Crime fascinates us and the public consumption of crime narratives has existed for centuries, from the dissemination of crime broadsides in the eighteenth century to today’s true crime television shows such as 48 Hours. Featuring materials from the Harvard Law School Library’s Historical & Special Collections, this exhibit examined a short chapter in the United States’ history of true crime narratives. Topics included serialized true crime literature, crime photography in newspapers, and the representation of family life in the media’s coverage of the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
By the 1830s, American true crime writing had become increasingly commercialized with a focus on “purely exploitative accounts of real-life horrors.” At the turn of the twentieth century, when the sensational headlines of Yellow journalism were in full effect, newspaper readers were inundated with articles on crime and justice, despite low national crime rates. And by 1924, interest in crime literature spawned the creation of True Detective Mysteries, considered the first true crime serial. True crime magazines hit their peak in the 1930s and criminals who were featured gained instant fame while Hollywood looked to these true stories for plot ideas.
Highlights from the exhibit include an early example of an Associated Press Wirephoto, a photograph album compiled by an expert witness in the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and materials from our collection of Wood Detective Agency Records, the first private detective agency in New England.