The Kent State University Libraries is marking the 25th anniversary of the Borowitz Crime Collection through a major exhibition and other events held during the 2013-2014 academic year.
Established at Kent State in 1989 by Albert Borowitz and Helen Osterman Borowitz of Cleveland, the collection includes both primary and secondary sources on crime, as well as works of literature based on true crime incidents.
The Kent State University Libraries has held a regular lecture event in connection with the Borowitz Collection. The 25th anniversary Borowitz Lecture will feature Thomas Doherty, Ph.D., a cultural historian with a special interest in Hollywood cinema, professor of American studies, and chair of the American Studies program at Brandeis University.
The lecture is free and open to the public and will be held on Thursday, April 17, at 4 p.m. in the Read Special Collections Classroom (Room 1018) at the university library on the Kent Campus.
Doherty’s lecture, “Little Lindy Is Kidnapped: The Media Coverage of the Crime of the 20th Century,” will explore the media coverage of the Lindbergh case and its legacy in American culture. The kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby in 1932 and the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann in 1935 was arguably the most widely publicized and influential criminal case of the 20th century. The innate sensationalism of the Lindbergh case — the murder of the child of the most famous and beloved couple in America —guaranteed the transfixed attention of the nation, and the blueprint for modern-day media sensationalism was laid: syndicated newspapers, radio and the newsreels.
For more information, contact Cara Gilgenbach, head of the University Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives at Kent State, at cgilgenb@kent.edu or 330-672-1677.
For more information about Kent State’s Department of Special Collections and Archives, visit www.library.kent.edu/specialcollections.
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Media Contacts:
Cara Gilgenbach, cgilgenb@kent.edu, 330-672-1677
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595