Other Collections
Online Full-Text Collections
Villanova University
An online collection of more than 2,000 dime novels, story papers, and other formats of popular fiction published between 1860 and 1930. Villanova's collection is the most representative in this list, with selections from a large variety of series, including several international dime novel titles. The collection also includes multiple digitized bibliographies, like PDFs of Edward T. LeBlanc's unpublished manuscripts, as well as recordings of interviews between LeBlanc and Lydia Schurman. The collection is actively growing.
University of South Florida
The Special Collections Department at the University of South Florida contains a dime novel collection with over 8,000 items. Many of these have been digitized and are available online, including comprehensive runs of popular series like the Frank Reade Library. The collection is actively growing.
Nickel Weeklies, Bowling Green State University
Contains 1,299 nickel weeklies, including long runs of Tip Top Weekly, Pluck and Luck, and Old Sleuth Weekly, among many others.
Secret Service, Standford University
Available here are over 100 issues of Secret Service: Old and Young King Brady, Detectives digitized by Stanford University.
Beadle's Weekly, University of Minnesota
The Unviersity of Minnesota has digitized 156 issues of Beadle's Weekly from their Hess Collection.
Special Collections and Archives
Hess Collection, University of Minnesota
The Hess Collection is part of the Children's Literature Research Division (CLRC) at the University of Minnesota Libraries and holds popular fiction from the 19th and 20th centuries, including dime novels, story papers, series books, pulps, and comics. The collection contains over 100,000 items, with at least 30,000 dime novels. For more information about the collection and what it contains, see Hess Collection: Past, Present, and Future by Deidre Johnson.
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress holds over 40,000 titles from 280 series, most of which were obtained through copyright deposit and preserved through the heroic efforts of curator V. Valta Parma. For more on this story, see Clark Evan's essay in Pioneers, Passionate Ladies, and Private Eyes.
New York Public Library, Frank O'Brien Dime Novel Collection
Frank O'Brien was an early collector of dime novels who donated his collection of 1,400 titles to the New York Public Library in 1922, consisting chiefly of publications by Beadle & Adams. The NYPL also holds the Frank P. O'Brien Papers, which includes original story manuscripts, correspondence, copyright deposits, and miscellaneous Beadle letters, notes, and accounts, as well as the William Wallace Cook Papers, which includes correspondence, contracts, and story outlines.
Stanford University
The Stanford Collection contains around 8,000 dime novels and story papers, with long runs of Frank Leslie's Boys of America, New York Ledger, and Saturday Night.
Street and Smith Collection, Syracuse University
The Street & Smith Collection contains business papers and manuscripts related to the publishing firm. Thousands of dime novel covers have also been digitized and are available online.
University of Delaware
Delaware is home to the Beadle and Adams Archive, which consists of letters, photographs, bills, and documents related to Erastus F. Beadle and his publishing buisness. Included among the letters are tributes written by Beadle authors to Orville J. Victor, the long-time Beadle & Adams editor. They also have a few modest dime novel collections. Delaware also holds the M. J. Ivers & Co. Records, containing business receipts, correspondence, and publication lists.