Exhibition at the Cartoon Research Library’s Reading Room Gallery
September 22 – December 31, 2008

Sam Milai (March 23, 1908-April 30, 1970) was an artist and cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Courier, an influential African American newspaper, for thirty-three years. He was a centrist who disdained all forms of extremism. Unfortunately, much of Milai’s original work was destroyed in a fire. The cartoons in this exhibition were found by his granddaughter in a suitcase in her mother’s attic and donated to the Cartoon Research Library. The Sam Milai collection also includes correspondence, clippings and photographs related to Milai.

Sam Milai of the Pittsburgh Courier documents Milai’s mature work during the last seven years of his life. Reading these cartoons from the perspective of almost four decades later, we sense both the hopes and the frustrations that the African American community experienced during the 1960s.

Milai was loyal to Lyndon Johnson, and some of his pro-Johnson cartoons are housed in the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. He won the National Newspaper Publisher’s Association Russwurm trophy for the best cartoon eight times during his career. In addition to his editorial cartoons, Milai created a series titled Facts about the Negro that celebrated the accomplishments of people of color. During the late 1930s, he also contributed a comic strip to the newspaper. He taught part time at Pittsburgh’s Ivey School of Professional Art from 1964-1967 and was teaching full-time at the Pittsburgh Art Institute at the time of his death.

Special Event:
October 27, 4:30 pm
021L Wexner Center (seminar room adjacent to the Cartoon Research Library)
Dr. Rebecca Wanzo, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and African American and African Studies, will discuss Sam Milai’s cartoons on Monday, October 27 in the seminar room next to the Cartoon Research Library. This event is free and open to the public.

Contact the Cartoon Research Library for an image to accompany this release.

About the Cartoon Research Library: The Cartoon Research Library’s primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. The library is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. See https://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information

The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library Operating Endowment Fund was established on June 6 by the University’s Board of Trustees. A generous gift of $1 million from anonymous donors funded the endowment. The purpose of this fund is to supplement the operational expenses of the library. Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of the Cartoon Research Library, said, “This endowment is a wonderful vote of confidence in this library’s future. It will allow us to enhance every aspect of our operations, from exhibition catalogues to the number of student employees we can hire. We are very grateful to our generous donors for making this possible. We hope that this endowment will continue to grow with contributions from others who are interested in the development of a comprehensive research collection of cartoon art which is organized and available to interested students, researchers, and the public.” The $1 million gift is the largest single cash gift received to date by the Cartoon Research Library.

For information about donating to the Endowment Fund or to discuss estate planning, please contact us at 614-292-0538 or cartoons@osu.edu.

About the Cartoon Research Library: The Cartoon Research Library’s primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. The library is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to5 p.m. See https://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

An exhibition at the Cartoon Research Library’s Reading Room Gallery
May 1 – September 5, 2008

To celebrate the opening of this exhibit and its companion exhibition Jeff Smith:  Bone and Beyond at the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Cartoon Research Library will be open Saturday, May 10, from 1-5 p.m.  This is the only Saturday the exhibit will be open.

Jeff Smith brought a much more polished feature to the campus newspaper than most student cartoonists.  From its inception, Thorn, the title of Smith’s Lantern strip which was named after its female protagonist, exhibited an unusual level of sophistication.  The strip demonstrated very capable manipulation of layout and design coupled with time-honored comic strip narrative techniques.  It is interesting to note that by his early twenties, Smith clearly grasped the power of epic narrative, even though the storyline of Thorn, while sophisticated and entertaining, was not linear.

The vantage point of a quarter century and the phenomenal international success of Bone make us see Jeff Smith’s college cartoons in a different perspective than we did when they first ran in The Lantern.  At Ohio State University, the student newspaper describes itself as a “laboratory newspaper,” and it served that purpose very successfully for Smith.  He used Thorn both to hone his artistic skills and to experiment with several types of storytelling.  From a sketchbook page to finished comic strips, this exhibition celebrates the education of a young man.

A signed and numbered catalogue limited to 500 copies is available.  It reprints all of the Thorn comic strips in this exhibit  and has an introduction by Jeff Smith, a foreword by his colleague Jim Kammerud and an essay by Lucy Shelton Caswell.  The volume is available from the library for $25 per copy.   All proceeds from the sale of this catalogue will benefit the Cartoon Research Library.

