Ray & Pat Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies
The Browne Popular Culture Library is now open to researchers Monday-Friday 8-5. Feel free to visit anytime, but we recommend visiting researchers contact us ahead of your visit so we can have materials ready for you to begin research when you arrive.
If you are unable to visit the BPCL in person, please consult our Ask Us page for ways to contact us.
The Browne Popular Culture Library (BPCL), founded in 1969, is the most comprehensive archive of its kind in the United States. Our focus and mission is to acquire and preserve research materials on American Popular Culture (post 1876) for curricular and research use.
Our collection strengths include research materials on popular fiction, popular entertainment, and the graphic arts. As an archive, our collection does not circulate, with the exception of our DVD collection. A large part of our collection is searchable via the library catalog and we maintain research guides and finding aids for browsing the remainder of the collection.
Our Favorite Things!
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Vintage Paperback Index
The Vintage Paperback Index serves as a graphic illustration of the evolution of American paperbacks from the 1940s through the 1970s. The cover images reflect the reading interests of the American public and changes in the paperback publishing industry during this time period. The covers also reflect the changing role of women in American society. The index can also be used to study the various styles of the artists who illustrated the covers. Search the Index
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Romance Collections
The Browne Popular Culture Library holds a wide range of romance materials from novels to valentines. The collection includes more than 10,000 volumes of category romance series from publishers such as Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept, Candlelight, Ecstasy, and others. The holdings also include a sizable collection of mass market novels, including Georgian, regency, gothic, contemporary, and historicals. See More
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Manuscript Collections
The BPCL's manuscript collections support and complement existing print collections in the areas of popular fiction, popular entertainment, and the graphic arts. Read More
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Mystery/Detective Fiction Collections
The works of all major authors of mystery/detective fiction, including classic sleuth stories, hardboiled private eye novels, police procedurals, and spy thrillers, among other genres are represented by some 50,000 volumes of cataloged hardbound and paperback books. Learn More!
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Science Fiction/Fantasy Collections
Within the Library's holdings of more than 190,000 cataloged hardbound and paperback books, science fiction, fantasy, weird/horror, supernatural/occult, utopian, and related genres are well represented. Find out more
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Popular Entertainment Collections
The BPCL houses thousands of primary works relating to all kinds of popular entertainment, with particular strengths in materials documenting mass media: television, motion pictures, and radio. Learn More!
Vintage Paperback Index
The Vintage Paperback Index serves as a graphic illustration of the evolution of American paperbacks from the 1940s through the 1970s. The cover images reflect the reading interests of the American public and changes in the paperback publishing industry during this time period. The covers also reflect the changing role of women in American society. The index can also be used to study the various styles of the artists who illustrated the covers. Search the Index
Romance Collections
The Browne Popular Culture Library holds a wide range of romance materials from novels to valentines. The collection includes more than 10,000 volumes of category romance series from publishers such as Harlequin, Silhouette, Loveswept, Candlelight, Ecstasy, and others. The holdings also include a sizable collection of mass market novels, including Georgian, regency, gothic, contemporary, and historicals. See More
Manuscript Collections
The BPCL's manuscript collections support and complement existing print collections in the areas of popular fiction, popular entertainment, and the graphic arts. Read More
Mystery/Detective Fiction Collections
The works of all major authors of mystery/detective fiction, including classic sleuth stories, hardboiled private eye novels, police procedurals, and spy thrillers, among other genres are represented by some 50,000 volumes of cataloged hardbound and paperback books. Learn More!
Science Fiction/Fantasy Collections
Within the Library's holdings of more than 190,000 cataloged hardbound and paperback books, science fiction, fantasy, weird/horror, supernatural/occult, utopian, and related genres are well represented. Find out more
Popular Entertainment Collections
The BPCL houses thousands of primary works relating to all kinds of popular entertainment, with particular strengths in materials documenting mass media: television, motion pictures, and radio. Learn More!