This week, we’re throwing it back to the late 19th century, early 20th century when dime novels were all the rage. Dime novels are short, published works of fiction that typically center around the dramatic adventures of a single heroic character. The dime novel pictured here is part of the Beadle’s Dime Novel collection and entitled, Sybil Chase, or, The Valley Ranche : a tale of California life. This story is written by Mrs. Ann S. Stephens.

More dime novels can be found in Falvey’s digital collection, Dime Novel and Popular Literature.

Northern Illinois University, in coordination with Villanova University, will be hosting a virtual symposium on the dime novel on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and Thursday, Nov. 5, 7:30-9:30 p.m. This symposium is on the heels of the successful conclusion of the Johannsen Project, an effort to digitize more than 7,000 dime novels published by Beadle & Adams through a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources.

Falvey Director of Library Technologies Demian Katz will present Thursday as part of a panel on opportunities to present and publish original dime novel research.

More information about the event is available here.

Jenna Newman is a graduate assistant in Falvey Memorial Library and a graduate student in the Communication Department.