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Michigan State University

Halloween Exhibit Bibliography: Secondary Sources

This is a guide to older works of folklore, history, and literature that include information on Halloween, secondary sources, and a couple of web sites. We had an exhibit. Last updated 06-07-2023

Secondary Sources

Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt.  Halloween, an American Holiday, an American History NY, Facts on File, c1990. 

Blackburn, Bonnie J.  and Holford-Strevens, Leofranc.  Oxford Companion to the Year. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999.  CE 11 .B58 1999

Briggs, Katharine Mary.  Fairies in Tradition and Literature.  London, Routledge and K. Paul, 1967.  GR 550 .B685 and GR 550 .B685 1967

Christianson, Stephen G.  American Book of Days.  NY, H.W. Wilson Co., 2000.  GT 4803 .D6 2000

Danaher, Kevin.  Year in Ireland Cork, Mercier, [1972]. GT 4846 .D3

Forbes, David Bruce.  America’s Favorite Holidays, Candid Histories.  Oakland, Cal., Univ. of California Press, [2015].  Browsing GT 4803 .F67 2015

“Halloween.”  OED Online. Accessed July 22, 2016. http://www.oed.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/view/Entry/83600?redirectedFrom=halloween#eid

“Halloween.” In Holiday Symbols and Customs, a Guide to the Legend and Lore Behind the Traditions, Rituals, Foods, Games, Animals, and Other Symbols and Activities Associated with Holidays and Holy Days, Feasts and Fasts, and Other Celebrations, Covering Ancient, Calendar, Religious, Historic, Folkloric, National, Promotional, and Sporting Events as Observed in the United States and Around the World.  Detroit, Omnigraphics, [2015], pp. 379-386.  GT 3930 .T48 2015

“Halloween, All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days, October 31-November 2.” In Folklore of American Holidays.  Edited by Hennig Cohen and Tristram Potter Coffin.  Detroit, Gale Research, c1991.  GT 4803 .F65 1991 and Oversize GT 4803 .F65 1987

Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life.  Edited by Jack Santino.  Knoxville, University of Tennessee Press, c1994.  GT 4965 .H32 1994

Hallowe’en Anthology, Literary and Historical Writings Over the Centuries.  Edited by Lisa Morton.  Jefferson, N.C., McFarland and Co., c2008.  PS 509 .H29 H33 2008.

Hutton, Ronald.  Stations of the Sun, a History of the Ritual Year in Britain.  N.Y., Oxford University Press, 1996.  GT 4843.2 .H87 1996

Kittredge, George Lyman.  Witchcraft in Old and New England.  Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Univ. Press, 1929.  BF1581 .K58 and 1956

Lancashire Witches, Their Histories and Stories Edited by Robert Poole.  Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2002.  BF 1584 .G7 L35 2002

Linton, Ralph and Adelin.  Halloween through Twenty Centuries.  N.Y., Henry Schuman, c1950.  GT 4965 .L4

McGann.  Planning for Halloween, Large and Small Groups and Community-Wide Celebrations.  N.Y., National Recreation Association, 1954.  GT 4965 .M3

Maxwell-Stuart, P.G. British Witch, the Biography Gloucestershire, Amberley, 2014. BF 1581 .M39 2014

Morton, Lisa.  Halloween Encyclopedia.  Jefferson, N.C., McFarland and Co., c2011. 

Morton, Lisa.  “Halloween.”  In Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets Oxford, OUP, 2015.  Accessed Aug. 10, 2016. http://www.oxfordreference.com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199313396.001.0001/acref-9780199313396-e-239#

Morton, Lisa.  Trick or Treat, a History of Halloween.  London, Reaktion Books, 2012. GT 4965 .M67 2013

Ocker, J.W. Season of the Witch, the Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts.  NY, WW Norton, 2016.  due out fall, 2016

RavenWolf, Silver.  Halloween, Customs, Recipes, Spells.  St. Paul, Minn., Llewellyn Publications, 1999.  GT 4965 .R35 1999.

Rogers, Nicholas.  Halloween, from Pagan Ritual to Party Night.  N.Y., Oxford University Press, c2002. GT 4965 .R634 2002.

Russell, Jeffrey Burton.  Witchcraft in the Middle Ages.  Ithaca, NY, Cornell Univ. Press, c1972.  BF 1569 .R88

Santino, Jack.  All Round the Year, Holidays and Celebrations in American LifeUrbana, U. of Illinois Press, c1994. GT 4803 .A2 S26 1994

Santino, Jack.  Hallowed Eve, Dimensions of Culture in a Calendar Festival in Northern Ireland.  Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, c1998.  GT 4965 .S25 1998

Schauffler, Robert Haven.  Hallowe’en its Origin, Spirit, Celebration, and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse, Together with Hallowe’en Stories, Plays, Pantomimes; and Suggestions for Games, Stunts, Parties, Feasts and Decorations.  N.Y., Dodd, Mead and Company, 1938. GT 3939 .O8 v. 9

Schneider, Stuart.  Halloween in America, a Collector’s Guide with Prices.  Atglen, PA, Schiffer Publishing, c2010

Skall, David J.  Death Makes a Holiday, a Cultural History of Halloween N.Y., Bloomsbury, c2002.  GT 4965 .S58 2002

“Trick or Treat.” OED OnlineAccessed Aug. 10, 2016.  http://www.oed.com.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/view/Entry/205842?redirectedFrom=trick+or+treat#eid17823526

Truwe, Ben.  Halloween Catalog Collection, 55 Catalogs from the Golden Age of Halloween.  Medford, Ore., Talky Tina Press, 2003.  Not owned; borrowed on ILL.

Weston, Nancy.  Daniel Maclise, Irish Artist in Victorian London Dublin, Four Courts Press, c2001.  FA ND 497 .M25 W478 2001.  Has a famous image in b/w from 1833 called “Snap Apple Night, or All Hallow’s Eve in Ireland” which shows people bobbing for apples.