PCL MS 104 Garbage Pail Kids Collection

Title	PCL MS 104 Garbage Pail Kids Collection
Introduction	The Garbage Pail Kids Collection consists of approximately 11 linear feet of manuscript materials. The collection was donated to the Browne Popular Culture Library by Topps Chewing Gum Incorporated in 1988. This collection is unprocessed, but may be accessed by contacting the BPCL reference email. The collection has no restrictions placed on its use for scholarly purposes. Researchers are responsible for securing copyright permission when using all unpublished manuscripts and published works found in this collection.
Agency History	The Garbage Pail Kids were a series of bubble gum card/stickers originally manufactured by Topps Chewing Gum, Inc. between 1985 and 1988. The brainchild of legendary comic book artist Art Spiegelman, the cards were meant to parody the then-popular Cabbage Patch Dolls, replacing the cute faces and names with grotesque figures and humorous sing-song names. Complaints from parents and educators fueled sales, and a live-action movie and animated TV series were made in 1987. A lawsuit from the makers of Cabbage Patch Dolls led to changes in the design of the characters and cards, though by 1988 the series' popularity had dwindled significantly. The Garbage Pail Kids re-emerged with new series in 2003, and have been consistently produced ever since.
Scope and Content	The collection is primarily comprised of correspondence regarding The Garbage Pail Kids. Many of the letters are complaints from parents, educators, and children. A signficant amount of positive fan mail is included as well. Much of the positive mail includes childrens' suggestions of names for new characters.
Series Description	Correspondence 1986-1987 Arranged generally chronologically
Inventory	An inventory for this collection has not been produced. However, the collection is mostly organized in chronological order by month.