Media type: book cover Annotation: A literary phenomenon of the late 19th century, dime novels offered thousands of Americans an inexpensive and regular escape from the boredom of everyday life. Often featuring intensely nationalistic and patriotic stories of frontiersman battling American Natives, tens of thousands of these fictionnal novels were written to satisfy the enormous demand for…

Credit: Library of Congress Media type: advertisement Museum Number: LC-USZC2-36 Annotation: Suffering man beset by demons; banishes them with Wolcott’s formula. Originating in 15th century Britain, patent medicines rose to American popularity in the 19th century often using colorful names and advertising extraordinary claims. Patent medicines were often the most popular products of advertising agencies and many modern advertising…