Communications

Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.

The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.

More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.

This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Short Ribs comic strip shows the wedding of Gert and a younger, attractive man who appears to have been the victim of a spell.Frank O’Neal (1921-1986) sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Short Ribs comic strip shows the wedding of Gert and a younger, attractive man who appears to have been the victim of a spell.
Frank O’Neal (1921-1986) sold his first cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950. In 1958 he debuted his Short Ribs comic strip and continued to draw the strip until 1973. His assistant, Frank Hill, then took over the strip and O’Neal spent the rest of his career creating advertising art.
Short Ribs (1958-1982) was a strip without a regular cast or a continuous setting. With some frequency, however, the strip took place in a castle in Medieval Europe. Other locations included Ancient Egypt or the American West. The storylines regularly made references to 20th-century events.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-04-17
graphic artist
O'Neal, Frank
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22568
catalog number
22568
accession number
277502
This Ampex model 750 recorder is a professional-grade unit. In 1927, Alexander M. Poniatoff emigrated from Russia to the United States and in 1944 founded Ampex to make equipment for the U. S. Navy.
Description (Brief)
This Ampex model 750 recorder is a professional-grade unit. In 1927, Alexander M. Poniatoff emigrated from Russia to the United States and in 1944 founded Ampex to make equipment for the U. S. Navy. Looking for a post-war product, he attended a demonstration of a German tape recorder. Poniatoff decided that magnetic recording would be a good post-war market. Ampex concentrated on building higher-quality products for professional studio use rather than selling consumer products.
The donor purchased this unit as a graduate student for use in field work in the late 1970s. He was researching black gospel music.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1965
maker
Ampex Corporation
ID Number
1987.0927.01
accession number
1987.0927
catalog number
1987.0927.01
model number
750
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dotty Dripple comic strip shows the title character’s son rushing back to college, leaving her with empty-nest syndrome.
Buford Tune (1906-1989) started working as an assistant to the art editor of the New York Post in 1927. One of his first assignments was to revive an old family comic strip called Doings of the Duffs. After a brief hiatus Tune returned to comic strip production in 1931. He created Dotty Dripple in 1944.
Dotty Dripple (1944-1974) was a domestic humor-themed comic strip like the popular Blondie strip. Dottie was described as a typical housewife responsible for her children, Taffy and Wilbert; her dog, Pepper; and her husband, Horace. Part of the running humor of the strip was that Horace was often seen behaving like a child himself. Between 1946 and 1955 the strip was also sold in comic book form by Harvey Comics.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-12
graphic artist
Tune, Buford
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22530
catalog number
22530
accession number
277502
This portable tape recorder from Steelman Phonograph & Radio Company was produced during the early 1950s and featured miniature vacuum tubes in the circuits. Users found this recorder much easier to carry than earlier tape and wire recorders.
Description (Brief)
This portable tape recorder from Steelman Phonograph & Radio Company was produced during the early 1950s and featured miniature vacuum tubes in the circuits. Users found this recorder much easier to carry than earlier tape and wire recorders. While transistors accelerated miniaturization and portability in electronics, vacuum tube development had already made smaller and more portable devices practical. By the end of the 1950s however, this recorder was replaced by a transistorized design that used less power and was more rugged.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
maker
Kleinerman, Ben
ID Number
1987.0520.02
accession number
1987.0520
catalog number
1987.0520.02
Consumers could buy solar powered products within ten years of the invention of solar cells. Hoffman Electronics manufactured cells for satellites but company president H. Leslie Hoffman believed the sun could power other products.
Description (Brief)
Consumers could buy solar powered products within ten years of the invention of solar cells. Hoffman Electronics manufactured cells for satellites but company president H. Leslie Hoffman believed the sun could power other products. Hoffman already manufactured radios based on vacuum tube technology and decided that solar cells would work well with a radio that used transistors instead of tubes. His company introduced their first Trans-Solar portable radio in 1957 and sold several models in the next few years. Like the others, this model KP-706 could run on sunlight or batteries.