About the Cartoon Research Library:  The Cartoon Research Library’s primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections.  The library is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  See https://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

Jay Kennedy, the former Editor-in-Chief at King Features Syndicate who died in 2007, bequeathed his collection of underground comic books to The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. The collection of more than 9,500 items is one of the most extensive in the world. Kennedy, who authored the seminal reference work The Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide: Listing Alternative Comix in the U.S. & Canada from 1962 to the Present (Boatner Norton Press: 1982), was an authority on underground comics. A comics scholar, a gentleman, a lover of the 60s, and an artist himself, Kennedy held underground comics as not just an art movement, but also a social, political and cultural movement.

“We are honored that Jay bequeathed his collection to us,” says Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of the library. “It is a very substantial resource that will interest scholars in several areas.”

The Jay Kennedy Collection will be housed in the library’s secure, climate-controlled stacks so that the materials will be convenient for users in its reading room. According to Caswell, work has begun to catalog these materials to make them available to researchers as soon as possible.

Brendan Burford, Kennedy’s associate at King Features Syndicate, stated, “During the time I knew Jay Kennedy, I was fortunate to have him share many things with me, among them, his comic book collection. I got to know his collection very well as we worked together for several years cataloging its contents. It’s a tremendous collection — one that is unparalleled. I can’t think of a better home for Jay’s comic books than the OSU Cartoon Research Library. The collection will live on admirably.”

About the Cartoon Research Library: The Cartoon Research Library’s primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. The library is open Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. See https://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

Thursday, November 8, 2007, 4:00 pm
Free and open to the public
021L Wexner Center, 27 West 17th Avenue Mall, adjacent to the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library

Comic artist Carol Tyler will discuss her upcoming book Sepia Tome: Telling Dad’s World War II Story.  Tyler’s comics first appeared in Weirdo and Wimmen’s Comix twenty years ago.  Since then she has contributed to numerous comics anthologies and published two solo works, The Job Thing in 1993 and Late Bloomer in 2005.   Late Bloomer presents a rich and powerful collection of Tyler’s autobiographical comic stories beautifully published in color by Fantagraphics.

In the introduction to Late Bloomer, Robert Crumb writes, “She is tops, in my book, one of the best artists alive and working in the comics medium. She has fine aesthetic instincts… Her drawings are always pleasing to look at, warm, delicate, inviting. Yet the content, the stories, are all about gritty reality, the hard struggles of common, everyday life.” For more information about Carol Tyler, see her website: www.bloomerland.com.

Tyler’s presentation is co-sponsored by the Cartoon Research Library, Project Narrative, Department of Women’s Studies and the Department of History’s Harvey Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching

This event is part of Storytelling 2007: A Celebration of Graphic Narrative, a special year of events and exhibitions celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of master-storyteller Milton Caniff, the founding donor of the Cartoon Research Library.  Caniff was the creator of the comic strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon.

Parking available at the Ohio Union Garage

April 4, 2007
Wexner Center Film/Video Theater
1871 Noth High Street

Comics are changing fast, both in the kinds of stories they tell, and how their creators tell them. Thanks to the “graphic novel” movement, the manga invasion, and the growth of webcomics, the story of comics in America is more exciting and unpredictable than ever. Author and comics artist Scott McCloud puts all these trends into perspective in a fast-moving visual presentation.

McCloud is the author of the groundbreaking graphic books Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics and is also the creator of the comic book series Zot! McCloud and his family are currently in the middle of a 50-state tour celebrating the release of Making Comics. For more information, see www.scottmccloud.com.

February 28, 2007
Mershon Auditorium
N. High St. at 15th Ave.

For more than 30 years, Ohio native and endearing curmudgeon Harvey Pekar has carefully and hilariously documented his experiences and observations through his autobiographical comics. The absorbing tale of his life and work was the basis for the acclaimed 2003 film American Splendor, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance International Film Festival. Pekar appears in the film as himself and is also played by Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti.

Pekar will discuss his life’s work with Dr. Jared Gardner of The Ohio State University Department of English at Mershon Auditorium on February 28, 2007 at 7:00 pm. This Artist’s Conversation is jointly sponsored by the OSU Cartoon Research Library and the Wexner Center for the Arts. A book-signing will follow the presentation. The event is free and open to the public. Submit a question for Gardner to ask Pekar by sending an e-mail to cartoons@osu.edu. Inspired by Robert Crumb and the underground “comix” movement, Pekar realized the potential of the medium of comics to tell engaging stories that would appeal to adults. He is an exceptional storyteller who coaxes insight from the ordinary and mundane. Pekar is the author of the long-running comic-book series American Splendor and the graphic novels The Quitter and Our Cancer Year, which he co-wrote with his wife Joyce Brabner. His latest graphic novel, Ego and Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, recounts the life story of another unlikely protagonist, an intelligent yet off-putting young man made memorable by Pekar’s deft touch. Pekar writes his comics then collaborates with different artists, including Robert Crumb, Frank Stack, and Dean Haspiel, who supply the artwork.

