Comics Published by the Federal Government

The federal government produces a vast variety of publications which, through the Federal Depository Library Program, are sent to selected libraries across the country. These are called "depository libraries." The University of Mississippi Libraries is one such depository library. It has helpful composed a digitally scanned archive of federally-produced educational comics.

They are fascinating to browse through. For example, Quest for a Job is the story of Native Americans who live on a reservation making an effort to acquire gainful employment.

Sprocket Man is a superhero who teaches children about bicycle safety.

He's extremely committed to his mission.

A side story: for my capstone project in library school, I did a quantitative study on format changes over time among US Coast Guard documents in the Federal Depository Library Program. It was then that I encountered the most bizarre federal government document that I have ever seen (and that's saying something): an emergency cold water survival guide. How do you live if you find yourself in cold ocean waters with only minutes before you freeze? This quick guide taught you how.

Sounds helpful, right? But as far as I could tell, this document was only available in microfiche format. So it would be very important, in the midst of this emergency, to have a microfiche reader available.


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I'm thinking the Army may have the Government beat. Back in the 70s I came across a monthly comic they published for their maintenance troops. I was told the reading levels were so poor the comic was a primary way to get procedures understood. Don't know about that, but at the time, I couldn't believe what I was reading. PS the Preventive Maintenance Monthly. The wiki link is a decent history, the Comic Vine link has covers and more background. Amazing stuff - especially in the 60s/70s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS,_The_Preventive_Maintenance_Monthly

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/ps-the-preventive-maintenance-monthly/4050-26482/
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