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Thesis Mk8 -- finalrev4.pdf (3.74 MB)

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Objectionable: The Cincinnati Committee for the Evaluation of Comics and the American Anti-Comics Movement, 1940-1957

Ash, Evan Roberts
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2234-9193
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1554812440806166

Abstract Details

2019, Master of Arts, Miami University, History.
This thesis studies the Cincinnati Committee for the Evaluation of Comics, which operated from 1948 until 1979, but performed its most significant work before 1956. The Cincinnati Committee used a system of criteria developed by a University of Cincinnati psychology professor to rate comic books on cultural, moral, and aesthetic grounds. Through a partnership with Parents’ Magazine, a popular periodical for postwar families, the Cincinnati Committee’s critiques and lists reached an audience of over one million readers. Due to this widespread exposure and perception as a form of effective comic book regulation, congressional investigations of objectionable literature in 1952 and 1954 referenced the committee’s work in their hearings. This project is the first to use the Cincinnati Committee’s own archival materials in service of a historical narrative and argues that rather than being simply one of many localized responses to comic books, the Committee’s work instead decisively shaped the national discussion over kids and comics. This examination of the Cincinnati Committee, which also provides a new history of the American anti-comics movement, helps to provide a path to understanding the Cold War in America by demonstrating its effects on domestic politics and social interactions.
Stephen Norris, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Steven Conn, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Amanda McVety, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Amy Kiste Nyberg, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
94 p.
History
comic books; comics; children; cold war; consumption; cultural history; censorship

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ash, E. R. (2019). Objectionable: The Cincinnati Committee for the Evaluation of Comics and the American Anti-Comics Movement, 1940-1957 [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1554812440806166

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ash, Evan. Objectionable: The Cincinnati Committee for the Evaluation of Comics and the American Anti-Comics Movement, 1940-1957 . 2019. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1554812440806166.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ash, Evan. "Objectionable: The Cincinnati Committee for the Evaluation of Comics and the American Anti-Comics Movement, 1940-1957 ." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1554812440806166

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1554812440806166
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© 2019, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Objectionable: The Cincinnati Committee for the Evaluation of Comics and the American Anti-Comics Movement, 1940-1957 by Evan Roberts Ash is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.