KNOXVILLE — Mary Beth Norton is a leading scholar of early America and the author of a prize-winning book on the Salem Village witchcraft trials of 1692. She’s also the descendant of a woman who was convicted of being a witch during those trials.
Norton brings her expertise to the University of Tennessee on April 5 to lecture on “Salem Witchcraft: Myth and Reality.” Her presentation, which is free and open to the public, begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Shiloh Room (Room 235) of the University Center.
Part of an annual series, the event is sponsored by the Milton M. Klein History Studies Endowment, established by Klein’s widow, Margaret Klein, to honor his many years of distinguished service as professor of history and university historian.
A reception will follow Norton’s lecture. Parking is available for a fee at the University Center garage.
Norton is the Mary Donlon Alger Professor of American History at Cornell University. Her many books on early America include “The British-Americans,” “Liberty’s Daughters,” “Founding Mothers and Fathers,” and a prize-winning book on the Salem Witchcraft trials, “In the Devil’s Snare.”
Norton’s distant relative, Mary Bradbury, was convicted in the New Salem witch trials, but Bradbury wasn’t hanged because her husband broke her out of jail.
Norton has held fellowships from the Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and Mellon foundations and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
For more information about the lecture, contact the history department at 974-5421 or Professor Daniel Feller at dfeller@utk.edu
—
For more information about Norton and her books see these three Web sites:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/02/12.12.02/Norton-witch_book.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375706905
http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/results2.pperl?authorid=22365
—
Contacts:
Dan Feller, (865) 974-7077, dfeller@utk.edu
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu
—