Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in serialized Victorian popular fiction, known as "penny dreadfuls". A story called "The String of Pearls" was published in a weekly magazine during the winter of 1846-47. Set in 1785, the story featured as its principal villain a certain Sweeney Todd and included all the plot elements that were used by Sondheim and others ever since. The murderous barber’s story proved instantly popular – it was turned into a play before the ending had even been revealed in print. An expanded edition appeared in 1850, an American version in 1852, a new play in 1865. By the 1870s, Sweeney Todd
Shelley Sweeney (archivist) Shelley Sweeney (archivist) Shelley Sweeney (born 1959) is the Head of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections. She helped found three archival organizations and is a charter member of the Academy of Certified Archivists. She wrote, with colleagues, the code of ethics for the Canadian archival profession. Sweeney graduated from Alberni District Secondary School in 1977 and subsequently received a Bachelor of Arts in Latin from the University of British Columbia in 1981. She was among the original ten students to enter the first Masters of archival studies program in North America at the University of British Columbia,