Characteristics: The solar panel is 12cm long X 3cm wide. A paper label inside the back reads: "Made in USA by Hoffman Electronics Corporation Consumer Products Division. Chassis 1123." It also lists the operating characteristics of the radio and solar panel. Label also has "THIS APPARATUS USES INVENTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES PATENTS LICENSED BY RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA. PATENT NUMBERS SUPPLIED UPON REQUEST." The radio has a black plastic case with a metal handle. "Hoffman Electronics Corp of Los Angeles, Calif." Label in battery bay: "Model KP 706 / Battery / type / 4 volt mercury / Hoffman H930003 / Mallory TR233R / or Equiv. / EIA code 207" and "Ser. No. X032637".
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
maker
Hoffman Electronics Corp.
ID Number
1979.1269.01
accession number
1979.1269
catalog number
1979.1269.01
Nippon Electric Company (NEC) produced this reel-to-reel tape recorder around 1962. Japanese industry took advantage of the post-World War II rebuilding effort to modernize their factories and enter markets for high-technology devices.
Description (Brief)
Nippon Electric Company (NEC) produced this reel-to-reel tape recorder around 1962. Japanese industry took advantage of the post-World War II rebuilding effort to modernize their factories and enter markets for high-technology devices. Many of these devices used transistors in place of older vacuum tube technology. Modern, efficient factories and low labor costs made Japanese products price competitive with American products. This recorder has an inexpensive plastic case and operates with seven transistors.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1962
maker
Nippon Electric Co.
ID Number
1990.0052.01
catalog number
1990.0052.01
accession number
1990.0052
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Moon Mullins comic strip shows Mullins going to a therapist because he's being seen as procrastinating at work. The session is unsuccessful, however, as Mullins persists in his easygoing work habits.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Moon Mullins comic strip shows Mullins going to a therapist because he's being seen as procrastinating at work. The session is unsuccessful, however, as Mullins persists in his easygoing work habits. Included in this story board is Ferd Johnson's "topper" strip Kitty Higgins, about the young and clever girl who later became a Moon Mullins character.
Ferdinand "Ferd" Johnson (1905-1996) took a job in 1923 assisting on Frank Willard's new comic strip Moon Mullins. In 1925 Johnson started drawing his own Sunday comic called Texas Slim, and a few years later he launched Lovey-Dovey. In 1958 Johnson took over Moon Mullins which he continued until its cancellation in 1991.
Moon Mullins (1923-1991) was about a hard-living, would-be prizefighter nicknamed Moon. The strip offered storylines and personality characteristics which were appealing to readers during the Prohibition era. Moon Mullins was reinterpreted as a radio show and was regularly included as an animated television presentation on the 1970s Saturday morning cartoon program Archie’s TV Funnies.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-10-22
graphic artist
Johnson, Ferd
publisher
News Syndicate Co., Inc.
ID Number
GA.22589
catalog number
22589
accession number
277502
In this pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Smitty newspaper strip, the title character secretly becomes engaged to Ginnie, who reveals that her aunt has been trying to arrange their engagement.Walter Berndt (1899-1979) drew sports cartoons for the New York Journal-American in h
Description (Brief)
In this pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Smitty newspaper strip, the title character secretly becomes engaged to Ginnie, who reveals that her aunt has been trying to arrange their engagement.
Walter Berndt (1899-1979) drew sports cartoons for the New York Journal-American in his early career. Later his freelance-created strip named Smitty was purchased by the Chicago Tribune. The strip was successful and was continued until Berndt’s retirement in 1973.
