Are you a wizard? Even if you’re not, you might be able to help the Newberry Library dig into some magical manuscripts. As Chicagoist reported this morning (via a post on Atlas Obscura), the Chicago research library has posted a number of early modern manuscripts to its website for a crowdsourced transcription and translation project.
The handwritten texts, which will be part of the upcoming exhibition “Religious Change, 1450–1700,” include “The Book of Magical Charms,” a collection of spells and incantations, as well as “Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcrafts,” a consideration of the Salem Witch Trials penned by Puritan minister Increase Mather. If you can translate Latin to English, or if you just feel confident making out post-medieval handwriting, you can dive in online to help make these historical documents more accessible.
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