Faculty & Staff
Mark Herlihy, co-director
Dr. Mark Herlihy is Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Communication, and Humanities at Endicott College. Dr. Herlihy introduced the Salem witch trials course at Endicott in 2001 and has been teaching it and courses such as Boston History ever since. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in American Civilization at Brown University, and a B.A. in English at Tufts University. He is a past president of the New England Historical Association, regional affiliate of the American Historical Association.
Elizabeth Matelski, co-director
Dr. Elizabeth Matelski is Associate Professor of History at Endicott College. She has taught Endicott’s Salem witch trials course since joining the faculty in 2016. As an outgrowth of her participation in Endicott’s Digital Liberal Arts initiative, she developed an innovative “What Makes a Witch” assignment using social network analysis for her witch trials class. She contributed to the anthology, Quick Hits: Teaching with Digital Humanities on the subject of the Salem witch trials and served as a research consultant for the witch-hunt themed museum exhibit, “Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare,” at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee. In 2022, Dr. Matelski was awarded Endicott’s Academic Excellence Award, which recognizes a faculty member for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service to the College. Dr. Matelski earned a Ph.D. in History at Loyola University Chicago, and a B.A. in History at Ripon College.
Charlotte Gordon, senior advisor
Dr. Charlotte Gordon is Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Endicott College and Director of the Tadler Center for Humanities. She teaches Early American Literature at Endicott among other courses. Her many publications include the prize-winning Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America's First Poet (Little, Brown and Company, 2005) about early Puritan settler and writer Anne Bradstreet, and Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley (Random House, 2015) which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. Her most recent book is Mary Shelley: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2022). Dr. Gordon earned a Ph.D. in History and Literature at Boston University, and a B.A. in English and American Literature at Harvard University.
Luke Reynolds, K-12 advisor
Dr. Luke Reynolds is Assistant Professor of Education at Endicott College. In addition to guiding secondary English and History licensure candidates at Endicott during their student teaching practicums, he teaches Introduction to Secondary Education, Content Area Literacy, and Classroom Assessment. He earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College, an M.A. in English, Creative Writing Concentration, from Northern Arizona University, and a B.A. in Education and English from Gordon College. Dr. Reynolds was the 2019 recipient of Endicott College’s Excellence in Teaching Award. His latest book is Braver Than I Thought: Real People. Real Courage. Real Stories (Simon & Schuster/Beyond Words, 2022).
Visiting Scholars
Dr. Richard Godbeer is Director of the Hall Center for the Humanities and Charles W. Battey Distinguished Professor for the Department of History at the University of Kansas. He is the author of five books, including Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692, The Salem Witch Hunt: A Brief History with Documents, and The Devil's Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England. He teaches Witchcraft in Early America, and Religious Culture in Early America, among other courses, and earned a Ph.D. from Brandeis University and a B.A. from Oxford University.
Dr. Emerson W. Baker is Professor of History at Salem State University. A distinguished scholar and historian, Tad Baker is nationally recognized for his expertise on witchcraft in early New England. His most recent book A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience (Oxford University Press, 2015), has been described by critics as “a masterpiece.” He is a member of the Gallows Hills Project team, which confirmed the execution site of the Salem witch trials, a confirmation that was named by Archaeology Magazine as one of the top 10 discoveries in archaeology in 2016.
Independent scholar Margo Burns is Associate Editor and Project Manager of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (Cambridge UP, 2009), and has published numerous articles and presented scholarly papers on witchcraft in colonial New England. She is currently working on a book about William Stoughton, Chief Magistrate of the Salem witch trials.
Dr. Benjamin Ray is Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia, the author of Satan and Salem: The Witch-hunt Crisis of 1692 (2015), Associate Editor of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (Cambridge UP, 2009), and Director of the University of Virginia’s “Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project.”
Dr. Elizabeth Reis is Professor Emeritus, University of Oregon. She is the author of Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England (Cornell University Press, 1997) and the editor of Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America (Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1998).
Daniel A. Gagnon is the author of A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse and his research has focused on the Salem Village Witch-Hunt of 1692, along with Danvers history in general. He serves on the board of directors of the Rebecca Nurse Homestead Museum in Danvers, and is the Chairman of the Town of Danvers’ Salem Village Historic District Commission. His research was featured on C-SPAN’s television program American History TV, and he has served as a subject-matter expert for local media.
Public History Partners
Ellie Gettinger, Director of digital learning at the Jewish Theological Seminary and past Education Director at Jewish Museum Milwaukee. Curator of Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare
Jennifer Hornsby, Reference and Access Services Librarian at the Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum
Rachel Christ-Doane, Director of Education at the Salem Witch Museum and Board Member, Voices Against Injustice. Director of Education at the Salem Witch Museum since 2018, Rachel works with students and teachers, curates the museum’s exhibits, directs staff training, and coordinates the museum’s educational programming.