News Updates

In preparation for our move to Sullivant Hall this summer, the Cartoon Library & Museum will need to temporarily stop services for our patrons. Here is a list of important dates to be aware of if you plan a visit to the library or use our reproduction services:

Currently: No longer accepting requests for group tours through the Summer 

May 31: Last day we accept donations, digital image requests and photocopy requests

May 31–July 12:  Reading room will be open to researchers by limited appointment only (please contact the library) and to view the exhibition, Alternate Views: Perspectives on the American Civil War

July 15–September 6: Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is CLOSED to all visitors and patrons 

We are very excited to announce that the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum's Grand Opening Festival will be held November 14-17, 2013.  This event will celebrate our move into our new space in Sullivant Hall and expanded programming and services.  For more information visit the 2013 Grand Opening Festival website at http://cartoons.osu.edu/programming/festival-of-cartoon-art/2013-Grand-Opening-Festival/

The National Cartoonists Society Foundation has contributed $20,000 to support the new Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum location, part of the Sullivant Hall renovation at The Ohio State University.  This gift will be matched dollar for dollar by Jean Schulz, widow of Peanuts’ creator Charles M. Schulz, giving it a $40,000 impact on the project.   Ms. Schulz promised to match donations to the new facility up to $2.5 million.

The National Cartoonists Society Foundation’s board of Directors unanimously approved this gift.  The Foundation's mission is to support and promote the art of cartooning through scholarships, donations to museums and cartooning institutions as well as to support individual cartoonists in need. The fund was created by a generous grant from the estate of cartoonist David Pascal and the merger of previous contributions from the Herblock Foundation, the estate of Toni Mendez and the Milt Gross fund.  The Foundation is also supported by individual contributions from cartoonists, syndicates and other benefactors.

For the full press release see http://cartoons.osu.edu/press-releases/national-cartoonists-society-foundation-participates-in-schulz-challenge/

Jean Schulz, philanthropist and widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, pledged to match all gifts to our new building project, up to $2.5 million.  We are happy to announce that we are very close to meeting her challenge!  So far we have received $2.38 million in gifts and pledges.  We only have $120,000 left to go!  You can help us reach our goal and complete our capital campaign.  Remember that Jean Schulz will double your gift, making it worth twice as much to our project.  Giving is easy: just mail a check to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum or give online with a credit card at https://www.giveto.osu.edu/igive/onlinegiving/search_results.aspx?fundnum=313023

Jay N. "Ding" Darling (1876-1962) was one of America's most beloved political cartoonists.   For more than four decades, he drew for the Des Moines Register and his cartoons were syndicated around the country for millions to see.   A two-time Pulitzer winner, Ding repeatedly topped popluarity polls throughout the Twenties and Thirties. 

In Iconoclast in Ink, cartoon historial Richard Samuel West sets out to show that Ding was a fiercely independent spirit, a progressive Republican who followed his conscience, without care for party dogma.  This led him to take many surprising stands, such as impassioned suppport for the League of Nations and later the New Deal.

Ding also was an influential conservationist and a founder of the national Wildlife Federation.  The J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida is named in his honor.

This book explored his life's work, in all its antic and powerful glory.

Iconoclast in Ink: The Political Cartoons of Jay N. "Ding" Darling is a profusely illustrated volume published by The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.

For information on how to order visit Publications.

We are making critical updates to our website.  The site may be unstable over the next few days while we work out the changes.  We thank you for your patience.  If you have any questions, please contact us!

The Ohio State University Libraries is thrilled to announce that The Hershey Foundation of Northeast Ohio has answered the Schulz Challenge with a multi-year grant of $100,000 to support the new Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (BICLM) facility, part of the Sullivant Hall renovation at OSU.  Read the full press release at: http://cartoons.osu.edu/?q=press/hershey-foundation-answers-schulz-challenge

Professor emerita Lucy Shelton Caswell received the Silver T-Square Award from the National Cartoonists Society (NCS), the world’s largest organization of professional cartoonists.  The Silver T-Square is awarded to persons who have demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the NCS or the cartooning profession.  

Link to the full story: Press Release

Welcome to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Blog! We’re very excited to join the comics blogosphere, and keep you all informed on what we’re up to. This blog will generally be updated at least twice a week with a smattering of events and activities of the Cartoon Library & Museum, highlights from our collection, interviews, and more. We hope you will add us to your feed, and continue to check back for the latest news. You can also Visit us on Facebook and  Twitter

The Ohio State University Press is adding a new series to its literature and literary studies publications. Studies in Comics and Cartoons will be edited by Lucy Shelton Caswell and Jared Gardner. Comics studies is the epitome of a growing scholarly pursuit that is continually gaining both public and critical attention. Complicating the long-standing assumption that a fusion of image and text is not a serious work of either literature or art, academic institutions are giving comics and cartoons more attention than ever before. Despite a number of important individual books published by university presses in the field, this burgeoning area of study does not yet have its own series at any press. Ohio State University Press, with its affiliation to Ohio State's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and focus on literary studies, is well-suited to publish such a series.

Lucy Shelton Caswell is the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum's founding Curator. Jared Gardner is Associate Professor in the Department of English.

