In 2013, the library of the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies started to systematically develop its comic collection, which had been existing since the early 1970s. With the help of the Einstein Foundation, the library was able to buy more than 500 collections of historical newspaper comic strips, superhero anthologies from all ages, collections of important artists and writers, graphic novels and other current and historical examples of North American graphic narrative art. As part of a cooperation with the Comic Arts Collection at Michigan State University, the library additionally started collecting comic books. Michigan State University will donate double issues from its collection as a continuing donation to the library. The donations span genres and time periods from Action Comics of the 1960s and 70s to science fiction comics from the 1980s and current superhero comics. Together with other popular primary sources as movies, tv series, magazines or newspapers, comics serve as a regular source for research and teaching at the John F. Kennedy Institute. They are of special interest to the Research Unit “Popular Seriality — Aesthetics and Practice”.

The Collection offically opened on Nov. 25, 2014. You can read two talks about the collection that were held at the opening ceremony here:

Julia Mayer: Comics in wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken und die Comic-Sammlung der Bibliothek des JFKI

Daniel Stein: Comics Studies in Germany: A Look at the John-F.-Kennedy-Institute’s Comics Collection through the Lens of the Research Unit “Popular Seriality – Aesthetics and Practice”

Further Information about the collection can be accessed here: http://www.jfki.fu-berlin.de/en/library/holdings/comics/index.html