1871-1962
This collection is Albert Johannsen's own working collection of Beadle & Adams Dime Novels and other popular literature of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, used for his landmark bibliography, The House of Beadle and Adams. This bibliography has been digitized by the NIU Libraries through The Beadle & Adams Dime Novel Digitization Project. We do not own reproduction rights for the digital material in this bibliography; arrangements for reproductions must be made through the University of Oklahoma Press, who originally published the bibliography.
The Johannsen collection also includes Johannsen's notes, papers, dry plates, and memorabilia from when he wrote his bibliography, as well as his papers from his career as a petrologist and professor. A 2003 acquisition of the set of Deadwood Dick Library dime novels adds to the depth of this collection. This collection complements the Horatio Alger, American Popular Literature, Edward T. LeBlanc, Merriwell, and Edward Stratemeyer Collections. Although a finding aid for individual sets of papers is not currently available, most of the collection (including general descriptions of our manuscripts) has been already added to our online catalog.
Research in this collection is eligible for financial support through the annual Horatio Alger Fellowship for the Study of American Popular Culture.