The event is part of Storytelling 2007, a special year of events and exhibitions celebrating graphic narrative. It will take place on the 100th anniversary of the birth of master-storyteller Milton Caniff, the founding donor of the Cartoon Research Library. Caniff was the creator of the comic strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon.

About the Cartoon Research Library: The Cartoon Research Library’s primary mission is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. See https://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

About the Wexner Center for the Arts: An internationally known center for the contemporary arts, the Wexner Center is a “research laboratory” for all the arts, with a focus on commissions for new work and artist residencies. Its multidisciplinary programs encompass performing arts, exhibitions, and media arts (film/video) and have focused on cutting-edge culture from around the globe.

See http://wexarts.org/ for further information

The Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History
January, 2007

Because of increased interest among Ohio’s K-12 teachers in using editorial cartoons as a tool for teaching history, the Cartoon Research Library, The Ohio State University History Teaching Institute, and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists have created The Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach History. The Opper site includes 12 lesson plans based on topics aligned to the State of Ohio’s K-12 content standards for social studies/history and for social studies skills and methods. Designed by local high school teachers who participated in a workshop in August 2006, each lesson plan includes high-resolution reproductions of between 4-6 cartoons, learning objectives, downloadable worksheets, assignments, and extension activities.

The site is named for Ohioan Frederick Burr Opper (1857-1937), who was the first great American-born editorial cartoonist.
The goals of the Opper Project are:
. To increase the understanding of editorial cartoons as primary source materials, not mere illustrations, though the use of close reading techniques for this type of graphic commentary.
. To use editorial cartoons as documents that can increase our understanding of historical events and personalities.
. To stimulate historical thinking about recurring controversies in history.
. To employ editorial cartoons about today’s news to develop analytical skills related to current issues and events.

Phase I of the Opper Project was made possible in part by a generous grant from Michael and Susan Kahn. Michael Kahn, senior litigation partner at Folger, Levin & Kahn in San Francisco, is the author of May It Amuse the Court, a book examining editorial cartoons about the Supreme Court and Constitution. An avid collector of editorial cartoons, Kahn is an advocate of using editorial cartoons to teach history.

Phase II of the Opper Project is planned for summer 2007, when 12 additional lesson plans will be developed on 12 additional topics. Phase II of the Opper Project is scheduled to be launched in late 2007. The goal is eventually to expand the Opper Project to a national user base.

The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library is the largest and most comprehensive academic research facility documenting printed cartoon art. For almost thirty years, the library has promoted cartoon art by mounting numerous exhibits on campus, lending for exhibits elsewhere, and hosting seminars, workshops and conferences.

The Ohio State University History Teaching Institute of The Harvey Goldberg Program for Excellence in Teaching delivers professional development and training to Ohio’s public school teachers by linking one of the nation’s leading academic history departments to K-12 education in Ohio. Its teacher training initiatives integrate the skills of historical inquiry, an enhanced grasp of subject matter content, and seek to increase the use of primary source materials and technology in secondary classrooms.

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) is a professional association concerned with promoting the interests of staff, freelance and student editorial cartoonists in the United States. The AAEC has worked with Newspapers in Education to sponsor Cartoons fro the Classroom, a program designed to aid educators at all levels to use editorial cartoons in teaching history, social studies and current events.

Korean Comics: A Society through Small Frames
January 16 – March 16, 2007
The Cartoon Research Library Reading Room Gallery

The sleek lines and sci-fi plots of Japanese anime have generated a large following, but until now, few comics connoisseurs have known about Korean cartoons. No more. The Korea Society presents Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames, the first substantial survey of Korean comics to be exhibited in the U.S. It will be on display at The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library from January 16-March 16, 2007, and is co-sponsored by the Cartoon Research Library, the Korean Studies Initiative, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature. The exhibit is free and open to the public weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On Tuesday, January 16, the public is invited to a reception at 4 p.m. to open the exhibit which will be followed at 4:30 p.m. by a lecture titled Reflections from a Manhwabang: Life and Comics in 1960s Korea by Professor Heinz Insu Fenkl, director of the Creative Writing Program of the Interstitial Studies Institute at SUNY New Paltz. His presentation will be in the seminar room adjacent to the Cartoon Research Library, 021L Wexner.

The exhibition features 83 framed works by 21 of Korea’s most talented cartoonists, drawn over a period of 40 years. It includes work by artists from both South Korea and North Korea.

