Before I even began to do my research, I knew I wanted to tell the story based on the events that happened and what events of the trial led it to become sensational. After deciding on this, I began to do my research. I began my research by starting with the basics, where it happened, what happened, and how did it happen. This provided a nice introduction to the crime and trial and gave those who may view this a better understanding of the events if they are not as familiar with Lizzie Borden and the crime. I then turned my focus on finding newspaper articles following the crime. I wanted to view how the media publicized the murders and how that may have changed the views of Lizzie Borden. Moving on, I focused my research on those involved in the trial, specifically the jury, and how that may have changed or skewed the outcome. I also focused on the evidence that was presented to the jury again, to better understand the minds of the jury when the decision was made. Making it a point to discover why she was acquitted was a big deal to me. The reasons to set a so- called “murderer” free can tell a lot about the crime itself, the murderer, and the jury. Once I uncovered the reasons behind the trial, I geared my research back to finding newspaper articles immediately following the crime to view how not only Massachusetts, but America as a whole, viewed the crime. I pulled an article from the Chicago Tribune which is long distance from Massachusetts to see just how sensational this crime was. I struggled finding video clips during the time of the trial so I decided to change my direction of my story a little and find a recent video, to again, highlight the idea that this is such a sensational trial. I decided to focus on this story line because I wanted to focus more on the evidence to really understand how people viewed women committing such violent crimes and how the minds of those involved in the trial worked. Overall, I really wanted to create a story to fully expose all aspects of the trial and crime and be able to understand why this case is considered to be a sensational case.
Some struggles I encountered revolved around finding a video. I searched the library database for videos but unfortunately could not find any. I then shifted my focus on finding relatively recent videos about the Lizzie Borden case. By switching to videos created more recently, it really emphasizes how sensational this trial was. I also had some trouble with finding images of primary sources. I wanted to really highlight the newspaper articles from around the time the crime and trial occurred but I could not really find images of them, just the article itself. I overcame this by using my computers screenshot ability and took a screenshot of the newspaper article. I then uploaded it to my library on my WordPress website to get the URL to input into the google sheet.
Bibliography
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“Andrew Borden.” Wikimedia. Accessed October 23, 2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/AndrewBorden.jpg.
“Elizabeth Montgomery , Katherine Helmond, the Legend of Lizzie Borden.” Digital image. Wikiemedia. Accessed October 23, 2016. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Elizabeth_Montgomery_Katherine_Helmond_Legend_of_Lizzie_Borden_2.JPG
Foley, Jack. “Timeline: The Lives of Lizzie, Emma, Abby and Andrew Borden.” Herald News.com. August 2, 2013. Accessed October 23, 2016. http://www.heraldnews.com/x273442964/Timeline-The-lives-of-Lizzie-Emma-Abby-and-Andrew-Borden.
HOWARD, J., J. (1893, Jun 13). SHED TEARS OF JOY. Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922) Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/174838218?accountid=14541
“Lizzie Borden House.” Digital image. Wikimedia. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/LizzieBordenhouse.jpg.
Screen shot from the Chicago Tribune. Digital image. Tnahist390.com. Accessed October 23, 2016. http://studentwork.erinbush.org/lizzieborden/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-22-at-10.32.21-PM.png.
Screen shot of newspaper. Digital image. Tnahist390.com. Accessed October 23, 2016. http://studentwork.erinbush.org/lizzieborden/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/10/Screen-Shot-2016-10-12-at-1.55.53-PM.png.
Lizzie Borden: The TRUE Story & The Murder House Today. Directed by Tim Estiloz. Lizzie Borden: The TRUE Story & The Murder House Today. Accessed October 23, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBIcWr1-rZk.
“Topics in Chronicling America – The Arrest and … – Loc.gov.” Accessed October 23, 2016. https://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/borden.html.
“TWELVE CUTS.” Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922), Aug 05, 1892. http://search.proquest.com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/497206955?accountid=14541.