Assistant Professor Carol Tilley will deliver a keynote address at the 2014 Comics & Medicine Conference on June 27 at the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus in Baltimore, Maryland. This multidisciplinary conference will bring together healthcare professionals, artists, scholars, comics enthusiasts, and students to explore applications of graphic medicine—the use of comics in healthcare and medical education. The theme of the conference is “From Private Lives to Public Health.”
Tilley will relate her research to this theme in her address titled, "Private Reading, Public Health: Exploring Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s Comics Legacy." Her research on Wertham, a psychiatrist and anti-comics critic whose 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent inspired federal hearings that decimated the comic book industry, has brought national attention to the truths and myths in the history of the medium.
Tilley will speak on the topic of comics and comics history at several other events in May and June:
- On May 21, she will speak virtually to students of Florida State University’s School of Information course, Graphic Novels in Libraries, discussing her research concerning Wertham and comics history in general.
- She will address the history of comics censorship in a virtual panel discussion titled, “Comics and Censorship,” at the Heroes Convention on June 20-22, which will draw writers, artists, exhibitors, and fans to Charlotte, North Carolina.
- In conjunction with her appearance at the Comics & Medicine Conference, Tilley will speak to a group of high school students through the Discover [Johns] Hopkins program, “The Hospital,” which provides insights into the history of U.S. healthcare and the ways in which the system has been influenced by scientific, technological, and cultural developments.
Earlier this month, Tilley published an article in the Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults titled, “Comics: A Once-Missed Opportunity.” From the abstract:
During the 1940s and 1950s, comics were the most popular form of reading for young people in the United States, despite widespread disapproval for the medium by librarians and other guardians of reading tastes. Beyond simply reading comics, young people also used comics as a basis for developing participatory cultures. For instance, adolescents published fanzines and entered into political discourse about comics. This paper highlights some of these early examples of participatory cultures around comics to urge today’s librarians to reflect on what media and technology-based practices we may be neglecting to nurture among contemporary adolescents.
Tilley is an assistant professor at GSLIS, where she 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. Her research has been published in several journals, including the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST), Information & Culture: A Journal of History, and Children’s Literature in Education. Her research on anti-comics advocate Fredric Wertham was featured in the New York Times and other media outlets.