The comics range from the playful to the political. Viewers will instantly recognize the variety of juvenile comics: Kkobongi, a mischievous 11 year-old, is South Korea’s answer to Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. Other panels call for more reflection. Artists like Park Jae-Dong used their wits and their pens to illuminate the pervasive social ills in South Korea during the 1970s and ’80s-such as rampant sexism and poverty-overshadowed by the country’s overwhelming economic success.

The show’s North Korean comics capture that reclusive country’s economic hardships and strict ideological controls. The Great General Mighty Wing indoctrinates young readers through the adventures of a devoutly socialist, anthropomorphic bee. Other North Korean comics exalt the prestige of the motherland: World Professional Wrestling King-Ryok To San is a biographical comic of Kim Sin-Nak, a famous wrestler from North Korea who became a major figure on the international wrestling circuit. In the comics, and in North Korea today, he is glorified as a figure capable of defeating foreigners and defending the country’s honor.

Korean Comics: A Society Through Small Frames is organized and curated by The Korea Society as part of their traveling exhibition program. It is currently traveling to colleges, universities, galleries and nonprofit institutions across America.
Monday, January 1, 2007

Keith Knight, cartoonist, hip-hop artist, and community activist, will visit Columbus in October. Mr. Knight will present two events that will be free and open to the public. On Thursday, October 5, Mr. Knight will speak at the Ohio State University’s Hale Black Cultural Center at 7:30 pm. On Saturday, October 7, he will lead a workshop entitled “Cartooning Is Serious Business” at the Columbus College of Art and Design.

Mr. Knight creates two nationally-syndicated weekly comics, the K Chronicles and th(ink). They appear in weekly newspapers across the country and on websites such as www.salon.com. His cartoons also regularly appear in MAD Magazine and ESPN The Magazine. He is part of a new generation of talented young African-American artists who infuse their work with edge, humor, satire, politics, race and social commentary.

Aaron McGruder, Creator of the Boondocks calls Keith’s work, “fluid and energetic and wild.very, very smart and very funny.”

“Keith Knight deals with so many issues with both gravitas and such a light touch, while never missing a chance for a cheap laugh. This is the work of a genius,” says Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. For more information about Mr. Knight, see www.kchronicles.com.

About the Events

Keith Knight: Gentleman Cartoonist
Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center
The Ohio State University, 153 W. 12th Ave
Thursday, October 5 at 7:30 pm
Free admission
Event co-sponsored by the Cartoon Research Library, the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center, the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, the Multicutural Center, and the Ohio Arts Council.

Mr. Knight will discuss his career as a cartoonist and musician and his experiences as a young, urban, African-American male. His humorous and thought-provoking presentation will touch on contemporary issues of interest to the community including race, racial stereotyping, diversity, the media and politics.

“Cartooning Is Serious Business” Workshop
Columbus College of Art and Design
107 North Ninth Street
Saturday, October 7 at 10:30 am -12:30 pm
Free Admission, but RSVP required to cartoons@osu.edu by September 30
Workshop co-sponsored by the Cartoon Research Library, the Columbus College of Art and Design, the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, and the Ohio Arts Council

Mr. Knight will draw upon 12 years as a self-syndicated cartoonist for this intensive workshop, which is an advanced class for artists, illustrators and cartoonists interested in making cartooning a viable money-making career. The workshop will focus on the business side of comics from marketing and promotions to dealing with syndicates and negotiating publishing contracts.

About the Sponsors

The primary mission of The Cartoon Research Library at the Ohio State University is to develop a comprehensive research collection of materials documenting American printed cartoon art (editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons, and magazine cartoons) and to provide access to these collections. See https://cartoons.osu.edu/ for further information.

The Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is one of the largest and oldest private art colleges in the United States. Recognized as a leader in visual arts education and as a resource for artists and the community, CCAD advances a distinct learning culture by blending a tradition of professionalism and a commitment to quality with a solid education in the fundamentals of art and the humanities. See www.ccad.edu for further information.

The mission of the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center at the Ohio State University is to develop and maintain supportive programs and activities for the development and advancement of Black students. Additionally, it serves as an instrument of orientation and instruction to the larger community on issues of race, politics, economics, and community. See http://oma.osu.edu/hale/Home.htm for further information.

The Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities at the Ohio State University has three purposes – to encourage cooperative research both among scholars in the humanities from Ohio State and elsewhere and between humanists and colleagues in the Arts and Sciences and elsewhere on campus, to promote the engagement of the humanities with the public culture beyond the university, and to foster experimental interdisciplinary education. See http://icrph.osu.edu/ for further information.

