John Russell's Letter Source Analysis

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Source Assignment #1

Russell, John. The Russell's Letter to Mather. Boston: Boston Public Library, 1683.

1. This source is a manuscript; specifically a letter.
2. The subject of this source centers around minister John Russell to Puritan leader Increase Mather.
3. This letter was written in 1683, the timeframe for when witch hysteria and perceived supernatural events were active throughout the New England region. The fact that this letter is produced during the 1680's allows a close inspection of how witch hysteria, and in this case, unexplained events was interpreted and discussed for its time.
4. The author is John Russell, a minister from Hadley Massachusetts. As a minister, this letter allows us to inspect how high-ranking clergy
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This source is a manuscript; specifically a testimony.
2. The subject of this source is about John and William Bly's testimony that Bridget Bishop is a witch.
3. This testimony was written in 1692 in Salem, during the Witch Trials. This testimony is a direct insight into the events of the Trials, and what evidence was used to incriminate others.
4. The author is the court, who documented the testimonies John and William Bly. These two residents of Salem would provide their testimony, which would help result in Bishop's death.
5. In this testimony, the Bly's would state that they found voo-doo dolls in Bishop's home, and that their pig was killed as a result of Bishop bewitching it.
6. The state, paralegals and lawyers.
7. This source was produced to document the Salem trials and use this testimony as evidence to be evaluated for the trial's decision in regards to Bishop.
8. The testimony documents the argument of the Bly's, who claim that Bishop is a witch, and the Bly's want their audience to prosecute Bishop.
9. These claims are made from the Bly's supposed experience of finding voo-doo dolls inside of Bishop's home, and detailing the coincidence of their pig's death after a dispute between the two
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This source is presented in its entirety, as the date is given, followed by the testimony, and signature of the individual documenting the testimony.
12. The document is difficult to read due to the handwriting style. As its unfamiliar, it becomes difficult to read. If I were to analyze this source further, I would go to physical or online libraries to find similar documents from this time frame, in hopes that documents with clearer writing can help me improve my ability to read these documents overall.
13. This information is a useful source of information for providing direct context into the Salem trials. This would benefit someone who was looking to document the testimonials of the case, and use this as direct evidence. Overall, this document would not be reliable for a topic outside of Bishop's trial specifically, due to being a personal narrative that may have a great deal of subjectivity to

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