Guy Fawkes in America

To the Editors:

I am engaged in a study of the 1605 Conspiracy, sometimes known as The Gunpowder Plot, in which Guy Fawkes and other Catholic conspirators either planned or did not plan to blow up the British Parliament including King James I and the royal family. Celebrations of the event—that is to say, the preservation of Parliament and Monarchy—still take place very widely in Britain on 5 November with bonfires, on which a “guy” is burnt, and fireworks, although the anti-Catholic for which they originally stood has died down. I should be interested to hear counts of any such celebrations either currently or in the past which have traveled the States; in particular I should like to hear if they had a specific anti-Catholic slant.

Antonia Fraser
52 Campden Hill Square
London W8 7JR, England