Visit with Marilynne K. Roach
We were honored last month to host distinguished Salem witch trials scholar Marilynne Roach who has written, among other things, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. After the crowds of summer visitors had left the museum for the evening, our staff gathered in the main auditorium for her lecture. She described her years of extensive research in various document archives, writing several books, and answered our many questions.
Ms. Roach first visited the Salem Witch Museum in 1973 and was inspired to launch her own investigation into the subject. Combing over documents written in an antique dialect, she ascertained new details relevant to this well-studied period of Colonial New England history. One of the more exciting moments of the research came , she told us, when she realized she’d discovered jailers invoices that had never before been acknowledged. It’s now widely known that imprisoned accused-witches were billed for their stay!
Over the course of her 30-year career she has written several books specifically abut the witch trials, one of which is a children’s book – no doubt a particular challenge to tell a complex story to a developing mind! With a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, she has also illustrated books and penned maps from our Commonwealth’s history. She has been invited to speak at the Historic Geneological Society and the Historical Society of Watertown and has been a frequent contributor to the Boston Globe.
MARILYNNE K. ROACH – SALEM WITCH TRIALS BOOKLIST
The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege
A Time Traveler’s Maps of the Salem Witchcraft Trials
In the Days of the Salem Witchcraft Trials (children)
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