Networks:

All the network graphs on this site were created through the same method, although the definition of relationships depends on the graph.  Each section includes the definition used to determine what qualified as a relationship for the specific network.  The method for creating the graphs was consistent.  All graphs were made through NodeXL from the Social Media Research Foundation.  The sources of all the relationships was Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt edited by Bernard Rosenthal.  Through a careful reading of the documents, I created an edge list for each graph based on the documents.  These lists are pairs of names for the two people involved in a relationship.  In order to avoid omitting a relationship and to allow further analysis based on certain documents or a limited time span, each relationship was inputted to a spreadsheet regardless of repetition.  This produced an edge list with 18,864 pairs of names for the Master Network while it only contained 9,870 unique pairs.   The list was put through NodeXL to merge repeated edges, calculate statistical information, and graph the pairs.  The Newton Network edge list was taken from this original list and the Spectral Network was completed through the same process on a smaller scale.

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Accusations:

The data for the Accusations section also came from Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt.  By reading the original court records, I tracked the dates for the first time an accuser named a suspect.  For many suspects, this provided a clear date and accuser while others remain undetermined based on the existing documents.  Ironically, this digital history project tracked this data with a pen and paper rather than a computer or Word document.  I gave every suspect a sheet of paper as they appeared as a suspect in a chronological read of the court documents.  At every mention of the suspect in an accusation, I wrote down the name of the accuser and the date to determine who first named a suspect, and who picked up the accusation.  I found 177 suspects named at some point during the trials, although not all were arrested or engaged in the legal process.  This included a review of Marilynne K. Roach's biographies to confirm the names of accused suspects and others not mentioned in court documents.  However, only suspects where I found documentary evidence of an accusation are included.