Witchcraft Collection, 1857-2007
General International Standard for Archival Description
Sophia Smith Collection Smith College Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Sarah Fitzgibbons. 2012-06-26
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Witchcraft Collection
Creation of Witchcraft Collection
Time of Creation of Witchcraft Collection
Items in this collection were either purchased or given by various donors. Peter Gamage, at the request of his mother Virginia Gamage, donated the bulk of the collection in 2009. Virginia Gamage was an alumna of Smith College, and worked for years as a historian of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Witchcraft Collection contains primarily printed materials on the history of witches and witchcraft in the U.S. The bulk of the collection consists of research files and published sources collected by Virginia Clegg Gamage pertaining to the history of witches and witchcraft; the European witch hunts and witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts; and the practice of witchcraft in the 20th century. Types of materials include books, pamphlets, articles, clippings, notes and writings by Virginia Gamage and audio recordings of a lecture and a play on witchcraft. The collection is arranged in three sections: Pamphlets, Virginia Clegg Gamage research and writings, and Books. Miscellaneous pamphlets date from 1857-1903. Research and Writings is divided into three subseries: Research files, Writings, and Audiocassettes. Books are on the subject of witchcraft and inlcude fiction that features witches.
The collection is open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection. Access to audiovisual materials is restricted, due to the need for production of research copies.
The SSC owns copyright to Virginia Gamage's unpublished writings. Copyright to materials by persons other than Gamage is owned by those individuals or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Related materials can be found in the Women's Liberation Collection [under Subjects -- Spirituality]
Processed by Nichole Calero, 2012
Paganism -- History -- 20th century
lcsh
Spirituality -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Sources
Witchcraft -- History -- Sources
Witchcraft -- Massachusetts -- Salem
Pamphlets 1857-1903
Virginia C. Gamage Research Files and Writings circa 1969-2007, n.d.
Research Files
Sources
Pamphlets and programs
Salem Witch Trial pardons
Marblehead churches
Salem
Misc. articles on witchcraft
Misc. articles
The Witches Newsletter
General background, customs & early histories of New England
Lecture Notes
Personal
Research notes on people, places, and misc.
Correspondence
Writings
Copies of Esther Forbes papers from Essex Institute Library
Misc notes and typed pages
Untitled typescript authorship unknown
Audiocassettes
Witchcraft lecture by VCG 1992
Witchcraft play n.d.
Books
A Cauldron of Witches by Clifford Lindsey Alderman 1973
Chronicles of Old Salem by Frances Diane Robotti 1968
The Crucible by Arthur Miller 1953
Cures and Curses by Dorothy Jacob 1967
The Dark World of Witches by Eric Maple 1962
A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Frances Hill 1995
Demonology and Witchcraft: letters addressed to J.G. Lockhart Esq. by Sir Walter Scott 1970
A Destroying Angel: The Conquest of Smallpox in Colonial Boston by Ola Elizabeth Winslow 1974
Dialogues with the Devil by Taylor Caldwell 1967
Dictionary of Witchcraft by Collin de Plancy; edited and translated by Wade Baskin 1965
An Echo from Salem by Mona Etsy Worsencroft 1981
The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossell Hope Robbins 1970
Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England by John Putnam Demos 1982
Famous and Curious Cemeteries by John Francis Marion 1977
In the Devil's Snare by Mary Beth Norton 2002
Lectures on Witchcraft by Charles W. Upham 1831
Meetinghouse Hill: 1630-1783 by Ola Elizabeth Winslow 1952
Never on a Broomstick by Frank Donovan 1971
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft by Paul Boyer and Stephan Nissenbaum 1974
Salem Village Witchcraft; Mrs. Elizabeth Howe's Trial by M.V.B. Perley 1911
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 1955
Spirit of '76 Lives Here: Marblehead by Priscilla Sawyer Lord & Virginia Clegg Gamage 1972
The Tall Man from Boston by Marion L. Starkey 1975
A Treasury of Witchcraft by Harry E. Wedeck 1961
The Visionary Girls: Witchcraft in Salem Villageby Marion Starkey 1973
What Happened in Salem by David Levin 1960
Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture by Arthur Evans 1978
A Witch's Guide to Gardening by Dorothy Jacob 1964
The Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692 by Leo Bonfanti (3 copies)1971
The Witches Almanac Edited by Elizabeth Pepper and John Wilcock 1972
A Witches Brew by Adelina Grenier Simmons n.d.
Witches' Potions and Spells edited by Katherine Paulsen 1971
Witches, Wraiths, and Warlocks: Supernatural Tales of the American Renaissance edited by Ronald Curran 1971