Young people’s voices in the historical record are difficult to locate because children’s experiences were often deemed inconsequential. When their voices do appear, they are often mediated by adults, such as physicians, teachers, parents, and others with their own particular viewpoints and agendas. But that doesn’t mean children are wholly absent from or invisible in archives.
In this talk, I’ll share a trajectory of my archival and related primary source research related to young people’s comics reading in the mid-20th century US. In doing so, I’ll relate some of the unexpected places where I have encountered children’s experiences, stories, and worlds in more authentic or, at least, less-mediated forms. Additionally, I’ll share some tips for reading sideways in archives to locate similar resources and contextualizing what one finds there. More important, I will provide space for some of these young people in history to share their bits of their lives with us.

Short bio
Dr. Carol Tilley (she/her) is an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at University of Illinois. Tilley’s scholarship focuses on young people’s comics readership, especially in the US during the mid-20th century. Her research on anti-comics psychiatrist Fredric Wertham was featured in the New York Times and other media outlets. She is a founding member and past-president of the Comics Studies Society, as well as a former judge for several comics arts competitions including the Eisner Awards.