Smitty (1922-1973) reflected creator Berndt's own career. It told the story of a young, male office assistant. Smitty was just thirteen years old when began working for Mr. Bailey. Smitty had a happy home life with his parents and younger brother. He also had a friendly relationship with Mr. Bailey’s stenographer, Ginnie. Smitty eventually matured and married Ginnie.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-27
graphic artist
Berndt, Walter
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22637
catalog number
22637
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Blondie comic strip shows the title character cooking a big dinner for her family, which they all enjoy and praise.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Blondie comic strip shows the title character cooking a big dinner for her family, which they all enjoy and praise. Blondie is left disappointed when everybody disappears once it comes time to clean up.
Murat Bernard "Chic" Young (1901-1973) began working as a comic artist in 1921 on the strip The Affairs of Jane. The strip was published by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. A few years later Young was hired by King Features Syndicate to draw the strip Dumb Dora, which ran until 1935. Young had modest success with other strips, but his debut of Blondie in 1930 far overshadowed his other artistic products. He drew the strip until his death in 1973.
Blondie (1930- ) is portrayed as a sweet, if not featherbrained, young woman whose 1933 marriage to the affluent Dagwood Bumstead made national news. The strip followed the young couple after Bumstead’s parents disowned him because of their aversion to Blondie. The strip continued to gain in popularity after the introduction of Blondie and Dagwood’s two children, Alexander and Cookie.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-02-24
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22395
catalog number
22395
accession number
277502
Mr. Merryweather, created and drawn by Dick Turner (1909-1999), was a companion strip to his other comic, Carnival. The comic was distributed by the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1940-1972.
Description
Mr. Merryweather, created and drawn by Dick Turner (1909-1999), was a companion strip to his other comic, Carnival. The comic was distributed by the Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1940-1972. The comic was based on the humor and humiliations of everyday life in a small town. In this strip, Mr. Merryweather deals with restaurant culture in five individual gag-joke panels.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
06/19/1966
publisher
NEA, Inc.
graphic artist
Turner, Dick
ID Number
GA.22525
catalog number
22525
accession number
277502
Mary Worth, also titled Mary Worth's Family during the early 1940s, was famously drawn by Ken Ernst and written by Allen Saunders during the 1960s-1980s. It continues to be distributed by King Features Syndicate, although with new artists and writers.
Description
Mary Worth, also titled Mary Worth's Family during the early 1940s, was famously drawn by Ken Ernst and written by Allen Saunders during the 1960s-1980s. It continues to be distributed by King Features Syndicate, although with new artists and writers. The strip features the title character Mary, a former teacher and widow, in a soap-opera style storyline including the drama surrounding her apartment house neighbors. In this strip, Tony tries to divert Avonne's afternoon plans by asking his mother to serve his friends lunch, even though it is her afternoon off.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
08/21/1966
graphic artist
Ernst, Ken
maker
Saunders, John Allen
publisher
Publishers Newspapers Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22450
catalog number
22450
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing, prepared for the Gasoline Alley newspaper comic strip, shows character Walt Wallet being scolded for trying to walk Effie home.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing, prepared for the Gasoline Alley newspaper comic strip, shows character Walt Wallet being scolded for trying to walk Effie home. She waves goodbye, but Wallet sees little hope in her attentions.
Richard Arnold "Dick" Moores (1909-1986) worked as an assistant to Chester Gould on the Dick Tracy comic strip early in his career. Moores continued to work on other strips and branched out into animation and comic book illustration, working on titles such as Mickey Mouse, Scamp, Donald Duck, and Alice in Wonderland. In 1956 Frank King asked Moores to assist on the daily strip Gasoline Alley, which Moores took over completely after King’s retirement in 1959. When the Sunday artist for Gasoline Alley retired in 1975, Moores took over that work as well, and continued drawing the strip until his death in 1986.
