By Marquita Reed, CHP Graduate Research Assistant

While sitting with a group of colleagues recently, I was asked, “How can comic books function as material culture?” At first, I was aghast because the answer was so simple to me. Yet no matter how many times I explained, the inquisitor did not seem convinced. As a historian who examines popular culture, I realize that my methods may seem “outside of the box,” but this injection of new study into both academic and public history is also exhilarating. I realize that as I continue on my academic and professional paths, the question of how a public historian uses popular culture to teach history will present itself again and again.

First, I answer the query by saying that I am not just trying to teach history. As a public historian, I use popular culture as a form of material culture in order to…