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About

About the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is the foremost center for the study and preservation of comics and cartoon art, proudly stewarding the largest collection of related materials in the world. Its galleries and reading room are free and open to all.

Mission Statement

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum inspires the study and appreciation of cartoon and comics art. As a cultural heritage center, we collect, preserve and make accessible materials that represent a diversity of voices for research, teaching, exhibitions, and educational programming.

illustration of a girl reading comics on a stoop

Collection Holdings

  • 300,000 Original Cartoons
  • 107,000 Comic Books, Magazines, and Journals
  • 63,000 Books and Graphic Novels
  • 6,300 Boxes of Archival Materials
  • 2.5M Newspaper Comic Strip Pages and Clippings
Lucy Shelton-Caswell and Milton Caniff looking at comics.
Founding Curator Lucy Shelton Caswell and Milton Caniff

History

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum was established in 1977 by the School of Journalism with the founding gift of artwork and papers of cartoonist and Ohio State alumnus Milton Caniff. Its extensive collections of original art and archival material have been built primarily through donations by many generous donors.

The library has had several former names: Milton Caniff Reading Room, 1977; Library for Communication and Graphic Arts; Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic Arts Research Library; Cartoon Research Library, 1989; Cartoon Library and Museum, July 2009; and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, September 2009.

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is now the largest and most comprehensive academic research facility documenting printed cartoon art. It functions as an archive, a research library, and a museum. Administratively, it is part of The Ohio State University Libraries’ Special Collections and Area Studies division

Collection Highlights

Programs

Our library promotes the study and appreciation of cartoon art by sponsoring a variety of educational programs and publications including exhibitions, catalogs, lectures, seminars, panel discussions, workshops and conferences. Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) held annually is a multi-day event that celebrates and promotes the craft of cartooning and attracts participants from around the world.

 

Access

Because this is an archival facility, items from our collections are available only on site. None may be borrowed for personal use outside the reading room and the library’s stacks are closed to browsers. Researchers should contact cartoons@osu.edu to schedule an appointment and are strongly encouraged to supply a list of materials in advance. 

Search the Ohio State University Libraries on-line catalog of printed materials (books, journals, comic books, biographical clipping files, etc.) and collection-level records of manuscript and original art material. Use Advanced Search to limit results to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum holdings.

Search the Art Database for portions of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum’s collection of original art.

Inventories for Selected Collections, also known as Finding Aids, are available to browse processed archival and manuscript collections

Images of some of the collections are available for viewing in Digital Collections.

Educational resources relating to the history of printed cartoons and digital albums of the library’s treasures are accessible on our website under Resources.

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