Dear ARLIS-folks:
Thanks for your help identifying comics/comix collections and archives—I
received many responses which I will pass along to our faculty member.
Some of you also asked me to summarize the responses for the list. I
tried to organize the responses, eliminate duplicates, and retain the
respondent’s own description . When several people recommended the same
source, I kept only those with different or additional information. I
did not attempt to verify the information. I accept responsibility for
any mistakes that may have occurred in putting together the summary.
Thanks again to everyone who took the time to answer—you’re terrific!
Cris
Here’s the summary:
BOWLING GREEN UNIVERSITY
Several people recommended Bowling Green’s very good popular culture
collection http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/pcl/pcl.html
BROWN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
We are indeed collecting comics. We have the Ciaraldi Collection and
the Poulin Collection (total - about 70,000 items). Ciaraldi is
particularly interesting; the dates are roughly mid-70s to the present
and feature many smalll-press publishers of comics. This nicely
complements our holdings of small press literary magazines from the same
period and gives both collections an interesting added dimension.
Here's the url for the online catalog record for the Ciaraldi
Collection:
http://library.brown.edu/search/l?SEARCH=collections+ciaraldi
And an article on it in our Library newsletter:
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/publications/Bibliofile/Biblio29/MCC.html
The Poulin Collection covers roughly the same dates, but is mostly
Marvel and DC superheroes. We also have collections of Defiant and
Valiant; one of the publishers was a Brown grad. Processing of all the
collections is sketchy, and ongoing. We've essentially got lists of
titles in databases; we can find anything a person wants, but there's
no individual cataloging (yet).
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY-FULLERTON
has a special collection called "Archives of Popular Culture" which
includes comics. I don't know if they try to be comprehensive. Check
at http://library.fullerton.edu.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Many respondents recommended MSU. Here are several descriptions:
Special Collections Library at Michigan State University as having a
highly respected collection.
http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/spec_col/nye/comic/index.htm
Comics Research Libraries web site maintained at Michigan State Univ.:
http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/director/comres.htm (which includes
descriptions of the collections) and to the Comics Scholars Discussion
List & its home page at:
http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~epk93002/comixschl/index.html. This latest
group includes
links to libraries & museums (but not all the links are up-to-date)
MSU (http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/index.htm) has a substantial
collection and even publishes a newsletter, so maybe they're currently
doing the most comprehensive collecting in the U.S.: Comic art studies :
a newsletter from the Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collection. East
Lansing, Mich. : Michigan State University Libraries, Russel B. Nye
Popular Culture Collection, (1992- ) ISSN: 1062-6964 OCLC NUMBER:
25698369
MOCA
We do not have a comprehensive collection. However, MOCA and UCLA Hammer
are organizing a joint exhibition on comics for 2005. UCLA will show the
first part of the 20th century, we will do the second half.
NAVARRO COLLEGE
We have a comic book collection. About a year ago we received the first
installment of a donation that will total approx. 30,000 items. Due to
space limitations and staff limitations, we have not done anything more
with the collection beyond the donor's database that he created. Comic
books are no longer part of our collecting scope. We were committed to
this donation by a previous administration so once this donation is
received we will not continue to acquire comic books.
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
Also recommended by several. Here are the descriptions:
Ohio State University published between 1994-1997 the magazine Inks.
Comic and Comic Art
Cartoon Research Library at Ohio State University:
http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/cgaweb/. They attempt to be comprehensive
for American comix.
There is the Comic Reseach Library, in Columbus Ohio. They are part of
Ohio State and mostly handle newspaper strips.
RISD
We are developing a significant collection of comics and graphic novels
here at RISD, thanks entirely to the generosity and expertise of an
alum. He clearly knows the subject and has made thoughtful purchases; he
is particularly interested in building a comprehensive collection of all
of
the hardbound comic book reprints. Since he started this process as a
student, he used a pseudonym as donor, so you can see the extent of the
gift by doing a keyword search in the RISD catalog under Muhquay.
http://library.risd.edu/search
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN
We have comix, comics too. For comix, the best guide is Jay Kennedy's
price guide. We have a number of "underground" comics and you can find
most, if not all, on MadCat, the UW's online catalog. We are selective
but have a number of interesting items. As there are so many items under
comics, the researcher, or you, would have to be patient in looking
through the records.
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY We are collecting comic book, see our
web site: http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/comicbk1.html
OTHER REOURCES
http://slis.cua.edu/ihy/sp2000/Comic/speccol.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/gnlib/ (graphic novel librarians
listserve)
Scott, Randall W. (Randall William), 1947- Comics librarianship : a
handbook / by Randall W. Scott. Forewords by Sanford Berman and
Catherine Yronwode. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, 1990.
INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES
Of course there are also quite a few comic book museums in the U.S. &
abroad. Check the standard museum directories (or search the web) for
specific locations. Did you hear the N.P.R. report about the comic book
festival in Angouleme, France? That's where the French
have their Musee de la Bande Dessinee and the Centre National de la
Bande Dessinee et de l'Image (http://cnbdi.labd.com/). The Centre Belge
de la Bande Dessinee also has a library (and in Belgium you'll even find
public sculptures and murals of popular BD (comic book)
characters....). And of course Japan has several Manga museums.
--
Cristine C. Rom, Library Director
Gund Library, Cleveland Institute of Art
11141 East Blvd, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
(216) 421-7440, (216) 421-7439 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
www.cia.edu
__________________________________________________________________
Mail submissions to [log in to unmask]
For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
http://www.arlisna.org//membership.html
Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc)
to [log in to unmask]
ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance:
http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html
Questions may be addressed to list owner (Kerri Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
|