The Multicultural Center at The Ohio State University exists to provide intellectual and cultural enrichment, programs & services, and facilities; and to create a community environment that recognizes cultural differences, respects cultural uniqueness, and facilitates cross-cultural interaction, learning and appreciation.
See http://multiculturalcenter.osu.edu for further information.

The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically. See www.oac.state.oh.us for further information.

A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle
June 1 – August 31, 2006
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

It was an Antiques Roadshow experience: In early January, a stranger called The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library to say that she had found some old cartoons tucked in a stack of boxes that had been sitting in her family’s business for decades. She wanted to know if they were valuable. Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor and Curator of the library, was skeptical since she often receives calls from people who have found items in grandma’s attic that end up having only sentimental value. The caller was insistent however, and said she was near to campus and would like to bring her find to the library for Caswell to see. An appointment was made for the next afternoon. The caller arrived with a battered cardboard folio. When it was opened, Caswell knew that this time a treasure had been uncovered. Inside were original, hand-colored drawings from Winsor McCay’s first comic strip, A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle. Up to that moment, no original drawings of the strip were known to exist.

Best known for his comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, McCay has been described variously as “the first authentic genius in the comic strip medium,” “one of American’s rare, great fantasists,” and a cartoonist for whom there has been “no equal before or since.” During the 1890s McCay worked as an artist for the Vine Street Dime Museum and Palace Theater in Cincinnati. In 1900 he joined the staff of the Cincinnati Enquirer as an artist/reporter. In 1903 he created forty-three episodes of A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle , illustrated stories about pixies and the imaginary animals they encounter that were printed full-page in color. McCay’s biographer John Canemaker notes the importance of this “proto-comic strip” for McCay: “Tales of the Jungle Imps was Winsor McCay’s first attempt in an extended series format to bring together all of his eclectic talents in a cohesive graphic style. On each page, he found fresh ways to combine his exquisite draftsmanship, dynamic staging, sense of caricature, mastery of perspective, and feeling for motion with his version of the decorative art nouveau style.” Until January 2006 none of the original drawings created by McCay had been seen for more than a century.

The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library acquired five of the original hand-colored drawings from their finder: “How the Turtle Got His Shell,” “How the Quillypig Got His Quills,” “How the Rhinoceros Lost His Beauty,” “How the Hound Got So Thin,” and “Fourth of July in the Jungle.” “It’s remarkable that these originals would turn up in Columbus, Ohio which is the only city in the country with an academic library devoted to cartoons,” said Caswell. “We’re delighted that the family who found these important works understood that some of them belonged in an institution where they would be preserved and protected while also being made accessible to scholars, researchers and students.” The finder has asked to remain anonymous.

The works have undergone conservation treatment and will be exhibited to the public in the Cartoon Research Library’s Reading Room Gallery June 1 – August 31, 2006, with a digital album of the strips forthcoming on the library’s web site https://cartoons.osu.edu/.
* An image of A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle for one-time use is available upon request.

Kate Salley Palmer: Born to Cartoon
February 21, 2006
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Avenue Mall, Columbus OH

Kate Salley Palmer: Born to Cartoon is an exhibition of Palmer’s editorial cartoons about national and international issues. She claims that cartoonists are born, not made–and her passion for her art is reflected in her work. On Tuesday, February 21, 2006, Kate Salley Palmer will speak at 4:30 p.m. in the seminar room adjacent to the Cartoon Research Library. A reception honoring her will begin at 3:30 p.m.

An Orangeburg, South Carolina, native, Kate Salley Palmer graduated from the University of South Carolina with a major in elementary education. She began freelance cartooning with the Greenville News in 1975 and in 1978 she became their first full-time editorial cartoonist. She was syndicated by Field (later News America Syndicate) in 1980. She left the newspaper in 1984 and moved to Associated Features in 1986. Her syndication ended in 1989, after which she has devoted her efforts to writing and illustrating children’s books.

A collection of her political cartoons titled Growing Up Cartoonist (In the Baby Boom South) will be published in late 2005 by Clemson University Digital Press.

This exhibition is cosponsored by the Department of Women’s Studies. The exhibition, reception, and lecture are free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Ohio Union garage.

Sugar & Spice: Little Girls in the Funnies
February 2 – June 30, 2006
The Cartoon Research Library Reading Room Gallery

The second day of Peanuts featured Patty happily walking down a sidewalk reciting the familiar nursery rhyme, “What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, and everything nice.” She meets Charlie Brown, smacks him in the face, and continues her verse, “That’s what little girls are made of!” Charles Schulz knew about little girls because he was the father of three of them. Once when he was asked if Peanuts were based his children, he replied that the strip was based on memory, not observation. Schulz used the wellspring of his memory to create the repertory company of Peanuts characters that included little girls with realistic personalities. As in several other aspects of the history of the American comic strip, Charles Schulz was innovative and influential in the type of little girl characters he conceived; and as a result of his innovation, post-Peanuts comic strips feature different types of girl characters.

