Crime, Punishment, and Pop Culture

The Library has purchased Crime, Punishment, and Pop Culture, from Gale Cengage. Focusing on the period from 1790-1920, this collection brings together over 2 million pages of archival materials. Content includes trial transcripts, detective agency records, police force records, police gazettes, penny dreadfuls, crime-related broadsheets, true crime literature, prisoner photographs, prison postcards, statistics, and manuscripts.  During this period, major prison reforms and the development of dedicated police forces occurred, crime journalism appeared in daily newspapers, and crime fiction became a popular literary genre.