Gasoline Alley (1918- ) originated on a black-and-white Sunday page for The Chicago Tribune called The Rectangle, a collaborative page with contributions by different artists. One corner of "The Rectangle," drawn by Frank King, was devoted to the discussions between four men about their cars, an impetus for the name of the strip Gasoline Alley. Within a year the strip began appearing in the daily newspapers. Gasoline Alley, whose original characters included Walt, Doc, Avery, Bill, and Skeezix, is noted for its use of characters who have continued to age naturally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-13
graphic artist
Moores, Dick
King, Frank
publisher
Tribune Printing Company
ID Number
GA.22550
catalog number
22550
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Abbie an’ Slats comic strip shows Kit trying to irritate Miss Abbie by proposing to host a party and to demolish Miss Abbie’s apartment.Raeburn Van Buren (1891-1987) started his career as a freelance illustrator for magazines such as Life
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Abbie an’ Slats comic strip shows Kit trying to irritate Miss Abbie by proposing to host a party and to demolish Miss Abbie’s apartment.
Raeburn Van Buren (1891-1987) started his career as a freelance illustrator for magazines such as Life and The Saturday Evening Post. He quickly became one of the country’s most recognized magazine illustrators and eventually began drawing for Esquire and The New Yorker as well. In 1937 fellow artist Al Capp approached Van Buren with an offer to draw Capp's new comic strip, Abbie an’ Slats. Van Buren drew the strip until his retirement in 1971.
Abbie an’ Slats (1937-1971) was a story about a young orphaned boy from New York, Slats, who goes to live in the country with a spinster cousin named Abbie. Slats is headstrong and rebellious, and often disagrees with Abbie and her straight-laced sister, Sally.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-23
graphic artist
Van Buren, Raeburn
publisher
United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
graphic artist
Capp, Al
ID Number
GA.22457
catalog number
22457
accession number
277502
This Executary dictation machine was designed to allow people to record letters and other information for later transcription.
Description (Brief)
This Executary dictation machine was designed to allow people to record letters and other information for later transcription. Designs for dictating machines date back to Edison’s cylinder phonograph, and magnetic recorders were also adapted for this application as they became available. IBM introduced the Execuary in 1960 and used a magnetic belt as recording medium. Less likely to break than a thin tape, the belt could be folded and mailed to correspondents with similar machines. The unit could record two tracks, one for the dictation content and a parallel track for instructions to the transcriber.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1964
maker
International Business Machines Corporation
ID Number
1999.3029.01
nonaccession number
1999.3029
catalog number
1999.3029.01
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Out Our Way single-panel daily comic strip shows a mother’s musings about generational differences.Negley W. "Neg" Cochran (1913-2001) began his career in 1936 by drawing the Sunday comic pages for Bela Zaboly’s Otto Honk.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Out Our Way single-panel daily comic strip shows a mother’s musings about generational differences.
Negley W. "Neg" Cochran (1913-2001) began his career in 1936 by drawing the Sunday comic pages for Bela Zaboly’s Otto Honk. After a few months Cochran left the strip to take over from Clyde Lewis on the strip titled Herky, which he drew until 1941. Beginning in 1957 Cochran worked on J. R. Williams’ Out Our Way. He drew the popular strip for the remainder of its run until 1977.
Out Our Way (1922-1977) was a comic strip rooted in nostalgia for the small-town life that resonated with creator J. R. Williams. The daily panel had a rotating cast with no official star, and a large array of backdrops from factory floors to cattle ranches.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-06-25
graphic artist
Cochran, Neg
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22396
catalog number
22396
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Trudy comic strip shows the title character’s husband being obsessed by golf and always either playing, watching, or talking about it, which is shown to annoy his family.Jerry Marcus (1924-2005) freelanced most of his career.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Trudy comic strip shows the title character’s husband being obsessed by golf and always either playing, watching, or talking about it, which is shown to annoy his family.
Jerry Marcus (1924-2005) freelanced most of his career. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s he sold several of his cartoons to The New Yorker, Look magazine, the Ladies' Home Journal, and others. Trudy debuted in 1963, and Marcus drew it until his death in 2005.