Sugar and Spice is a sampling of girl characters who are comic strip protagonists, girls who are sidekicks of leading boy characters, and comics families with daughters. How girls were depicted in comic strips before and after Schulz created the Peanuts girls is the question asked by the exhibit. The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center hosted this exhibition from February 2 through June 30, 2006. The exhibit was guest-curated by Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library.

There are three general categories of little girl comic strips: those that highlight girls as protagonists; those where girl and boy characters are pals; and strips featuring families with female children. Schulz employed each of these in Peanuts. He built on the traditions of the past, but he expanded the role of little girls in the funnies, especially with his fussbudget character, Lucy.

The exhibition is divided into the three categories described above. Within each group, comic strips before 1950 (when Peanuts debuted), Peanuts strips, and post-Peanuts comics are featured. Blondie, Buster Brown, Dimples, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, For Better or For Worse, Hi and Lois, Little Orphan Annie, Nancy, Wee Pals, Ernie Pook’s Comeek, Non- Sequitur, and Agnes document the roles of other girls from different decades of the funnies.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Sugar and Spice: Little Girls in the Funnies, the handsome exhibit catalogue published by the Schulz Museum, is available for purchase for $20 per copy. Public parking is available in the Ohio Union garage.
For additional information, contact The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library at 614-292-0538 or cartoons@osu.edu. A Peanuts comic strip for one-time use is available upon request.

Eldon Dedini
January, 2006

Noted magazine cartoonist Eldon Dedini donated his original art and personal papers to The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library in late December 2005. Included in the gift are correspondence, business papers, idea files, rough sketches and more than 1,500 original cartoons.

A native Californian, Dedini sold his first cartoon to Esquire when he was 17. After two years of study at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, he left school in 1944 to work in the story department of Walt Disney. From 1946-1950, Esquire had him under exclusive contract and he not only wrote and drew his own cartoons but also supplied gags for fellow Esquire cartoonists such as Barbara Shermund and E. Simms Campbell. Since 1950, Dedini has had a “first look” contract with The New Yorker and in 1960 he garnered the same arrangement with Playboy. Eldon Dedini died January 12, 2006.

Dedini often stated that his goal was to produce a belly laugh, not just a smile or a chuckle, with his cartoons. His success in achieving this may be attributed to his keen writing skills and outstanding artistic talents.

“The Eldon Dedini Collection is an exceptionally comprehensive collection of the papers of one of the twentieth century’s leading magazine cartoonists,” said Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. “Because he kept meticulous records and had such a long and successful career, the Dedini Collection will be a wonderful resource for researchers interested in magazine cartoons during the last half of the twentieth century.” An exhibition featuring highlights of the collection is planned as soon as the materials are processed.

Drawn on Stone: Political Prints
from the 1830s and 1840s
December 19, 2005 – March 19, 2006
Philip Sills Exhibit Hall
William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, The Ohio State University

Drawn on Stone explores American political cartooning during the tumultuous Jacksonian era. The exhibition features thirty rare satirical lithographs recently acquired by the Cartoon Research Library with help from the William J. Studer endowment. This extraordinary collection illustrates the surge in the creation and distribution of political cartoon broadsides made possible by the relative ease and speed of the new print-making process of lithography. Several cartoons not found in other major print collections are included.

Like their contemporary counterparts, early nineteenth-century cartoonists used satire, symbols, metaphors and references to popular literature and theater to comment on domestic policy and world events, to expose greed and corruption in the government, to sway voters during an election, and to criticize the administration for conducting a costly and unpopular war.

Drawn on Stone is curated by Jenny E. Robb, Visiting Assistant Curator at the Cartoon Research Library.

September 15 – December 1, 2005
Philip Sills Exhibit Hall
The Ohio State University
William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

Oddball comic strips for adult readers were published long before Gary Larson created The Far Side. One of the most remarkable of these comics was Winsor McCay’s Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, which was published between 1904 and 1913. This exhibit highlights examples of this extraordinary comic strip from the collections of The Ohio State University’s Cartoon Research Library.

Dream of the Rarebit Fiend features a bizarre assortment of nightmares caused by overeating Welsh rarebit, a popular melted cheese dish. McCay’s biographer, John Canemaker, describes it as “one of the most sophisticated and witty comic strips ever created.”

