WSU Retention List Stories

In the mid-1950s, a moral panic set in among politicians and psychiatrists who were concerned that overly gory, violent, and sexually explicit comic books were a threat to children. The U.S. Senate held hearings on the subject, and medical experts warned about the influence of comic books, culminating in the 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Frederic Wertham. The industry in response created the Comics Code Authority, which policed and self-censored comic book content for decades.

Today, not only are comics not banned, but the Krueger Library has comic books in our Special Collections. Further, we have on our shelves bound compilations of formerly banned comics. Below I have the cover of Tain’t the Meat … It’s the Humanity! illustrated by Jack Davis with text by Albert Feldstein and others. The bound volume is a compilation of graphic narratives that were originally written for the Tales from the Crypt series. Neither that book nor our copy of Seduction of the Innocent is on the Krueger Library retention list.

The book that is on the Krueger Library retention list is a master’s thesis in education written by a WSU student back in 1957. It cited Dr. Wertham among others, and it concluded, based on the published literature of the time, that comic books in fact were dangerous and might lead to juvenile delinquency, which is not the consensus view among experts today.

Davis, Jack, et al. ’Tain’t the Meat--It’s the Humanity! And Other Stories. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2013.

Otterson, Sidney. A Study in the Relationship of the Comic Book to Juvenile Delinquency: A Research Paper Presented to the Graduate Council of Winona State College. Thesis (M.S.)--Winona State College, 1957.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

(Note: The information regarding the historical context of this story was provided by Brian Ohm.)

Although Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is popular among educators, some psychologists argue that it is not scientifically valid. This book from the Krueger Library retention list follows the debate.

Gardner, Howard. Howard Gardner under Fire: The Rebel Psychologist Faces His Critics. Ed. by Jeffrey A. Schaler. Chicago: Open Court, 2006.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

In the early 1960s, psychedelic drugs were used to treat patients. In the later 1960s, activists promoted their wide-spread use without medical supervision; they were made illegal; and they were placed on the same drug schedule as heroin. Now, there is a renewed interest in exploring their therapeutic qualities. This early text, featuring Timothy Leary no less, is on the Krueger Library retention list, … and you can read it without your insurance insisting on a co-pay.

Leary, Timothy Francis, Ralph Metzner, and Gunther M Weil. The Psychedelic Reader; Selected from the Psychedelic Review. New York: Citadel Press, 1965.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

For those distraught by the downward slide of the stock markets over the last two days, this book on the Krueger Library retention list might help (or make it worse). Understanding the psychological mechanisms related to financial markets might help foster a sense of stoic calm.

Cohen, David. Fear, Greed and Panic: The Psychology of the Stock Market. New York: Wiley, 2001.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Books studying the psychological and neurological mechanisms of the human capacity for humor tend not to be a barrel of laughs. This book on the Krueger Library retention list is a case in point. For example, Dr. Ruch states, “This need to distinguish among facets of humorous and humorless personalities can be deduced from the fact that cultures typically have developed a rich vocabulary of humor-related nouns …” This observation is not a knee-slapper in English, though I am told it is much funnier in the original German.

Ruch, Willibald. The Sense of Humor: Explorations of a Personality Characteristic. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1998.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

The Frozen River Film Festival ends its twentieth year today. One of the movies shown today was a documentary about the life of Robert Trivers, called “Wild Genius.” Though he suffered from schizophrenia, among his many accomplishments, Trivers worked out the mathematics of reciprocal altruism in evolutionary biology. One of his books on psychology is on the Krueger Library’s retention list.

Trivers, Robert. Deceit and Self-Deception: Fooling Yourself the Better to Fool Others. London: Allen Lane, 2011.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. Here is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.