Trudy (1963-2005) was a comic strip about a middle-class homemaker. She was said to have been inspired by creator Jerry Marcus's own mother, who raised four children by herself. Even though she was a homemaker, Trudy was also described as the head of the household, as she took care of juggling the needs of her husband, children, and a pet cat named Fatkat.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-10
graphic artist
Marcus, Jerry
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22464
catalog number
22464
accession number
277502
Charles Kuhn (1892-1989), who studied under fellow cartoonist Frank King, is most known for his comic strip "Grandma". The strip features the antics of a 90-year old woman and her grandchildren, based on the artist's own mother.
Description
Charles Kuhn (1892-1989), who studied under fellow cartoonist Frank King, is most known for his comic strip "Grandma". The strip features the antics of a 90-year old woman and her grandchildren, based on the artist's own mother. In this strip, Grandma disguises a watermelon as a football so that the grandkids will stay away from it until its ready to eat.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
09/02/1966
graphic artist
Kuhn, Charles
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22592
catalog number
22592
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Captain Easy comic strip shows the title character enjoying the fictitious Mediterranean Republic of Dizmaylia with his date, Lolita.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Captain Easy comic strip shows the title character enjoying the fictitious Mediterranean Republic of Dizmaylia with his date, Lolita. He later discovers that she works for his enemies.
Leslie Turner (1899-1988) prepared freelance illustrations in Dallas in his early years. When he sold a cartoon to Judge, he moved to New York and began contributing to publications such as Redbook and Pictorial Review. In 1937 Turner took a job as an assistant to Roy Crane, creator of the Captain Easy newspaper strip, which was then called Wash Tubbs. Turner took over the strip in 1943 and continued to draw it, with some assistance from Walt Scott, until he retired in 1970.
Captain Easy, (1933-1988) an adventure strip originally called Wash Tubbs, starred an eccentric character named Washington Tubbs II. The Captain Easy character was included in a supporting role. In 1933 creator Roy Crane retitled the strip and remodeled it to highlight the new protagonist who joined the U.S. army during World War II, and later became a private detective.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-08-14
graphic artist
Turner, Leslie
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22332
catalog number
22332
accession number
277502
"Beetle Bailey" was created and continues to be drawn by Mort Walker (b. 1923). The comic strip centers around characters on Camp Swampy, a fictitious United States Army military post.
Description
"Beetle Bailey" was created and continues to be drawn by Mort Walker (b. 1923). The comic strip centers around characters on Camp Swampy, a fictitious United States Army military post. The main character, Beetle Bailey, is consistently lazy, drawing negative attention towards him and causing antics on the post. In this strip, the General is briefing his men on battle plans. He soon learns that asking his men for criticisms was the wrong plan.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
07/03/1966
graphic artist
Walker, Mort
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22601
catalog number
22601
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Beetle Bailey comic strip shows Beetle asking what the Chaplain thinks about sneaking naps after being told “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”Addison Morton "Mort" Walker (1923- ) was first published at age eleven, and soon afterward was
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Beetle Bailey comic strip shows Beetle asking what the Chaplain thinks about sneaking naps after being told “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Addison Morton "Mort" Walker (1923- ) was first published at age eleven, and soon afterward was drawing a weekly cartoon for the Kansas City Journal. After U.S. Army service in World War II, Walker began drawing a cartoon named Spider for the Saturday Evening Post. King Features Syndicate later contracted with him for the related comic strip devoted to the character Beetle Bailey. Walker also wrote for Hi and Lois, considered to be a spin-off of Beetle Bailey. More recently Walker has drawn the strip with the help of his sons.
Beetle Bailey (1950- ), a private in the U.S. Army, is regularly looking for a way to avoid doing work. He is memorable because his eyes are always covered by a hat or helmet. The strip location originally took place on a college campus but after a year Walker reimagined the location of the strip as a U.S. Army base called "Camp Swampy," where the characters seem to be stationed in never-ending basic training.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-09-24
graphic artist
Walker, Mort
publisher
King Features Syndicate
ID Number
GA.22533
catalog number
22533
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Winthrop comic strip shows the title character’s friend discussing and playing modern popular music when Winthrop asks for an old waltz record instead.Dick Cavalli (1923- ) began his cartooning career creating pen and ink drawings of muse
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Winthrop comic strip shows the title character’s friend discussing and playing modern popular music when Winthrop asks for an old waltz record instead.
