Scholarly Research in the History of Magic & Witchcraft

This guide provides help in finding scholarly sources focusing on the history of magic and witchcraft

Selected Titles

Click a title to check its availability.

The Occult in America: New Historical Perspectives by Howard Kerr
Call Number: BF1434 .U6O33 1983
The Penguin Book of Witches by Katherine Howe
Call Number: Call Number: BF1566 .P46 2014

Primary documents with commentary.
Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition by Yvonne Patricia Chireau
Call Number: Call Number: BR563.N4 C5 2003

Available in print and as E-book.
The Long-Lost Friend: A 19th Century American Grimoire by Daniel Harms
Call Number: Call Number: R133 .H5813 2012
Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore by Gerald Milnes
Call Number: GR111.G47 M55 2007
The Witches of Abiquiu: The Governor, the Priest, the Genízaro Indians, and the Devil by Malcolm Ebright
Call Number: E78.N65 E26 2006
Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens by Peter T. Furst
Call Number: BL65.D7 F87 1990
Navaho Witchcraft by Clyde Kluckhohn
Call Number: E99 .N3K55 1967
Witchcraft in Early North America by Alison Games
Call Number: BF1573 .G36 2010

Available in print and as E-book.
Ghosts of Futures Past: Spiritualism and the Cultural Politics of Nineteenth-Century America by Molly McGarry
Call Number: BF1242.U6 M34 2008

Available in print and as an E-book.
Spiritualism in Antebellum America by Bret E. Carroll
Call Number: BF1242.U6 C37 1997
Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America by Ann Braude
Call Number: BF1275.W65 B73 2001

Salem Witch Trials

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The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents by Richard Godbeer
Call Number: BF1576 .G635 2011
The Salem Witch Trials Reader by Frances Hill
E-book
Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt by Bernard Rosenthal
Call Number: KFM2478.8.W5 R43 2009

A comprehensive record of all legal documents pertaining to the Salem witch trials, in chronological order, with supplementary materials stretching as far as the mid-18th century.
The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History by Peter Charles Hoffer
Call Number: KFM2478.8.W5 H645 1997

Publication Date: 1997
The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem by Stacy Schiff
Call Number: KFM2478.8.W5 S35 2016

Publication Date: 2016
Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft by Paul Boyer; Stephen Nissenbaum
Call Number: BF1576 .B6

Publication Date: 1976

Available in print and as an e-book
The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England by Carol F. Karlsen
Call Number: BF1576 .K37 1987

Publication Date: 1998
Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of the American Conscience by Richard Francis
Call Number: F67 .S525 2005

Online Primary Sources

Cornell University Digital Witchcraft Collection
An online selection of 104 English language books from the Witchcraft Collection.
Salem Witch Trials: Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
An electronic collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription of the court records.
Library of Congress: Search
Try search terms like hoodoo, voodoo, hants, joe mows, witch, witchcraft, ghost, etc. Find documents, images, audio recordings of oral histories, etc.

Featured Video

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti
Call Number: BL2490 .D58 2005
Documentary of the Voudoun religions of Haiti. Presents rituals performed by the Rada, Petro, and Congo cults, whose devotees are said to commune with cosmic powers through invocations, sacrifices, and possession. DVD.