Collection Development Policy: Modern Culture and Media
  • Subject Librarian(s):
    Rosemary Cullen

  • Departmental Library Representative (DLR):
    Ellen Rooney

  • Description of the Academic Program | Home Page
    The Modern Culture and Media Department exists in order to provide a place for the study of the mass media--especially film, photography, print journalism, and television--in relation to modern society itself and to such other cultural products as modern literature, art, and philosophy. In this Department, faculty and students attempt to unite aspects of modern culture that are normally separated by university departmental structures (such as fine art, literature, and philosophy). The center also proposes the study of cultural forms (film, video, journalism) that are seldom treated with adequate seriousness in the liberal arts curriculum.

    Some definitions: What we mean by culture is the entire body of meaningful
    objects, institutions, and texts in which a given society's values are expressed. In our view, culture is what mediates between individuals and their society. This mediation takes the form of books, paintings, buildings, films, social institutions, and other cultural products. The mass media differ from the media of "high" culture mainly in their reliance on mechanical means of reproduction and in their wide distribution. We study the products and processes of both "high" and "mass" culture with equal seriousness, and with critical intent. What we mean by modern is the period of roughly the last century and a half, dating from the invention of photography in the middle of the nineteenth century. Our interest is centered on modern European (or Western) culture, but we also study the impact of this culture on the former European colonies and other countries of the Third World.

    In addition to uniting the study of art, literature, and philosophy with the study of the mass media, we are committed to uniting actual work in the production or creation of media texts with our analytical and theoretical consideration of the arts and media. Specifically, we offer courses in journalistic writing (in cooperation with the English Department) and, through our own facilities, courses in film-making and video production. In these courses we are interested in the aesthetic and documentary potential of the media.



  • Overview of the Collection
    Modern Culture and Media draws on many areas within the Library's collections. Key are the print collections in film, television, radio, and journalism, the collections pertaining to the telecommunications industry, the modern American historical, cultural, and sociological collections, and the modern area studies collections, particularly with regard to cross-cultural encounters and post colonialism. These are areas of interest to many departments and programs within the University and are areas that are receiving particular attention by the Library's collection development staff..

    With regard to electronic resources, the Library has licensed a number of databases relevant to the study of media and culture. These currently include FIAF (International FilmArchive Database), Alternative Press Index and Archive, Cross-Cultural Database, and many others. There are also over fifty electronic journals on the subject of film, radio, and television, over a dozen relating to the telecommunications industry, and many others in related areas



  • General Collecting Guidelines
    Collecting is focused on material relating to the analysis of modern culture, theories of representation and cultural production, semiotics, and the study of the various modes of the mass media, including film, photography, journalism, and television. In addition, resources are acquired on the connections between the study of modern society, the individual, and other major disciplines, i.e., modern literature, art, and philosophy. One specific aspect of this focus is a serious concern for popular culture, as well as for "high" culture. There is interest in production: journalistic writing and film and video making." The Department maintains strong interdepartmental ties (and concentrations in) French, Italian, and the Visual Arts. They likewise sponsor graduate work in English, American Civilization, Comparative Literature, German, French, and Art History. Consequently, it draws on and benefits from the Library acquisitions in these and other areas.

  • Specific Collecting Guidelines
    • Language: The primary language is English; some works in other languages are collected, in collaboration with departments and programs with which courses are offered jointly.
    • Chronological Span: The focus is on the post-1850 period, although some historical material may be acquired.
    • Imprint Date: Primarily, current materials are acquired, although back runs of journals may be acquired from time to time.
    • Geographical Range: Collecting focus is primarily on Western culture, although works that illuminate the impact of Western culture on other societies will be acquired.
    • Types of Material Included: Books, journal, films, electronic objects. Excluded: Introductory textbooks, classroom anthologies.


  • Areas of Distinction
    Owing to a gift from Timothy Forbes '76, the Library has been able to add archival subscriptions to a number of key film journals. These include Sight and Sound, Media, Culture & Society, Cineaste, Screen, and many others.

  • Special Collections
    Within Special Collections, the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays (particularly in its film, television, and radio scripts and contemporary avant-garde literary periodicals) is of most interest to Modern Culture and Media. The Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Political Propaganda is a vast repository of persuasive texts issued outside the mainstream of American publishing since the Second World War. The Broadsides Collection includes tens of thousands of items of twentieth century ephemera, mostly literary.

    In addition, in the Manuscripts Department, there are collections of unpublished film and television scripts, playbills and theatrical memorabilia, archives of contemporary small literary presses, twentieth century genre publications, including true crime and science fiction, notably the papers of Providence writer H. P. Lovecraft.

    Approached from the perspective of modern culture, the collections of comics, including the Michael J. Ciaraldi Collection and the Wayne Poulin Collection, are noteworthy, as are the several collections of gay and lesbian literature, which include a large collection of gay pulp erotica and magazines. The Miller Collection of Wit and Humor includes many examples of graphic humor, pulp periodicals, and works by and about media personalities.

    See Collections A to Z for more detailed information about the holdings of Special Collections in the John Hay Library.

  • Related Collections
    One of the largest collections related to popular culture is at Bowling Green State University: "Major subject strengths of the Browne Popular Culture Library include the following: popular fiction in the romance, mystery-detective, science fiction-fantasy and western genres: the performing arts and the entertainment industry; graphic arts, film and mass communications; popular religion, the occult and the supernatural; sports, recreation and leisure; hobbies, games and amusements; foodways and cookery; etiquette and advice; comedy and humor."

    The growing digital collections in American Memory at the Library of Congress offer many perspectives on modern culture, including such areas as baseball cards, sheet music, and jazz age photographs.

    Note: Image includes titles from the Miller Collection of Wit and Humor.