Sources
The Distaff Podcast Season 1
Episode One: The Distaff: A Symbol of Women’s Work
Gaskill, Malcolm. The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World. Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.
Malcolm Gaskill is Emeritus Professor of Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. His latest book is *[The Ruin of All Witches: Life & Death in the New World](https://amzn.to/3XvblIZ).*
Hall, David D. . Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A Documentary History, 1638-1693. Second Edition, Duke University Press, 1991.
Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts, (1639-1702) The Pynchon Court Record. Harvard University Press, 1961.
Schiff, Stacy. The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem. First Back Bay trade paperback edition, Back Bay Books / Little, Brown and Company, 2016.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010.
Pynchon, William; Burt, Henry. The First Century of the History of Springfield (1636-1736). Hanse Books, Henry M. Burt, 1899.
Episode Two: Take Me To Church, Springfield MA Bay Colony
Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts, (1639-1702) The Pynchon Court Record. Harvard University Press, 1961.
Medicine and Healing. The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings 1990. Boston University, 1992
Swanson, James L. The Deerfield Massacre: A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in Early America. 1st ed, Scribner, 2024.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010.
Episode Three: Lascivious Women, Colonially Speaking
Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts, (1639-1702) The Pynchon Court Record. Harvard University Press, 1961.
Medicine and Healing. The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings 1990. Boston University, 1992
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010.
Episode Four: Dear Prudence
Hall, David D. . Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A Documentary History, 1638-1693. Second Edition, Duke University Press, 1991.
Gaskill, Malcolm. The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World. Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.
Hawke, David Freeman. Everday Life in Early America. Harper-Collins Publishers, 1988.
Lockridge, Kenneth A. “Stephen Innes. Labor in a New Land: Economy and Society in Seventeenth-Century Springfield . Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1983. Pp. Xxi, 463. Cloth $35.00, Paper $7.95.” The American Historical Review, vol. 89, no. 3, Jun. 1984, pp. 840–41. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/89.3.840.
Morgan Genealogy
by Nathaniel H. Morgan [This has Titus’ writing about Miles Morgan and Prudence]https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24189989M/Morgan_genealogy
William Pynchon Papers, Mss 236. Courtesy of Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Rowley, MA. https://pem.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/203 Accessed October 24, 2025.
The Miles Morgan family of Springfield, Massachusetts, in the line of Joseph Morgan of Harford, Connecticut, 1780-1847. Frank Farnsworth. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89061980793&seq=20
Dear Prudence…”"Surely these were Amazonian times when women had strength."
Episode Five: The Indigenous Woman and the Puritan Woman. Same Land, Different Worlds. S:1, E:5
Cajune, Julie. Our Way: —A Parallel History: An Anthology of Native History, Reflection, and Story. Fulcrum Publishing, 2023.
Ehrenreich, Barbara, and Deirdre English. Witches, Midwives & Nurses: A History of Women Healers. Second edition, The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2010. Contemporary Classics. Open WorldCat.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013.
Hämäläinen, Pekka. Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest For North America. First published as a Liverlight paperback, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
Patterson, Alex. A Field Guide to Rock Art Symbols of the Greater Southwest. Johnson Books, 1992.
Episode Six: Birthin’ Babies. Midwifery in Springfield. S1:E6
Aristotle. The Works of Aristotle the Famous Philosopher: Containing his Complete Masterpiece and Family Physician; his Experienced Midwife, his book of Problems and his Remarks on Physiognomy. Legare Street Press, 2022.
Chandler, Abby. “From Birthing Chamber to Court Room: The Medical and Legal Communities of the Colonial Essex County Midwife.” Early Modern Women: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, Spring 2015.https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.1086/EMW26431318
Culpepper, Nicholas. “Culpepper’s Compleat and Experienced Midwife: In two Parts. I.. A Guide for Child-bearing Women, …II. Proper and Safe Remedies. Made Englishg by W. S. M.D. The Fifth Edition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1385455748?psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp
Evenden, Doreen. The Midwives of Seventeenth-Century London. 1. publ, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000. Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine. K10plus ISBN.
Gaskill, Malcolm. The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World. Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.
