Encouraged by our Editor for Curatorial Initiatives, Rebecca Bednarz, we wrote labels that explored symbolic or metaphoric meanings for the objects as well as their history and function. For example, John Proctor’s sundial not only measured daylight hours, but was a reminder of mortality and the need to make best use of one’s time. Prior to execution, John Proctor pleaded for “a little respite of time, saying that he was not fit to die,” a request that went unheeded.

For the Towne family window, a search of the digitized versions of the court documents for references to windows yielded new insight. I learned that a window, situated in between interior and exterior space, was an opening that was used by prying eyes, eavesdroppers or as a point of entry for “witches” and their familiars to gain access to a dwelling and afflict the inhabitants, as claimed in spectral evidence.

The team also developed a new focus on documents and objects associated with a few community members who defended those accused of witchcraft. These brave individuals, at great risk to themselves, spoke in defense of the people accused of witchcraft and testified to their innocence in court.

Each of these rare historic objects were carefully installed by preparator Mollie Denhard and collections management colleagues while exhibition project manager Hannah Silbert tracked all aspects of the project keeping its myriad activities and details on schedule.

Rich earth tones with low light levels provide context for the historic objects and documents in the first section, No One Was Safe. Illumination of the 17th-century window casts a dramatic shadow on the floor and provides visitors with a subtle interactive experience.

PEM’s exhibition design team worked with Henry Rutkowski, PEM’s Master Electrician, and Scott Benson, exhibition lighting specialist, to achieve this and other special lighting effects in the galleries. In the Alexander McQueen/Elizabeth How section, deep gray walls recall the darkly dramatic setting of McQueen’s 2007 fashion show. Red illumination below the case displaying the McQueen gown, takes inspiration from a red pentagram that traced the fashion runway in the original fashion show. The lavender-gray walls of the Major Arcana section provide an unexpected lighter color and marks the shift to a contemporary context and themes.

Co-curator Dan Lipcan developed a case study on Elizabeth How that presents the experience of one individual through documents that trace the court process she went through.

Elizabeth How’s descendent, acclaimed British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen, took up her story over three centuries later, when he learned that his ancestor was executed during the Salem witch trials. McQueen traveled to Salem in 2006 to research events and visit local sites here and in Danvers (Salem Village.) Elizabeth How’s experiences became the spark of inspiration for McQueen’s fall/winter 2007 collection, In Memory of Elizabeth How Salem 1692. This collection featured fashion designs drawing on themes of witchcraft, paganism, the occult and religious persecution to evoke powerful women from ancient Egypt, Puritan New England, to imagined enchanted futures. The press sample beaded velvet gown, now in the PEM collection, dazzles in the center of the gallery with an adjacent panel and projected slide show featuring images produced by from the 2007 fashion show.

Additional documents explore the aftermath of the trials and the process of exoneration, reversal of convictions and attainder (seizure of personal possessions), payment of restitution and restoration of “innocency” for the victims of the trials. This process began in 1696 and accelerated after 1700 as victims or their family members petitioned the Massachusetts General Court and legislature. Legislative actions in 1711-1712, 1957 and 2001 formally cleared the names of most trial victims. However, earlier this year, middle school students in North Andover made national news when they and their teacher approached a state senator to petition the Joint Committee on the Judiciary to exonerate Elizabeth Johnson Jr., convicted of witchcraft, but whose name did not appear in previous legislative actions overturning convictions. The bill is still pending.

In 2014, photographer Frances F. Denny began a project that explores the archetypal witch figure and what it represents today, after learning that she descends from Salem witch trial magistrate Samuel Sewall and Mary Bliss Parsons, a woman tried for witchcraft in the 1670s. Gordon worked with Denny to select 13 portraits from Major Arcana: Portraits of Witch in America that depict diverse individuals from across the United States who self-identify as witches and trace their personal pathways that led to their practice. The subjects present an array of ideas about contemporary witchcraft: Wiccan high priestesses, shamans, healers, herbalists, neo-pagans, mystics and activists. These individuals reclaim “witch” from its past and redefine witchcraft in their own words.