NG: This month I’m excited to introduce you to Paula Richter, a curator at Salem’s famed Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) and a co-curator of PEM’s The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming.

Welcome Paula!

PR: Thank you for your interest! I am delighted to welcome you to the Peabody Essex Museum and to have the opportunity to discuss with you more about our amazing exhibition offerings.  

NG: The PEM is a first-class international museum and one of my favorite stops on a visit to Salem.

There seems to be something for everyone. My friend Judy and I enjoyed the exhibit Iris Apfel: Rare Bird of Fashion. Judy’s husband, a sailing buff, liked exploring the PEM’s maritime collection. My artist sister-in-law, Laura, loved a Northwest Native American Art exhibit. My husband and I enjoyed walking through the Yu Yin Tang house to experience the life of a prosperous Chinese merchant’s family during China’s Qing Dynasty. Can you tell us more about the museum’s approach to presenting art and culture?

PR: PEM takes a people-centered approach. We want visitors to feel welcome, to find easily what they’d come to see, to engage with artwork and explore their own interests, and to be surprised and delighted by exhibits and experiences. PEM is the first museum in the country to have a full-time neuroscientist to evaluate ways to increase visitor engagement via sight, sound, touch, etc. and to inform the design of art experiences in the museum setting. If your readers are interested in this, they can check out the following on the PEM website: https://www.pem.org/neuroscience-initiative 

NG: J. W. Ocker, author of A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts, suggests that Salem might just as well be nicknamed “PEM City” as “Witch City.” Tell us a bit about the PEM’s place in the city’s history and culture.

PR: PEM is the oldest continually operating museum in America, dating back to 1799 when Salem mariners formed the East India Marine Society that collected works of art and culture during global voyages and displayed them to a fascinated public The society developed into the Peabody Museum of Salem. In the 1990s, it merged with the Essex Institute, a museum and library focused on local and regional history, to become the Peabody Essex Museum. Thus, the PEM’s holdings include the Salem witch trials court documents on deposit from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, and a small group of rare objects related to individuals involved in the trials. Today’s PEM continues to modernize with new installations set in bright, light-filled galleries.

NG: This brings us to The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming exhibition that runs through March 20, 2022. Tells us about the thinking behind the exhibit.

PR: In 2020, the PEM had a small exhibition, Salem Witch Trials 1692. Attendance was surprisingly high despite the pandemic lockdown, so the PEM decided to probe the contemporary relevance of the 1692 trials with a second exhibition in 2021.

Our curatorial team, Dan Lipkan, (library director and the project’s self-described “document guy”), associate curator Lydia Gordon (contemporary art expert), and myself (textile and decorative arts specialist), designed a three-part exhibit.

It begins in 1692 with objects and documents from that era that explore what happened and why and sets the stage for two responses by contemporary artists in later sections. Thematic panels and labels, along with a map and transcriptions of the historic documents, provide information and context for what happened in 1692. 

From there, the visitor moves to the works of two contemporary artists linked to 1692 by ancestral ties to victims or victimizers. When fashion designer Alexander McQueen learned he was a descendant of one of the victims, it inspired his 2007 fashion collection, In Memory of Elizabeth How, Salem 1692. And when photographer Frances F. Denny discovered she had an ancestral connection to one of the trial judges, she was motivated to explore modern witches in her Major Arcana: Witches in America portrait series and related book.   

NG: I was fortunate to visit the exhibit in November. I was particularly touched by the display of everyday items belonging to the people who lived during the time of the trials—a trunk that belonged to a witch trial judge and a poignant letter asking for mercy for Elizabeth How, who had a blind husband and six children.

PR: The PEM is fortunate to hold the world’s largest collection of Salem witch trial materials, including some 500 original documents on deposit from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The Alexander McQueen and Elizabeth How section includes documents that record her experiences during the trials and provides a case study on the trials. This includes a section devoted to the years after the trials when families sought to exonerate and provide restitution to the victims. A process that is still going on today—led by a group of Andover middle schoolers! More information here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/woman-convicted-witchcraft-salem-might-be-pardoned-328-years-later-180978487/

NG: How did the PEM find two contemporary artists with such relevant connections?

PR: A curatorial colleague brought Frances F. Denny and her work to the attention of Lydia Gordon, my co-curator. And the PEM already owned the Alexander McQueen gown in its collection. It was a gift of anonymous donors in London who are friends of the Peabody Essex Museum in 2011.

NG: That gown has become an exhibit icon. What is it like protecting such a precious fashion item? What was it like to touch the lovely fabric in that dress?

PR: Working with textiles is a privilege and a challenge. Too much light exposure or mishandling can damage them, so I wear gloves whenever I work with them.

The McQueen gown is a black velvet-silk blend with heavy beading and a slight train. To ensure the train didn’t touch the glass case was one of my challenges. To evoke the 2007 McQueen fashion show, our lighting experts set red illumination beneath the fashion runway-like platform and used low lighting to bring out the shimmer of the gown.

NG: The other featured artist is photographer Frances F. Denny. Visitors are treated to the selected portraits from her book, Major Arcana: Portraits of Witches in America. What can you tell us about Ms. Denny’s work?

PR: Influenced by her ancestor, Salem witch trial judge, Samuel Sewall, Ms. Denny began thinking about the history of patriarchy and how it used words like ‘witch’ to subjugate women. So she set out to explore a diverse cross-section of American women who, in various ways, were reclaiming the word ‘witch.’ To do that, she spent three years photographing self-identified witches from across the country. All of her subjects chose the setting and preferred clothing for their photoshoot. They also wrote accompanying text about what a witch means to them, in their own words. The museum produced an interesting video about the artist and the subjects of this series of artwork that you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAYIjJCYZdI

NG: What are some things you do as a curator that the public isn’t aware of?

PR: Curatorial work is varied and busy. It involves research, working on exhibition planning teams, on acquisitions for the collection, writing articles and publications, presenting at conferences, giving tours, and facilitating other people’s research. It’s a wonderful environment, where I’m always meeting and learning from visiting artists and interesting researchers. I also enjoy interacting with museum visitors about their interests. Recently I was interviewed by two high school students about their history class project. They asked great questions!

NG: To wrap up the interview, we’d love to know what exhibit or exhibits you’re working on next.

PR: Right now, we’re focused on our permanent collection and galleries as well as on upcoming exhibitions. Thanks again for your interest, and the PEM looks forward to you and your readers visiting in person or remotely sometime soon. Here’s a link to our website for more information about this exhibit. https://www.pem.org/blog/behind-the-scenes-of-the-salem-witch-trials-reckoning-and-reclaiming