#collection showcase

[theweirdrox]

@transfem-kirito-truther I told you I would show you my SAO collection, it is time.

Currently, the video is uploading, but once its done Ill reblog with a link.

However, its a long one. A total of 45 minutes of me showing my collection.

[hinamizawagrrl]

Here is a small sampling of some of my Boogiepop merch. Not pictured are all of my Boogiepop Phantom (2000) cels, they're in a separate binder. I am going to highlight some of these things separately, but I wanted to share a nice photo of a selection of my merch together.

[popculturelib]

Matchbook Cover Collection

Patented in 1892 by lawyer Joshua Pusey, the matchbook, a seemingly insignificant piece of cardboard enclosing a handful of disposable paper matches, quickly became the staple advertising space at the dawn of the 20th century. Beginning with beer company Pabst and tobacco company Bull Durham, businesses big and small started to purchase printings of books from match companies such as Diamond and Ohio which found their way into millions of coat pockets, hotel rooms, and restaurant ashtrays.

As the butane lighter usurped the match as the portable cigarette light of choice and radio and television became the new frontier of advertising (not to mention the decline in the ubiquity of smoking), matchbooks fell out of favor, now only commercially used as a boutique novelty advertisements for high-end or niche establishments hoping to invoke a sense of the past.

Collectors known as phillumenists (“lovers of light”) still seek out the cardboard rectangles, however, for reasons as diverse as the pictures on their covers. For some, the images on the matchbooks are art in and of themselves; for others, the specific company advertised is of interest, or the category of good and services. Still others attempt to complete sets of novelty books, with the matches themselves printed with or in the shape of such images as bowling pins or ladies’ stockings, or commemorative books, featuring images of historical figures or celebrating such events as a World’s Fair. Whatever the reason, people have come to adore the matchbook in the same way as the baseball card, as a snapshot in history.

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

[valapocalypsecollection]

[sapphtalks]

the hoard.

[popculturelib]

The Vivian Stephens Collection

Vivian Stephens entered the world of romance fiction in 1978 as an editor at Dell. She was given charge of the Candlelight line of romances, despite having no experience with romance fiction previously. A Black editor in a predominantly white industry, Stephens sought to incorporate the voices of women of color into the burgeoning romance industry. In 1980, Dell published the first category romance by a Black author with Black protagonists- Entwined Destinies by Rosalind Welles (the pseudonym of journalist Elsie Washington). Stephens also made sure that Dell’s Candlelight lines included romances by Indigenous, Latina, and Asian authors, creating almost single-handedly the category that trade publications called “Ethnic Romance”.

Stephens also played a key part in making romance novels steamier. Her Candlelight Ecstasy series for Dell pushed the boundaries being set by the two biggest romance publishers, Harlequin and Silhouette, by “going behind the bedroom door,” a taboo at the time.

One of the most important roles played by Vivian Stephens during her career in publishing was as the founder of the Romance Writers of America. A Houston-based group of authors looking to get their romance novels published approached Stephens for advice after the Southwest Writers Conference in 1979. She advised them to band together as the Romance Writers of America, convinced Dell to provide some financial backing, and convinced a group of other editors to attend the group’s first conference in the summer of 1981. Today the group has members from around the globe, and annually presents an award in Vivian Stephens’ name to a person from the publishing industry who has contributed significantly to the genre.

In the summer of 2018, the Romance Writers of America donated to the Browne Popular Culture Library a collection of books formerly used by Vivian Stephens during her days at both Dell and Harlequin. The collection includes books on women’s sexuality, editing and writing romance fiction, the publishing industry, as well as academic works on romance writing. A list of the books can be found in our catalog as The Vivian Stephens Collection.

We are thrilled to preserve this collection of books from a person as important to the history of romance fiction as Vivian Stephens. The books will serve as an important resource for scholars of the genre. We are grateful to both the Romance Writers of America and Vivian Stephens for this donation.

The Vivian Stephens acquisition was discussed on Fated Mates, a romance novel podcast with Sarah Maclean and Jen Prokop, in 2020 if you would like to learn more about this collection: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2020/7/6/s0245-vivian-stephens-acquisitions-with-librarian-steve-ammidown.

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.

[popculturelib]

Romance Fiction at the Browne Popular Culture Library

Photo: cover art by Frank Kalan for Caroline Anderson's The Real Fantasy (1996)

Romance fiction makes up a large portion of today’s publishing industry, averaging more than $1 billion in sales per year. Combined with the fact that it is fiction primarily written by women meant to be marketed to women and you can see why it’s a growing area of academic study. The Browne Popular Culture Library was one of the first libraries to archive the work of romance writers, and our collection documents the evolution and growth of this dynamic literary genre.

Our collection of romance fiction includes more than 16,000 series and stand-alone romance novels from the 1950s to today. You can find them all in our catalog. We have a selection of titles from every major publisher and many of romance’s most popular subgenres. Researchers can trace the evolution of romance fiction, including its marketing, covers, and content across decades in a way that can’t be done at other repositories.

A unique aspect of our collection are the manuscripts we have collected from more than 50 romance authors. These papers include items like book drafts, correspondence with publishers, and even fan mail.

The Browne Popular Culture Library documents the business of romance as the official repository for the Romance Writers of America, giving researchers the chance to understand the evolution of the first organization to bring together and support romance writers through its organizational records, publications, and conference-related materials.

In December 2017, we received the Frank Kalan Romance Cover Art Collection, more than 100 original oil paintings that Mr. Kalan produced for Harlequin covers. In addition to the artwork, this collection includes paperwork related to each, reference photographs, and cover mockups. For many of these artworks we have also collected the published novel to give researchers a unique opportunity to explore the production process.

The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States.  Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use. Visit our website at https://www.bgsu.edu/library/pcl.html.