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ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DEPARTMENT
Bowling Green State University is the only university in the United States to implement a graduate department devoted to the scholarly study of popular culture. The Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University has been a leader in the scholarly movement to investigate
popular culture since its inception in 1973. Dr. Ray Browne's early efforts led to the establishment of the Department of Popular
Culture as an M.A. program, followed with the establishment of the undergraduate major a year later. By expanding literature course offerings to include the research and analysis of detective fiction, romance fiction, westerns, and other so-called genre fiction; and by developing coursework on popular film, popular television, popular music, and folklore and folklife, the Department of Popular Culture in 1973 opened students to a consideration of cultural forms that they were familiar with in their everyday lives, but had not reflected upon critically. Through the consideration of popular materials, students confronted issues concerning the relationships of commerce to art, the popular media to society, and the popular use of the mass media. Previously, in 1967,
Dr. Browne had founded the Journal of Popular Culture; and in 1969 he founded the scholarly association for the study of popular culture, the Popular Culture Association. Through these innovative curricular and programmatic developments
and the research and other professional activities of the faculty, the department has established its national reputation
as the leader in the study of popular culture.
HISTORY OF THE POPULAR CULTURE BUILDING
The Department of Popular Culture is located in a house ordered from Montgomery Ward & Company. Virgil H. Taylor erected the
house in 1932. Montgomery Ward & Company published their last house catalog in 1931, raising the possibility that Virgil H.
Taylor bought one of the last Montgomery Ward & Company houses. Bowling Green State University bought the building in 1937
to house the University President. A substantial addition was added to the rear of the house in 1949. In addition to being
the president's house, various university offices have been located in the house, including the Alumni Association and the
Graduate College. In the late seventies, the Department of Popular Culture moved into the house, which is where it still resides, today.
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