At the time he was drawing Dream of the Rarebit Fiend, McCay was also beginning to work on animation, and the artwork of the comic strip demonstrates his experimentation with changing shapes and motion. As a result, the nightmare world McCay created far exceeds its predecessors visually. Exhibit goers will be amused and entertained by the century-old horrors he imagined.

The Yellow Kid: Hero of Hogan’s Alley
September 15, 2005 – January 13, 2006
Exhibition at the Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

The Yellow Kid has been described as the first comic strip superstar. His popularity was so enormous that the great rival newspapers in New York City, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal, at one time ran competing versions of the Yellow Kid drawn by two cartoonists. The Kid was successfully merchandised by a wide range of products from cigarettes and game cards to dolls and sheet music.

Richard Felton Outcault (1863-1928) created the comic strip Hogan’s Alley, which is considered to be the first significant comic strip in American newspapers. It debuted in 1895 and featured Mickey Dugan, who is better known as the Yellow Kid.

This exhibition features rare examples of original full-color newspaper pages featuring the Yellow Kid from the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection

Humor in a Jugular Vein: A Selection of the Art and Artifacts of MAD Magazine from the Mark J. Cohen and Rose Marie McDaniel Collection
May 1 – September 2, 2005
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

MADly Yours, a speech by legendary MAD editor Al Feldstein, is scheduled for 2 p.m., Sunday, May 1, 2005, in the Grand Lounge, The Ohio State University Faculty Club, 181 South Oval Drive. A reception to open the exhibit will follow at the Cartoon Research Library.

Al Feldstein penciled and inked comic book pages professionally before he graduated from high school. Following service in World War II, he worked with Bill Gaines at EC Comics where he created, wrote, illustrated and edited comic books such as Tales from the Crypt, Weird Science, and Panic. After EC Comics folded due to the wave of comic book censorship in the 1950s, Feldstein edited MAD Magazine from issue 29 in 1955 to 1984. He now lives and paints in Montana.

The speech and reception, which are co-sponsored by The Ohio State University Friends of the Libraries and supported in part by the Mark J. Cohen and Rose Marie McDaniel Speakers Endowment, are free and open to the public.

Parking for the May 1 event is available in the Ohio Union and Arps garages. Due to the Wexner center renovation, access to the Cartoon Research Library may be limited to walkways on the east and the north.

The Sting of The Wasp
February 1 – April 15, 2005
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

Guest curator Richard Samuel West will speak at 6 30 p.m., Thursday, March 3, 2005 at the Cartoon Research Library. A reception honoring Mr. West will begin at 5:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the Aldus Society. Parking is available in the Ohio Union and Arps garages. Due to the Wexner Center renovation, access to the Cartoon Research Library is limited to walkways on the east and the north.

Richard Samuel West is an independent scholar and historian of American political cartooning. He edited two periodicals, The Puck Papers and Target, and is the author of the outstanding biography of Joseph Keppler, Satire on Stone. He currently is the owner of Periodyssey, the largest company in New England specializing in rare and out-of-print magazines. West’s most recent book is The San Francisco Wasp: An Illustrated History.

Parking is available in the Ohio Union and Arps garages. Due to the Wexner Center renovation, access to the Cartoon Research Library is limited to walkways on the east and the north.

For most of the 19th century, American magazines were vast monochromatic fields of black on white. Beginning in the 1830s, a few magazines featured small hand-colored plates, but they were meager exceptions. Then, in the 1870s, thanks to the perfection of the chromolithographic process, a new breed of magazine exploding with color came to the fore. In short order, chromolithographic weeklies began popping up all over America. Outside of the famous New York weeklies, Puck and Judge, though, none lasted more than a year or two, except for one–The San Francisco Wasp.

That The Wasp endured was most improbable. Founded during the worst financial depression of the 19th century, it was expensive to produce. Published in an under-populated region of the country, it was guaranteed never to have a significant circulation. Often out of step with majority opinion, it never became the political power broker it aspired to be. Yet The Wasp was a success. It was for many years the most widely read magazine west of the Rockies. Its best cartoons compared favorably with those being published in New York. And the work of one of its editors, Ambrose Bierce, is read by more people today than are the writings of any of the editors of its more widely celebrated rivals.

During its first twenty years, the period of time when cartoons dominated its contents, The Wasp was, by turns, a staunch partisan of the Democratic Party, then politically independent, and finally a Republican Party booster of various stripes. It was owned by a series of men intent on advancing one political agenda or another. Twelve different men edited the magazine, while five served at different times as its chief cartoonist.

