12:30-2:00 PM Session 14: Luncheon Keynote

Christine Bold, Buffalo Bill and “Dime Novelitis”

The term “Dime Novelitis,” coined in 1907, stood for boy readers’ perceived addiction to cheap westerns. Buffalo Bill dime novels played a distinctive role in this moral panic, connecting it to larger cultural struggles which this talk traces through print, performance, and film. While these dime novels shaped how the world looked at the wild west, they were also re-shaped by Native peoples looking back.

Christine Bold is Professor of English at the University of Guelph. She has published six books and numerous essays on popular culture and cultural memory, including the award-winning The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880-1924 (2013).