T E X A S T E C H U N I

College of Arts & Sciences-Department of History

Joel WurlNational Endowment for the Humanities1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, DC 20506

Ju ly 15,2008

Dear Mr. Wurl,It is my pleasure to enthusiastically recommend Benjamin Ray's application for an NEH

2009 "Humanities Collections and Resources Grant" for the completion of the Salem WitchTrials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project. As a subject that holds a unique place inthe American cultural imagination, the 1692 outbreak of witchcraft charges and subsequent trialsremain a central topic of scholarly and general interest. The completion of Professor Ray'sinitiative begun in 1999 to use new technologies to create an integrated central archive of trialrelated resources is one that any scholar or teacher of the history of colonial America wouldwelcome. This particular proposal is a well thought out and a practical solution to the challengesfaced by the humanities scholar at a distance from the archives and offers much to thoseinterested in either the subject itself or colonial history in general. As a regular and long-timeuser of the current version of the Salem Archive for teaching, editing and scholarly projects, Iam excited about the potential for this exceptionally rich resource to be extended by thecompletion of the digitalization of the extant legal records, the promised additions of resourcesrelated to the context of the trials, and the implementation of new features for the use of theArchive. Benjamin Ray's extensive experience with both the technology involved and thecontent in the earlier stages of the project provides a convincing proof-of-concept for histransformation plan. It also inspires confidence in his ability to design, manage and complete thework as described. In addition, the existing infrastructure at the University of Virginia's IATHunit assures that the ultimate result will not only be a digital archive that is important in terms ofits content but as durable as any brick-and-mortar institution.

My acquaintance with Professor Ray and the Salem Archive originated in conjunctionwith our mutual duties as Associate Editors of the first full scholarly edition of the extant legalrecords of the trials to be published by Cambridge in 2009: Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt(hereafter: RSWII. My own initial assignment involvedthe transcription of 150 trial documentsfrom the Massachusetts Archives. These were a notably difficult group to transcribe due to theirphysical deterioration from both age and failed preservation techniques. This group ofdocuments in particular benefited from Ray's pioneering use of digital photography to raisefaded and obscured portions of the documents (especially those affected by the "silking"

technique). The result was nothing short of a remarkable. Areas of documents that had beendeemed "unreadable" for generations were suddenly revealed. In many cases portions of both the

central text and marginalia added crucial information about cases, allowed us to correcteffoneous earlier readings, and contributed to essential chronological analysis. In my section ofthe project alone (about 115 of the legal document transcriptions) the work Benjamin Ray did torecapture lost text through digitalization of the original documents made a critical difference inwhat could be recovered fromthe testimony of and legal proceedings involving some of the mostwell-known historical figures involved in the cases. The traditional form of a letterpress editionis important, but its very existence argues for a fuller expansion of the Salem Archive.

The RSWH will be an important contribution to early American scholarship but it doeshave limitations in terms of access and content that the Salem Archive project would remedy. Acritical issue in terms of access is price. Currently the estimated price will be $ 150.00. For manysmall colleges, remote branch campuses of larger university systems, or high schools withdecreasing library acquisition budgets, it will be relegated to a long list of possible purchases.For independent scholars, the edition will likely remain beyond reach. Even at my own largestate university the emphasis is on acquiring not only digital resources but those in the sciences.This means thatit is likely our library copy will be the one I personally donate. The openavailability of the Salem Archive will not only provide universal access to that important body ofhistorical materials, it will literally make research possible for many. But even when available,certain content limitations of the RSWH are also a concern to me as a scholar and a teacher.While the RsWfl includes notations about such things as "hand" changes and marginalia, seeingthese things in situ is important to the analytical process as small details (such as variations inink color) can provide essential clues to origin and, even ultimately, to conclusions about intent.

Finally, as an instructor aI a university far from regional archives, I have found theexisting version of the Salem Archive to be a unique treasure. In the undergraduate classroom,the use of clear, full-color digital images helps me to initiate discussions on the condition ofhistorical documents and the material world of the seventeenth-century colonial British world.The "Notable People" section of the Archive and the proposed enhancements promise to not onlybring the complete set of records into the possession of my Texas-based students, but offers themthe opportunity to engage in the work of the historian from research in primary documentsthrough formal publication of their findings. The value of the digitrzeddocuments for graduateseminars is incalculable. Reviewing the proposal in terms of what it would offer with theaddition of new materials and the completion of digitizing the legal documents is exciting. I can,for the first time, foresee the realistic completion of credible theses and dissertations at thegraduate level on Puritan New England from Lubbock, Texas.

Benjamin Ray's distinguished scholarly record, experience in early initiatives, and hissound plan for extending the existing Salem Archive into a fully realized form, could fulfill thepromise many of us hoped the electronic age might bring: nothing less than a truedemocratizationof access to the nation's intellectual heritage.

Asst. Professor of Historygretchen . adams @ttu. edu