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Weathervane Newsletter Fall 2002
The Power of Gossip: Exhibit & Website on Witchcraft Case Unveiled
Historic Northampton opened a new exhibit on October 27th chronicling an intriguing case of New England witchcraft beginning more than forty years before the notorious events in Salem. The exhibit, The Goody Parsons Witchcraft Case: A Journey to 17th Century Northampton, will be a permanent installation in the Parsons House at Historic Northampton. Although the 1730 Parsons house was built by Mary Parsons' grandson, Nathaniel, it stands on the original Parsons homelot, laid out in 1654.
At the opening, Bridget Marshall, UMass doctoral candidate, discussed her research on the Mary Bliss Parsons witchcraft case before an overflow crowd. The Parsons were one of the first families of Northampton and Mary Parsons was the subject of three separate witchcraft-related trials: in 1656, 1674, and 1678. Her story is a fascinating one, and sheds light on the workings of the Puritan mind and the early years of the colony.
The opening also featured demonstrations of a prototype website on the Parsons case being developed by Northampton teachers and the Center for Computer-Based Instructional Technology at the University of Massachusetts. "It's rich with possibilities," says Michael Sullivan, an eighth grade history teacher at the JFK Middle School in Northampton who plans to use the Web site in his classes later this year. "We can take a look at this one family," he says, and use the story to learn more about the local community, and the work historians do. The project is sponsored by Historic Northampton and funded by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. The website can be viewed at Virtual Exhibits.
Contents Historic Northampton.