Books published in Studies in Comics and Cartoons will focus exclusively on comics and graphic literature, highlighting their relation to literary studies. It will include monographs and edited collections that cover the history of comics and cartoons from the editorial cartoon and early sequential comics of the nineteenth century through webcomics of the twenty-first. Studies that focus on international comics will also be considered.

Inquiries should be directed to Sandy Crooms <sandy.crooms@osupress.org> at The Ohio State University Press.

The Cartoon Library and Museum needs your support to raise funds for the renovation of Sullivant Hall, the future home of the library.  Donate to the Schulz Challenge & Cartoon Library and Museum Fund and your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar by Jean Schulz.

Jean Schulz, the widow of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, issued a challenge:  in addition to her initial gift of $1 million, she will provide an additional matching gift of $2.5 million if Ohio State raises the same amount from other sources. 

"We are very grateful to Jean Schulz for her generous gift and for her challenge which will encourage everyone who cares about cartoon art to become involved in our project," said Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor and Curator of the library. "The new Cartoon Library and Museum will be a place of learning and enjoyment for the public and scholars alike."

Located at a highly visible location along High Street and adjacent to the Wexner Center for the Arts, the historic Sullivant Hall is in dire need of repair. The planned renovation will provide 40,000 gross square feet of space for the new Cartoon Library and Museum that will include a spacious reading room for researchers, three museum-quality galleries, and expanded storage with state-of-the-art environmental and security controls. A dedicated ground-level entry will allow for easy access to the new facility. The addition of exhibition galleries dedicated to cartoon art will facilitate public display of the Library's extraordinary collection. Total renovation costs are estimated at $20.6 million.

View the video to learn more about the Cartoon Library and Museum, this renovation project and the Schulz Challenge!

Promises to match an additional $2.5 million in a challenge to "others"

The Ohio State University received a gift of $1 million from Jean Schulz, the widow of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, to support the renovation of Sullivant Hall, the future home of the world's most comprehensive academic research facility dedicated to documenting printed cartoon art.

Along with her generous gift, Mrs. Schulz issued a challenge:  she will provide an additional matching gift of $ 2.5 million if Ohio State raises the same amount from other sources, making the total impact of her gift $ 6 million.

"By helping to underwrite a state-of-the-art facility for the University's renowned Cartoon Library and Museum, Jean Schulz advances the work of students, faculty, and scholars, and deepens our understanding of the importance of the genre," said Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee. "Her gift is an especially fitting way to honor the remarkable creative legacy of her late husband, Charles."

Located at a highly visible location along High Street and adjacent to the Wexner Center for the Arts, the historic Sullivant Hall is in dire need of repair. The planned renovation will provide 40,000 gross square feet of space for the new Cartoon Library and Museum that will include a spacious reading room for researchers, three museum-quality galleries, and expanded storage with state-of-the-art environmental and security controls. A dedicated ground-level entry will allow for easy access to the new facility. The addition of exhibition galleries dedicated to cartoon art will facilitate public display of the Library's extraordinary collection.

When asked what inspired her to give to the Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State, Jean Schulz said, "Lucy Caswell has done a marvelous job in collecting and preserving works in the cartoon medium. I was pleased at the opportunity to help provide a fitting home for this important collection and to recognize her contribution in the field."

The Sullivant renovation will also provide new spaces for the Department of Dance and the Music/Dance Library, and an upgraded auditorium, which will be used for numerous community, academic, and performance purposes.

Total renovation cost is estimated at $ 20.6 million, with architectural design to take 12 months, followed by 6 months for bidding and contracts, and 24 months for construction.

Due to its outstanding reputation, growing collection and a surge of scholarly interest in comics and cartoons, the Cartoon Library and Museum -- formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library -- is a destination location for researchers from around the world.

With a founding gift of the Milton Caniff Collection, Ohio State's Cartoon Library and Museum was established in 1977 in two converted classrooms in the University's Journalism Building. From this small beginning, founding curator Lucy Shelton Caswell has spent more than thirty years building the Library into the widely renowned facility it is today.

The Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State is one of the most admired and sought-after caretakers of legacy collections. Thousands of donors have contributed to the collection, with gifts ranging from one item to tens of thousands. In 1992, the Robert Roy Metz Collection of 83,034 original cartoons by 113 cartoonists was donated by United Media, and in 2007, the entire collection of the International Museum of Cartoon Art (IMCA), numbering more than 200,000 originals, was transferred to the Cartoon Library and Museum.

With the addition of the IMCA's extensive permanent collection, the Cartoon Library and Museum now houses more than 400,000 works of original cartoon and comic art, 35,000 books, 51,000 serial titles, 2,800 linear feet of manuscript materials, and 2.5 million comic strip clippings and newspaper pages. Moving into its new home from its current location, a 6,800-square-foot basement north of Mershon Auditorium, will allow more of the collection to be displayed and readily accessible.

"We are very grateful to Jean Schulz for her generous gift and for her challenge which will encourage everyone who cares about cartoon art to become involved in our project," said Lucy Shelton Caswell. "The new Cartoon Library and Museum will be a place of learning and enjoyment for the public and scholars alike."

Rendering of Sullivant Hall once renovation is complete

Join the Schulz Challenge and Support the Sullivant Hall Renovation

http://giveto.osu.edu/schulzchallenge

Contact:  Jane Carroll, Public Relations Manager
                Development Communications, The Ohio State University
                (614) 292-2550 or carroll.296@osu.edu