By: Joe Kassas Etiquette books from decades in the past are interesting when comparing what manners are emphasized in today’s society. In the book Good Form For Men written by Charles Hartcourt, young men in the early 1900’s are being targeted so that they can learn the true differentials between boyhood and adulthood. For a … Continue reading Good Form for Men →

By: Elijah Alfieri 4325205 In our visit to the Hillman Library Archives, we were tasked to choose an early edition of a piece of literature that caught our eye.  There was a wide range of options spanning many different genres, themes, eras, and looks.  The latter being the most important, because we didn’t have time to read … Continue reading “The Outsiders” by: S.E. Hinton →

By Stefany Wolf “Just Married” and “I Love You” were two comic books published by Charlton Comics from the late fifties through the early eighties, that were mainly produced for teenage girls. Both issues of these comics that I chose to analyze (the 96th issue of “I Love You” and the 87th of “Just Married”) … Continue reading Themes In Seventies Comics For Teen Girls →

St. Trinian’s School was a comic series by Ronald Searle depicting a group of wild schoolgirls. In Hillman’s Special Collections, these comics are bound with Searle’s other cartoons, all of which are done in the same single image comic style as the St. Trinian series. The physical book in Special Collections is hardcover, with a bright red border with a drawing … Continue reading Hurrah for St. Trinians →

A New You: The Art of Good Grooming by Emily Wilkens, is an etiquette book from 1965 that aims to inform young women on how to dress, do their skin care, how to eat, etc. Just flipping through the book you can get the idea that women’s beauty standards were aggressively marketed to young women, … Continue reading A New You: The Guide to Self Hate →

Falling in Love was a comic book published monthly except the months of Mar., Jun., Sept., and Dec., by Nation Periodical Publications, Inc and produced in New York. For many decades, nearly all of America's comic books were produced there. This specific edition was No. 117 and was issued in Aug., 1970. Love is a concept that every young … Continue reading Falling in Love →

Hurrah for St. Trinian’s is a collection of short comics by Ronald Searle published in 1948 by a London based company. The book, bound in hard cover, has a bright red cover and flashy fonts that bracket a cartoon of a gaggle of teenage girls in catholic school uniforms committing various delinquent activities. The girls … Continue reading St. Trinian’s Sexy Schoolgirls →

As I toured the displayed texts in Special Collections, it was clear that the majority of books, magazines, pamphlets, and comics were meant to reinforce social constructs about gender, sex, and sexuality that hold strong today but were especially prevalent in the times that these texts were written. Some pushed back against these ideals, but … Continue reading “I’m Glad I’m a Boy. I’m Glad I’m a Girl.” →

Like any form of media, Magazines tell a story. Current publications allow readers to gain an insight into the hottest trends and often contain articles that the lowest common denominator of people can relate to. From a historical perspective, this form of media allows a more modern audience to gain insight into the lives and … Continue reading The Adolescent Enigma →