EP #85 - Inside The Salem Witch Museum: Education, Myths, And A Modern Refresh

Step into the Salem Witch Museum with Rachel Chris-Doane, its director of education, and explore an immersive audiovisual journey through the 1692 witch trials, complemented by a docent-led exhibit on European witch hunts and the evolving image of the witch. Rachel dispels the myth that the museum is stuck in 1972, highlighting its 2020 exhibit renovation, growing artifact collection, and a planned 2027 theater upgrade, all designed to separate fact from fiction and underscore the trials’ modern relevance to truth, fear, and justice.

Rachel shares her unexpected path to museum education after a denied Fulbright application, revealing how career pivots can fuel purpose in the humanities. The museum expands access through free virtual programs, in-house lectures, and recorded global historian talks, making credible history engaging and accessible, whether you visit Salem or explore from home.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Yuan Godfrey.

SPEAKER_01 (00:12):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today we have the distinctpleasure to introduce to our
listeners Rachel Chris Done.
She is the director of educationwith the Salem Witch Museum.
Rachel, how are you thismorning?
I'm well.
How are you?
Good, good, good, good.
I'm well.
Thank you for asking.
So, Rachel, can you please tellour listeners about the Salem

(00:36):
Witch Museum?

SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
Absolutely.
The Salem Witch Museum wasfounded in 1972.
We are kind of a non-traditionalformat.
We offer two uh exhibits.
The first is an audio visualpresentation that focuses on the
Salem witch trials.
The second is a docent-led tourof an exhibit space with some
artifacts relating to theEuropean witch trials, the
evolving image of the witch, uh,and the importance of studying

(01:01):
these um historical events.
Beautiful.
How did you get into thisprofession?
I was actually an undergraduatestudent, just interested in
working in a museum.
I applied to a bunch of museumsacross Massachusetts and kind of
by chance I ended up at theSalem Witch Museum and just
never left.
It's been about 10 years now,and I've really enjoyed my time

(01:23):
here.

SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
Beautiful.
So what are some myths ormisconception about the Salem
Witch Museum that you can sharewith our listeners?

SPEAKER_02 (01:33):
Well, we oftentimes hear in popular public culture
today that we haven't updated,which actually isn't true.
We we were founded in 1972 andwe've been going through a
series of museum-wide updatesactually over the past 15 years
or so.
Um so our secondary exhibitspace was fully renovated in
2020, which was very exciting.

(01:53):
Um we've been adding in anartifact collection slowly over
the years, which has been a verybig undertaking for us.
And we're just about to finishum the renovation of our main
exhibit space, our main theater,which hopefully should be done
in early 2027.

SPEAKER_01 (02:08):
That sounds exciting, especially for the
tourists.
So outside of work, Rachel, whatdo you do for fun?

SPEAKER_02 (02:14):
Uh, as is probably fairly predictable, I do a lot
of reading.
Um, reading, knitting, you know,that kind of stuff.
Um I really love learning abouthistory, not just the sandwich
trials, but kind of all periodsof history.
I think that's um what I'musually drawn to in literature.

SPEAKER_01 (02:31):
Beautiful.
Thank you for sharing.
So, change in gears, Rachel, canyou describe one hardship or one
of life's challenge that yourose above and can now say
because of it, you're better,you're stronger.
What comes to your mind?

SPEAKER_02 (02:45):
Actually, ironically, uh when I first
graduated call undergraduate,um, caught my undergraduate uh
experience, I wasn't planning onstaying at the Salem Witch
Museum.
I was then employed as just ageneral floor staff uh tour
guide, and I had applied to do aFulbright scholarship um in
Greece, and I was hoping tobecome a teacher.

(03:06):
Um, and I uh was denied theopportunity and was incredibly
devastated at the time.
But um right around that sametime, the person who was doing
the job of the educationdirector at the Salem Witch
Museum stepped down and thiskind of incredible job
opportunity opened right beforeme.
So even though at the time itfelt devastating and it felt
like my career wasn't going inthe right direction, uh, I ended

(03:30):
up in museum education, which isincredibly interesting and
rewarding.
And I don't think I would havegone in that direction if that
uh if I hadn't been denied thatjob at that time.
So it all worked out very well.

SPEAKER_01 (03:43):
Always works out in the end.
Beautiful, beautiful.
Rachel, please tell ourlisteners one thing they should
remember about the Salem WitchMuseum.

SPEAKER_02 (03:52):
Well, we are kind of always evolving, as I said, um,
and we really do a lot tostretch beyond our building
because we are housed in anincredible uh 19th century
building, but with that umbeautiful structure come spatial
limitations.
We're kind of bursting out thescenes.
So we offer free virtualprogramming throughout the year,

(04:14):
which I think especially localaudiences may not be aware of.
We do our best to make as muchfree and accessible to our
audience as possible.
Um, so these are in-housewritten lectures on a wide
variety of subjects, as well asuh we will host historians and
authors, uh, both uh nationallybased and internationally
located.

(04:34):
Um, and those are all recordedand available on our website for
future viewing as well.

SPEAKER_01 (04:40):
Nice, thank you.
So, do you have a website?
How can our listeners learnmore?

SPEAKER_02 (04:45):
Yes, we our website is uh Salemwichmuseum.com, and I
also encourage everyone tofollow us on social media at
Salem Witch Museum on Facebook,Instagram, uh, TikTok, and blue
guy.

SPEAKER_01 (04:57):
Beautiful.
Rachel, we really appreciate youbeing on the show with us today.
We wish you and the Salem WitchMuseum all the very best moving
forward.
Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 (05:11):
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