Since my last journal entry discussed the methodology used to assess violence in Batman Comic books. This entry will elaborate on where the majority of my qualitative research was conducted for those of you interested in conducting research related to popular culture. This discussion is also included in my Thesis under Appendix B.

Obviously it would be difficult for a researcher to obtain every Batman comic book published between 1940-2000. Some of the older Batman comics are so rare and expensive that the cost of obtaining these books would greatly outweigh the significance of this research project. The Library of Congress is supposed to have a copy of every literary work, including comic books, published in the United States. According to other researchers, (Savage, 1990) and (Inge, 1978) the library, at one time had been pilfered resulting in a substantial amount of missing material. Bowling Green State University in Ohio has a popular culture collection yet their material was also incomplete for the purposes of this study.

The Russell B. Nye Popular Culture Collection at Michigan State University holds the most extensive collection of Batman comic books within the mid-western United States available to researchers. This library quite possibly contains the largest collection of popular culture artifacts such as books, collectibles, magazines, fanzines and comic books in the world. After conducting interviews with staff, a recent inventory revealed the Russell Nye collection substantially surpasses the Library of Congress holdings. Although the entire collection of Batman comics is not complete, the majority of missing originals can be analyzed on microfilm. The Russell Nye collection dates back to the late 1960's when scholars at Michigan State University as well as other universities increasingly began to study the importance of mass media entertainment; namely pulp popular culture. In 1978, the Popular Culture Collection was renamed the Russell B. Nye Popular Culture Collection to honor one of the founders of the study of popular culture as well as being a major contributor to the collection. The collection now has over 125,000 items (at time of this publication in 2000) and is recognized across the nation as the leading research center for the study of popular culture. As far as comic books themselves, the collection encompasses over 80,000 comic books published in the United States since 1935. This is by far the largest collection of comic books available to the public therefore an excellent source for qualitative data collection.

Being there are so many materials of monetary value, there is a fairly strict level of security. It is considered more courteous to let the staff know you are coming ahead of time and what type of research you will be working on, although this is not a prerequisite of their policy. When you walk into the collection's reading room the first thing to do is tell the staff who you are and what you are looking for which can also be accomplished via e-mail. After all of the necessary forms have been filled out as to what type of study you are conducting, where you are from, and the materials needed, the researcher can then proceed to one of the tables in the reading room and begin the research. Only pencils are allowed past the front desk and backpacks, briefcases and coats are left at the entrance, no exceptions. The reading room consists of two large wooden tables in the center room with about eight or ten smaller tables located next to the wall all around the room. A staff member is, for the most part, sitting at the front desk near the entrance ready to assist with any questions as well as retrieve the requested research documents.

Copyright 2010 K.E. Runkle