Associate Professor Carol Tilley will present "Dear Sirs: I Believe You're Wasting Your Time" at the National Archives on October 27. The title of her talk, which is sponsored by the Center for Legislative Archives, refers to Senate hearings in the 1950s that investigated the link between comics and juvenile delinquency.
Tilley will address an audience composed of Archives staff and researchers, providing insights regarding comics collections relative to the Senate hearings. She will share findings from her research into the records of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Special Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. She also will discuss her book project, Children, Comics, and Print Culture: A Cultural History of Comics Reading in the Mid-Twentieth Century.
"For my talk, I'll focus on the several hundred letters—many written by children and teens—that protest the 1954 Senate investigation of a link between comics and juvenile delinquency. I'll place these letters within the broader context of comics reading in the mid-20th century as well as the social concerns about the effects of comics reading on young people's moral, social, physical, and intellectual development," said Tilley.
At the iSchool, Tilley teaches courses in comics reader's advisory, media literacy, and youth services librarianship. Part of her scholarship focuses on the intersection of young people, comics, and libraries, particularly in the United States during the mid-twentieth century.
Tilley's research has been published in several prestigious academic journals and featured in The New York Times and other media outlets. She recently was interviewed by Variety magazine for the article, "Wonder Woman at 75: How the Superhero Icon Inspired a Generation of Feminists."