Historical & Special Collections is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibit, Extra! Extra! Read All About It: A Tale of True Crime on view through April 26, 2013.
Illustration detail “The Diary Murderer of Lynn,” Boston Evening American and Boston Sunday Advertiser, [1936?]
Crime fascinates us and the public consumption of crime narratives has existed for centuries, from the dissemination of crime broadsides in the eighteenth century to today’s true crime television shows such as 48 Hours. Featuring materials from the Harvard Law School Library’s Historical & Special Collections, this exhibit examines a short chapter in the United States’ history of true crime narratives. Topics include: serialized true crime literature, crime photography in newspapers, and the representation of family life in the media’s coverage of the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
Highlights from the exhibit include an early example of an Associated Press Wirephoto, a photograph album compiled by an expert witness in the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and materials from our collection of Wood Detective Agency Records, the first private detective agency in New England.
This exhibit was curated by Lesley Schoenfeld, Historical & Special Collections, Harvard Law School Library, with contributions from Michele Fazio, Assistant Professor of English, University of North Carolina at Pembroke.
The exhibit is on view through April 26, 2013, in the Caspersen Room. The Caspersen Room is located on the fourth floor of the Harvard Law School Library, Langdell Hall and is open seven days a week from 9 to 5.