Spider-Man battles Wonder Woman, Kirk and Spock engage in a heated love affair and the Pillsbury Doughboy holds a conversation with Big Foot. The Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies is the place to witness all the action.
From comic books to DVD’s, The Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies has the largest and most comprehensive collection of popular Culture materials in the U.S.
The collection, which began in the late 1960’s, includes DVD’s, magazines, comic books, graphic novels, original TV and motion picture scripts, fanzines, postcards, posters, romance novels and much more.
Nancy Down, head of the Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies, believes it is hard to pinpoint what the most interesting item in the collection is because every item of popular culture is important.
‘No matter what the item of popular culture is, we can tell a lot about our culture by what people collect. Even from something as small as magazines or superhero action figures,’ Down said.
As far as superheroes go, Spider-Man is usually seen as a representative of man in our culture, Down said, because he was once normal and because of a little spider bite, he became the hero we see him as today. The idea of this actually happening to someone is more likely than the stories of Superman or Batman, she said.
Although the collection is in-depth, the library is increasing the amount of DVD’s and TV sitcoms. So far, several hundred DVD’s are in possession but they are still hoping for more to benefit students.
‘This collection in the library is meant to be a service for students and it’s hard to find things on DVD for certain classes and certain faculty members,’ Down said.
Angela Nelson, chair of Popular Culture Studies, believes the traffic of the library depends on certain classes and which faculty gives certain assignments that require students to go to the library. These classes are usually introductory classes such as Popular Culture 160 and 165.
Sophomore Jason Baxter used the resources in the library to write a paper for his introductory popular culture class. Baxter believes students should visit the library for leisure time and more faculty should require the library to be used in popular culture classes.
Considering the accessibility of the collection, Nelson feels the same way. Although she acknowledges many students would not visit the library in their own time.
‘The collection would benefit the student, but with any typical college student, it’s not about doing their own thing, research has to be tied to a class,’ she said. ‘The more the faculty can create the research topics around the library, the better.’
Freshman Gregory Ramsey believes faculty should use the library because an entire floor devoted to popular culture is an important tool and resource in many majors, especially since popular culture is absorbed in everyday life.
Each item in the collection has it’s own life too, Down said. Each material has it’s own individual story or sentimental value. For example, the library acquired a child’s suitcase as a donation, soon after, an older man called to check about the suitcase because it once belonged to him as a child.
Other items, such as a grain of rice with the Enterprise – spaceship from Star Trek – drawn on the grain itself doesn’t seem as traditional or normal, but it still represents how some aspects from popular culture, even a TV show, can impact someone’s life.
‘It’s most interesting to see in collections what type of items spark or touch a person’s life in different ways and we try to show this through the items we collect too,’ Down said.
