This is a blog post by Lily Tyndall, a Library Technician in the General Collections Conservation Section, originally published in Guardians of Memory: Preserving the National Collection. When she isn’t repairing books, you can probably find her watching a Marvel movie!
Did you know that there are comic books at the Library of Congress? It might seem surprising, but it’s true! The Library has over 140,000 comic issues from over 12,000 titles, making it the largest public collection in the nation. Featuring single issues and bound volumes of comics from Superman to self-published comic books and zines, the Library’s collection works to highlight American popular culture, political issues, publishing trends, and artistic techniques. According to the collecting policy, this vast comic collection “represents the diversity of format and viewpoint of American creators over time” and is incredibly diverse, featuring both American and foreign comics, singular comic stories and series, and a wide range of cool subjects.
