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Posted by: Malea Walker
“Murder Straight Ahead,” “Yesterday I Lived!”, “The Lonely Corpse." With titles like these, who could resist these stories? In an era before television or even paperback books, people found excitement and entertainment in the form of pulp fiction magazines. Read more about the collections in the Newspaper Reading Room!
Posted in: Interviews, Pulp Fiction
Posted by: Megan Halsband
Legendary artist Marie Severin passed away a few weeks ago, and I wanted to take a moment to share some of her works that are available at the Library of Congress and highlight her decades-long career in the comic book industry. Marie began working as a colorist for EC (Entertaining Comics) in the 1950’s and …
Posted in: Biography, Comic Books, Women's History
Posted by: Megan Halsband
For me, the end of the summer has become a time of year when I get to work extensively with our independent comic materials in the Small Press Expo Collection. Every year since 2011, staff from the Library of Congress have attended the Small Press Expo, a festival dedicated to celebrating all things indie comics, …
Posted in: Comic Books, Web Archives, Web Comics
Posted by: Arlene Balkansky
Many of us remember exactly where we were when the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred. We remember the coverage on TV, radio, and in newspapers, and many of us saved those newspapers.
Posted in: Newspapers
Posted by: Amber Paranick
Canadian-born Gladys Louise Smith was just 5 years old when her father died, plunging her family into poverty. Gladys’ mother, Charlotte, a classic stage mother of the day, pushed her young children– Lottie, Jack, and “Baby Gladys” — into the theatre in hopes of making money. Gladys soon caught the eye of Broadway impresario, David …
Posted in: Biography, Digitized Newspapers, Women's History
Posted by: Malea Walker
While most people may be aware of the greater Allied effort in World War II, few people know that several Latin American countries were also formal allies. In Latin American countries, newspapers printed their support in editorials and images.
Posted in: Hispanic American History, Newspapers, World War II
Posted by: Heather Thomas
Never before had a congressional hearing been described as “UPROARIOUS,” until master magician and escape artist Harry Houdini provided expert testimony in which he delivered a lively and compelling case against the supernatural. For years, Houdini had worked tirelessly to debunk spirit mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead. He viewed them as “ghost …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers, Newspapers
Posted by: Megan Halsband
Could a picture be worth more than a thousand words? For anyone trying to find an elusive photograph, illustration, or comic in a historic newspaper – the answer might be yes! Searching for these types of images is dramatically easier thanks to digitization efforts, such as the National Digital Newspaper Program, which makes millions of …
Posted in: Digitized Newspapers
Posted by: Malea Walker
If hippopotamus was on the menu, would you try it? That’s what America almost did in 1910! Corporate beef monopolies, stricter regulations, and meat shortages all combined to create soaring meat prices nationwide. Senator Robert Broussard proposed a solution: import African animals to the U.S. for meat (61st Cong. 2nd sess. H.R. 23261). Broussard brought …
Posted in: Comic Books, Digitized Newspapers, Government Documents