Fredric Wertham is best remembered as the psychiatrist and crusading author who protested the purportedly harmful effects of violent imagery in mass media and comic books (including Superman) on the development of children. His best known book was Seduction of the Innocent, which led to a U.S. Congressional inquiry into the comic book industry and the creation of the Comics Code.

In 1987, the Library of Congress acquired Dr. Wertham's papers through the estate of his wife, Florence Hesketh Wertham. A recent article in The Gazette, the Library's in-house letter, states that all 222 containers of the papers are now open to public research access. Here's an excerpt from the article:

“We realize that donors have certain interests they want to respect,” said Len Bruno of the Library’s Manuscript Divi­sion, which houses the collection. “Of course, things can’t stay closed forever,” he added, saying that the Library often agrees to reasonable restrictions in order to acquire materials.

Bruno said that since access became unrestricted, interest in Wertham’s papers has increased. His papers add another component to the Library’s collections, which include comic books in the Serials and Government Publications Division, about 128,000 works of cartoon art in the Prints and Photographs Division and the papers of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and the International Psycho-Analytical Association in the Manuscript Division.

“I think he was part of a movement that is uniquely American – this need to protect children from adult life – that started in the 1950s. It was the same movement that said every child ought to graduate from high school and have the opportunity to go to college,” said Sara Duke, curator of the Library’s comic arts collections in P&P. “Until we can synthesize Wertham in his time, he will be demonized by historians for changing the comic-book industry and affecting the way generations of adults see comic books.”

The complete article is available at the Library of Congress website.