The Rare Books and Special Collections in the Founders Memorial Library is presenting a “Heroines, Harlots, and Homebodies: Women in Popular Literature at NIU” exhibit.

The exhibit began in early March and will continue until March 31. Rare Books and Special Collections is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

Lynn Thomas, Rare Books and Special Collections librarian, organized the exhibit. Thomas’ idea came to her after a talk she gave at a luncheon in November.

“It was an original idea and I was really looking for something visually interesting,” Thomas said.

The exhibit shows eight cases of material dating back to the 1800s. Each case is grouped by topics concerning women in literature.

Some of the selected literature include “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, and the Wonder Woman comic book series.

“I chose a group of literature that represented women in pop culture,” Thomas said.

The majority of the material shown in the exhibit has been either purchased or donated to the library. The Dime Novels are from the Johanssen Collection, which were purchased by the library in the 1970s. The library has the largest collection of Dime Novels with more than 50,000.

The material shown in the exhibit can be used for resource or reading pleasure by students and faculty, but the material must be used on site.

The library will hold other exhibits and events in the future.