Today in History: Halloween

Today in History–October 31–the Library of Congress features Halloween. On this day many Americans celebrate spookiness and becoming someone else by dressing in costumes. To learn more about the origins of this fun-filled holiday and ideas for finding unique Halloween primary sources, visit the Today in History section then click the links below to access more primary sources related to Halloween, ghosts, and witches.

Primary source collections

• Halloween & Día de Muertos Research Guide
• LOC Halloween Chambers of Mystery posters available for download
• Halloween images
• Halloween songs & oral histories
• Halloween: Topics in Chronicling America (select newspaper articles 1861-1922)
• More Halloween historical newspaper coverage (articles, photos, ads, & cartoons)
• Halloween Puzzles from the Library of Congress’s Newspaper Collections
• Hallowe’en and Dia de Muertos primary source set
• Halloween & Día de Muertos Resources Folklife Center
• Halloween books
• Halloween Safety Acts (U.S. legislation)
• Witch primary source set
• Spirit photos
• Ghost primary source set
• Bats & Vampires primary source sets
• Costume image set
• Calaveras (skulls) image set
• Ouija Board: Topics in Chronicling America
• Legend of Sleepy Hollow primary source set

Audio recordings

• Scary stories for Halloween Folklife Today podcast 
• Ghost Stories
• Get Ready for Halloween with Jackie Torrence’s “The Golden Arm” Folklife Today article + story audio and transcript
• Folklife Today podcasts
  • Haunting Tunes for Halloween
  • Mr. Fox
  • Scary Stories for Halloween 2019
• Witch songs

Sheet music

• Jack o’lanterns
  • Jack O’lantern
  • Down where the Jack o’lanterns grow
  • The Jack o’lantern girl
  • Jack O’Lantern Joe
  • Jack o’lantern love
  • Jack o’lantern man
  • Jack o’ lantern moon
  • Where the Jack O’Lanterns glow
  • Jack o’lantern fox-trot
  • Jack o’lantern galop
  • Jack o’lantern one step
  • Jack o’lantern waltz
• Ghosts
  • Grandmother tells a ghost-story
  • Denny Malone’s ghost
  • The ghost of Mike Walsh
  • The peanut gal’s ghost
  • The white ghost
• Witches
  • Witches
  • The Witches
  • The Witches carnival
  • Witches’ dance
  • Witches dream
  • Witches flight
  • The Amber witch march
  • Blue-eyed witch galop
  • Overture; Witch and wizard
  • The Wood witch of Malaga

Teaching with the Library: Primary Sources & Ideas for Educators

• Celebrating Halloween by Exploring a “Danse Macabre”
• Celebrating the Mighty Pumpkin with Primary Sources from the Library
• Halloween Primary Sources to Shiver and Shake Up Your Teaching in the Primary Grades
• Tales from the Haunted Library: Halloween Stories and Songs from Our Online Collections

Articles & blog posts

• 10 Stories: Scary Stuff! Chronicling America Timeless Stories from the Library
• Americans Celebrate Halloween America’s Library
• Anoka, Minnesota: The Halloween Capital of the World America’s Library
• The Apocalypse, the Hellmouth, and Spectral Imaging Guardians of Memory
• Arachnophilia: Celebrating Spiders on Halloween Inside Adams
• Bats: Spooky Superheroes? Folklife Today
• Bessie Jones Tells a Spooky Story: ‘Married to the Devil’ Folklife Today
• Caught Our Eyes: Most Original Costume Picture This
• Cooking Up History: Homemade Halloween Minerva’s Kaleidoscope
• Creatures of the Night: Bats Inside Adams
• Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and caldron bubble… In Custodia Legis
• The Evolution of Frankenstein in Comics and Culture: Monster, Villain, and Hero Headlines & Heroes 
• The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows American Folklife Center
• Free Puzzles: Halloween Edition Headlines & Heroes 
• Get Ready for Halloween with Jackie Torrence’s “The Golden Arm” Folklife Today 
• Ghost Stories in Song for Halloween Folklife Today 
• Ghost Tales for Halloween Minerva’s Kaleidoscope 
• A Ghostly Image: Spirit Photographs Timeless Stories from the Library
• A Gorey Story Timeless Stories from the Library
• The Hair-Raising Tale of ‘The Witch Who Kept a Hotel Folklife Today
• Halloween Greetings Unfolding History
• Halloween Highlights Unfolding History
• Happy Halloween! In the Muse 
• Happy Halloween: It’s the “Night of the Hunter” Now See Hear!
• Haunting Songs for Halloween Folklife Today
• The Haunted Houses of Washington Headlines & Heroes
• Hollywood, Houdini and the Halloween Seance of 1936 Timeless Stories from the Library
• Horror Comics: Happy Halloween! Headlines & Heroes 
• La Llorona: Storytelling for Halloween and Día de Muertos Folklife Today 
• More Scary Songs for Halloween Folklife Today
• Neewollah America’s Library
• The Origins of Halloween Traditions Headlines & Heroes 
• Pic of the Week: Halloween Edition In the Muse blog 
• Primary Sources Across the Curriculum: Connecting the Spider Webs Teaching with the Library
• Pumpkins in Pictures Picture This
• Pumpkins, Math, and Primary Sources Teaching with the Library
• Revealing the Presence of Ghosts In Custodia Legis 
• The Season of Edgar Allan Poe: Autumn, Halloween and The Falling Darkness Timeless Stories from the Library
• Some (Spooky, Funny, and Creative) Inspiration for Halloween Pumpkin Decorating Minerva’s Kaleidoscope 
• Spiders and Skin-Changers: Two African American Witch Tales for Halloween Folklife Today
• Spooky Secrets Behind Pop-up Books! Guardians of Memory
• Spooky Stories for Halloween Folklife Today
• Spooky Stories for Halloween Podcasts Folklife Today
• Welcome to Folklife Today: Halloween Folklife Today
• What’s Good Form When Receiving Ghosts New-York Tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 21 Aug. 1921

“Frankenreads” 2018 a Bloomsday-style public read-athon of the novel in its entirety

Related resources

• Primary Source Spotlight: Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead
•  Primary Source Spotlight: Holidays