Gaskin, Ina May.(2002) Spiritual Midwifery. 4th Edition. Summertown, Tenn. Book Pub. Company.
Hall, David D. . Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A Documentary History, 1638-1693. Second Edition, Duke University Press, 1991.
Hawke, David Freeman. Everday Life in Early America. Harper-Collins Publishers, 1988.
Hayes, Kevin J. A Colonial Woman’s Bookshelf. 1. ed, University of Tennessee Press, 1996. K10plus ISBN.
Peter Murray Jones, Lea T. Olsan, “Performative Rituals for Conception and Childbirth in England, 900-1500.” Jones PM, Olsan LT. Performative Rituals for Conception and Childbirth in England, 900-1500. Bull Hist Med. 2015 Fall;89(3):406-33. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4696514/
Kirkman, Alyssa. "The Meeting of Mothers, Midwives, and Men." Tenor Of Our Times, Vol. 2, 2013. https://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=tenor
Lockridge, Kenneth A. “Stephen Innes. Labor in a New Land: Economy and Society in Seventeenth-Century Springfield . Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Mather, Cotton. Elizabeth in her holy retirement. An essay to prepare a pious woman for her lying in. Or, Maxims and methods of piety, to direct and support an handmaid of the Lord, who expects a time of travail. Printed by B. Green, for Nicholas Boone, at his shop in Corn Hill, 1710. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=evans;cc=evans;rgn=main;view=text;idno=N01226.0001.001
Maubray, John. The Female Physician, containing all the diseases incident to that sex, in virgins, wives, and widows: together with their causes and symptoms, their degrees of danger, and respective methods of prevention and cure: to which is added, the whole art of new improv’d midwifery, comprehending the necessary qualifications of a midwife, and particular directions for laying women, in cases of difficult and preternatural births, together with tegh diet and regimen of both the mother and child. London, 1724. https://archive.org/details/femalephysicianc00maub
Mauriceau, Francis. Historical Perspective: A Book Review of The Diseases of Women With Child and in Child Bed: As Also, the Best Means of Helping Them in Naturaland unnatural Labours. To Which is Prefix’d an Exact Description of the Parts of Generation in Women. Written in French by Francis Mauriceau, Translated by Hugh Chamberlen, Sr., MD. 1716. Eighteenth Century Collections Online PRint Editions: Medicine, Science and Technology.
Romeo, Emily C. K. The Virtuous and Violent Women of Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts. University of Massachusetts Press, 2020.
Catherine M. Scholten, "On the Importance of the Obstetrick Art": Changing Customs of Childbirth in America, 1760 to 1825, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul., 1977), pp. 426-445
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. A Midwife's Tale : the Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. New York :Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1990.
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher. Good Wives: Images and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750. First Vintage Books Edition, Vintage Books, 1991.
Wertz, Richard W., and Dorothy C. Wertz, editors. Lying-in: A History of Childbirth in America. Expanded ed, Yale University Press, 1989. K10plus ISBN.
William Pynchon Papers, Mss 236. Courtesy of Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum, Rowley, MA. https://pem.as.atlas-sys.com/repositories/2/resources/203 Accessed October 24, 2025.
Winthrop Papers. Massachusetts Historical Society, et al.. Winthrop Papers. [Boston]: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1929.https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0294
Childbirth in Colonial America. Elaine Marie Cooper. 2019 https://www.hhhistory.com/2019/08/childbirth-in-colonial-america.html
Childbirth in America two sources. https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/topic_display.cfm?tcid=70
Confessions of a Colonial Midwife-GenealogyMagazine.com. Melissa Berry, 2015.https://www.genealogymagazine.com/confessions-of-a-colonial-midwife/
“How Competent Were 17th Century Midwives? Separating Fact from Fiction.” Dr. Julia Martins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vjRO_irZb4
Reducing fear of birth in U.S. culture: Ina May Gaskin at TEDxSacramento
Women Who Taught Themselves How To Deliver Babies | Birth Story | Documentary Central
Ina May Gaskin on Birth Matters: A Midwife's Manifesta
Medicine and Healing. The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings 1990. Boston University, 1992