In the summer of 2012 the William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan mounted an exhibition of primary sources on murder in America from the 1670s to 1900. Clements Director J. Kevin Graffagnino’s PowerPoint presentation of murder books, pamphlets, serials, prints, photographs, and ephemera illustrates the ways our ancestors dealt with murder as vehicle for moral instruction, basis for social attitudes and legal policy, and source of guilty-pleasure titillation. Given the enduring popularity of crime and punishment for America readers, collectors, and researchers, this lecture for those 50 and over should appeal to scholarly and popular audiences alike. Instructor J. Kevin Graffagnino has been Director of the University of Michigan’s William L. Clements Library since 2008 and will be retiring after 11 years at the end of December.