions within the 1690s. The disaster concerned greater than 400 folks and led to the deaths of 25 harmless folks — males, ladies and kids — between June 1692 and March 1693.
“The documents help tell a story about tolerance and persecution, themes that are timeless and remain relevant today,” mentioned Hartigan, the Peabody Essex Museum’s Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo govt director and CEO.
“In our culture today and in other countries, the struggle over social justice is very much on peoples’ minds,” Hartigan mentioned, later including of the Salem Witch Trials, “It’s a cautionary tale of how prejudices can really damage peoples’ lives and how we have to guard against that.”
The state archives was all the time supposed to be the ultimate residence of those data.
The paperwork return to the Judicial Archives after the Massachusetts State Archives facility in Boston created a devoted area for courtroom data, together with the Witch Trial paperwork.
“We are grateful to PEM for its capable stewardship of these invaluable documents and gratified that the state can now welcome the Salem Witch Trials documents home to the Judicial Archives,” mentioned Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd.
“The Court deeply appreciates the extraordinary public service that the museum has provided in caring for this unique collection for more than 40 years,” Budd mentioned. “We look forward to future partnerships between the SJC and PEM to help keep the teachings of the Salem Witch Trials alive.”
The data have additionally been digitized, so that they’re extra broadly out there to the general public and researchers.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
