Lindsay DiCuirci on Traps for the Young: Comstockery and Its Legacies

February Midday Program

There’s nothing like a good moral panic about how young people are spending their time to get the blood boiling – whether it’s the presence of a pool table (Trouble, right here in River City!), corrupting comic books, or the perils of Snapchat.

That’s why Anthony Comstock’s 1883 conduct book Traps for the Young burned through five editions and rang alarm bells that echo today. Its legacy continues to shape censorship battles, contentious school board meetings, and confrontations in libraries. One First Amendment scholar suggests that Comstock is the individual who has most profoundly affected American culture.

Dr. Lindsay DiCuirci of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County will be revealing the story of Comstock’s crusade. A prize winning author, Lindsay directs the English Honors program at UMBC. She is a member of the American Antiquarian Society and a sought-after speaker across a range of bookish topics.

Whether you used to hide a copy of something banned in that D.H. Lawrence text you were supposed to be reading, searched for comics that didn’t feature the Approved By the Comics Code Authority seal, or thought a game of pool was a perfectly swell way to pass an evening in Iowa, it’s time you were Comstocked. Register for this event today!

Please forward this notice to anyone who may find it of interest.

Even if you can’t attend at the scheduled time, if you’re interested, please register. After the program, we’ll send an email to all registrants, asking if you’d like a link to the complete recording. That way you can see the program even if you couldn’t attend live, ran into technical issues, or simply wanted to watch it again.