Librarian to sister superior, 1948: comic books are good for kids!

Cory Doctorow 12:49 pm Fri Oct 25, 2013

Shawn from Muckrock sez, "MuckRock and MIT asked more than 1,200 libraries across Massachusetts for records of book challenges. We didn't find much, because it's Massachusetts in 2013, but the few we did find were solid gold. One such nugget was a letter from 1948, in which a snarky anonymous librarian essentially tells the local sister superior to stop trying to keep comic books away from sixth graders. In her words, 'The Library makes a practice of having all kinds of books available for all kinds of people.'"

Fewer than 20 of the libraries that have responded so far have had any challenges since 2010. All but two of the patron complaints we unearthed were rejected by library staff, each much more politely than 1940s Librarian, for better or worse.

Librarian rebukes nun … over comic books

(Thanks, Shawn!)

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