The Wasp was the colorful chronicler of one of the most exciting periods in the history of San Francisco. This show presents some of The Wasp’s most powerful and representative cartoons from the private collection of guest curator Richard Samuel West. The exhibit is supported in part by the Mark Cohen and Rose Marie McDaniel Endowment and Milton Caniff Endowment of the Cartoon Research Library.

Gillray’s Legacy
September 15 – December 10, 2004
Philip Sills Exhibit Hall
The Ohio State University
William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library
1858 Neil Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

Gillray’s Legacy coincides with the 2004 Festival of Cartoon Art. Celebrating Georgian England’s greatest caricaturist as part of a twenty-first century conference focusing on censorship, self-censorship and editorial control may seem far-fetched. During an election year at a time of heightened national and international concerns, it is, however, most appropriate to remember that James Gillray was neither restrained nor genteel with his art. He created grotesquely exaggerated caricatures of the rich and famous of his time. Some of the works in this exhibit would not be printed today in a newspaper, and several others would draw angry letters to the editor.

In eighteenth century Britain, as Diana Donald notes, “No licensing of presses nor prior censorship impeded the circulation of these frequently abusive, scurrilous and volatile productions [graphic satires]. They were gestural, functioning as an assertion of defiant independence and protest against government which would have been unthinkable in most other European countries .” She continues by noting that “Foreign observers . . . were stunned by the apparently reckless way in which caricaturists ridiculed and vilified the nation’s leaders, and took this as indicative of the political freedoms enjoyed by the British people.”

The political and social prints that were popular in Georgian England sometimes served as samples for printers in the Colonies who also wanted to criticize George III and politicians on this side of the Atlantic. On occasion, they became more than an inspiration when a Colonial engraver “adapted” a design from England without crediting the source. The British legacy of unfettered graphic commentary provided the roots of cartooning in the New World.

Designs by Gillray from the collections of The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library in this exhibition are supplemented by reproductions of his work courtesy of the Library of Congress, Art Institute of Chicago, and Draper Hill. They represent two decades of his social and political satire. In addition, the Hale Scrapbook is displayed as an example of how one family used engravings for amusement. Items in the Hale Scrapbook were originally fixed in place with red sealing wax and they were moved from page to page as different people rearranged the book’s contents to suit themselves. Scrapbooking was a common practice: William Makepeace Thackeray remembered that in his grandfather’s generation, “. there would be in the old gentleman’s library two or three old mottled portfolios, or great swollen scrap-books of blue paper, full of the comic prints of grandpapa’s time. . . How savage the satire was-how fierce the assault-what garbage hurled at opponents-what foul blows were hit. Fancy a party in a country-house now [1854] looking over Woodward’s facetiae, or some of the Gilray [sic] comicalities, or the slatternly Saturnalia of Rowlandson!”

The idea that engravings were a form of entertainment is important in our understanding of the works in this exhibition. Just like today, people in Georgian England enjoyed a good joke at the expense of politicians.

Hoo-Boy! Morrie Brickman’s The Small Society
November 2, 2003 – February 27, 2004
The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library
27 West 17th Avenue Mall, Columbus, Ohio

In 1966 Morrie Brickman created something different. The writer of a news story about the debut of the feature was undecided about whether it should be described as an “editorial comic strip” or a “political satire.” It was “both and neither,” according to cartoon historian Richard Samuel West, who continues by stating, “Even to this day, The Small Society defies neat categorization… Unlike all comic strips that preceded it, The Small Society was driven primarily by its topic for the day, not by its characters (who were generally Everyman and Everywoman), nor by a race to the punchline. Unlike the political cartoons of the period, The Small Society eschewed politicians and headlines in the particular to find the universal in public debate.”

The comic strip’s title provides a window into the cartoonist’s intent: “The Great Society,” Lyndon Johnson’s high-flown vision for the future of the United States, was making headlines. By titling his new comic strip The Small Society, Brickman made his perspective clear. His worldview is the everyday, and quirks of his characters belong to all of us. This is the comic strip’s greatest strength. Between1966 and 1985, from Viet Nam to Reaganomics, current events and American life are satirized in The Small Society. Grocery prices, inflation, taxes, family-the stuff of life for everyone-are covered in Brickman’s comic strip, often accompanied by a resounding “hoo-boy” that reflected his amazement at the world around him.

This exhibition and related events are cosponsored by The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library, its Milton Caniff Endowment, the Victor Herbert Foundation and Herbert P. Jacoby in memory of Marge Devine, the Mark J. Cohen and Rose Marie McDaniel Endowment, the Department of Theatre, and the Melton Center for Jewish Studies.