Did you know that The University of Nebraska-Lincoln library archives contain a digital archives of 175 free government comics from around the world? It’s true!
Duck and cover! Conserve water! The war against drugs! The price of Freedom! Captain America and Campbell’s Soup fight energy drainers! IT’S ALL HERE.
Smokey Bear!
And this classic tale — presented by the New York State Dept. of Mental Hygiene — in which we see Dagwood’s life for the hellish cycle of abuse that it truly is.
Like we said, hours of fun.
[Via the Parsons Illustration blog]
The U.S. Government Printing Office runs a system of Depository Libraries across this country. Member libraries receive a selection of publications based on local needs (plus core titles like Congressional hearings, Presidential volumes, and annual reports), and at least one library in each state receives EVERY publication sent by GPO. UNL is one such library, and in theory should have every comicbook the U.S. Government ever published. Could be McGruff the Crime Dog, could be Smokey the Bear, could be the Crash Test Dummies. (Or PS Monthly!)
During my days as a library student, I worked at the UNOmaha depository library collection. A scholastic ghost town buried deep in the basement, I spent many evenings deep in the stacks. Whether it was the delicious porn reprinted in the Meese Commission report, or the complete transcript of the Nuremburg Trials, or Defense’s chocolate chip cookie recipe for 500, we had it buried deep. Best section for browsing? FS, which contains the now-defunct “alphabet soup” agencies from the Great Depression. NASA, National Archives, the Smithsonian, and the CIA also had some cool stuff. (Strangest title? Chicken anatomy book published by the Atomic Energy Commission. Guess they tested radiation effects on poultry.)
Your tax dollars at work!
Not sure I’ve ever been more proud of my UNL degree.
Hmm… scanning the collection, I see lots of Marvel and DC titles. I wonder if anyone has scanned the Public Service comics Marvel and DC produced, like the Spider-Man/Planned Parenthood mini (no, seriously! Google it!) or the Batman team-up with Princess Diana (“Batman: Death of Innocents”).
And then there are the licensed comics, like Superman and the Quix Bunny…
What I found interesting was all the 50’s government censorship related documents. Among them are the 54 US Senate transcripts and Interim report (which I already have on my site, but in HTML format) and a few states papers about the potential ‘harm’ of comic books and legal restrictions of them.
It’s a little known fact that the Circle of Hell where one is punished for “Gluttony” is colloquially called “the Dagwood.”
Actually, these days Dagwood’s worst punishment consists of having to exist within the strip’s current milkwater incarnation.