Search

This collection contains dime novels from the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. These were cheap, mass-market fiction works sold in five, ten, and twenty cent formats that covered themes of adventure, crime, technology, the American Revolution, pirates, frontier life, the Wild West, and relations with Native Americans. This collection contains issues from popular dime novel publishers, including Frank Tousey, the Winner Library Co., Street and Smith, the George Marsh Company, Beadle and Adams, Norman L. Munro, the Arthur Westbrook Company, and R. M. de Witt. Because of their ephemeral nature, many dime novel publications have not survived. This collection offers a valuable look at American popular fiction from the turn of the twentieth century.

The collection primarily consists of materials related to D.B. McKay and his immediate family, but also includes materials from the Gutierrez and Martin families as well. Collection content consists of manuscripts, biographical materials, newspaper clippings, estate papers, architectural plans, diaries, poetry, family papers, correspondence, certificates, awards, photographs, and articles from the Tampa Tribune's "Pioneer Florida," a column edited by McKay for ten years.