Alicia Korenman, a graduate student in religion, has spent countless hours browsing through comic books and role-playing games this summer. No, she's not unemployed.
The University recently added 55,000 comic books and 500 RPGs to its Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library, giving Duke one of the largest archival comics collections in the country and creating a child's dreamland in the most unlikely of places.
Now, Korenman and Megan Lewis, a senior library assistant, are in the process of cataloging and sorting through the collection. In all, the Edwin and Terry Murray Collection of Pulp Culture - named for the brothers who donated their sizeable collection of comics and RPGs to the University last year - will fill up to 918 archival boxes.
"I was struck by the sheer size of this collection," Lewis said. "It's just incredibly comprehensive, and most of the comics are in pristine condition, especially considering that comic books are really supposed to be a disposable medium that is read and thrown away."
Tim West, director of collection development for the Special Collections Library, said the comics collection will lend itself to a broad spectrum of use when it is made available, hopefully by the end of September. Students, scholars and recreational readers will be able to search the collection by title, publisher and decade in the fall.
"It will appeal to people who want to see comics they remember from their childhood and to people in classes at Duke who study pop culture or certain kinds of art or literary forms," West said. "The whole thing will not be ready until the fall, but we have an interesting representative sample of the collection for people to look at now, which could help them think about how it might be used academically."
Anne Allison, chair of the cultural anthropology department, said anyone working on cultural studies might have an interest in the Pulp Culture collection.
"It's a funny field because it goes beyond all the departments," she said. "Anyone interested in storytelling, images or pop culture might be able to use it. You can even make the argument that comic books are a form of literature."
In fact, Allison said that for the present generation, comic books may hold as important a place in how their thoughts are shaped as literature.
Jane Gaines, professor of literature and English and director of the film and video program, said the Pulp Culture collection, in combination with the J. Walter Thompson Advertising collection, puts Duke on the map for those wishing to do pop culture research.
"We have carved out a very distinctive niche and made an investment in a future where the distinction between high and low culture will be less marked," Gaines wrote in an e-mail.
Allison, who teaches an undergraduate course titled, "Fantasy, Mass Media and Pop Culture," also noted the collection's potential as a teaching tool.
"Comics can offer a window on topics such as notions of masculinity and where our fantasies come from," Allison said. "I imagine that over time, when people begin to understand how fantastic this collection is, people teaching classes might be able to incorporate and use this collection in their courses."
Lewis said she imagines a broad range of academic applications for the collection. "Women's Studies would have a field day," she said.
University librarians had to make five trips over a year to the Murray's childhood home to pick up more than 55,000 comic books, 500 RPGs and board games, thousands of comic fanzines, science fiction and fantasy fiction materials and comic posters and art.
West said the collection of RPGs, which includes resource books and miniature figurines used in the games, will also be available for use in the Special Collections library's research rooms. He said he does not know of any larger collection of RPGs, which include "Dungeons & Dragons" and "Traveller."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.