Dick Cavalli (1923- ) began his cartooning career creating pen and ink drawings of museum fossils at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, shortly after the end of World War II. As a freelancer he created and launched the comic strip Morty Meekle in 1956. The name of the syndicated strip was changed to Winthrop in 1966. With the help of several assistants Cavalli continued to draw the strip until 1993. In 1982 Cavalli also drew the comic strip Norbert after creator George Fett's retirement.
Winthrop (1956-1993), introduced with the title Morty Meekle, was a strip about courtship. Morty, the title character, was involved in a long, drawn-out relationship with Jill Wortle, whose family couldn’t wait for the two to become engaged. The obstacles to an engagement included Morty Meekle’s low-paying job. Jill’s younger brother, Winthrop, eventually became the central character of the strip directed to more of a children’s audience. The strip featured an eclectic group of Winthrop’s friends.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-05-01
original artist
Cavalli, Dick
publisher
NEA, Inc.
ID Number
GA.22581
catalog number
22581
accession number
277502
This advertisement for the Ford "Midget Mustang" pedal car appeared in November 1964. The full-size model was introduced at the New York World’s Fair on April 17, 1964.Currently not on view
Description
This advertisement for the Ford "Midget Mustang" pedal car appeared in November 1964. The full-size model was introduced at the New York World’s Fair on April 17, 1964.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1964-11-20
maker
Life Magazine
ID Number
2013.3095.06
nonaccession number
2013.3095
catalog number
2013.3095.06
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Dan Flagg comic strip shows the title character and companions aboard a yacht in trouble during a storm. Flagg tries to calm the other passengers and announces the arrival of the U.S.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for the Dan Flagg comic strip shows the title character and companions aboard a yacht in trouble during a storm. Flagg tries to calm the other passengers and announces the arrival of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Don Sherwood (1930-2010) spent his youth preparing to be a comic artist and after serving as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War assisted on Terry and the Pirates. In 1963 he debuted his own strip, Dan Flagg, inspired by the U.S. Marine Corps. After Dan Flagg was canceled in 1967, Sherwood began drawing for Hanna-Barbera, Columbia Pictures, the comic book The Phantom, and The Flintstones comic strip.
Dan Flagg (1963-1967) was an adventure comic strip that premiered during the Vietnam War. As World War II had been a popular subject matter for comic strips in the 1940s, publishers thought that comic strips about the Vietnam War would be just as popular. However, though readers thought Dan Flagg was an entertaining character, increasing opposition to the Vietnam War prevented the strip from enjoying sufficient popularity. Dan Flagg was dropped by its syndicate in 1965 and canceled permanently in 1967.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1966-07-24
publisher
Bell-McClure Syndicate
graphic artist
Sherwood, Don
author
Thomas, Jerry
ID Number
GA.22575
catalog number
22575
accession number
277502
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for The Family Circus comic strip shows the family's children thinking that their mother’s tears, a result of cutting onions, are a response to something they've done wrong.William Aloysius "Bil" Keane (1922-2011) began his comic art career while
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing prepared for The Family Circus comic strip shows the family's children thinking that their mother’s tears, a result of cutting onions, are a response to something they've done wrong.
William Aloysius "Bil" Keane (1922-2011) began his comic art career while still a teenager. During his service in the Army, between 1942 and 1945, he drew cartoons for Yank, the Army Weekly and Stars and Stripes. After the war, he worked for The Philadelphia Bulletin where he developed the strip Silly Philly, a Sunday strip based on the life of William Penn. Keane's work could also be seen in the Channel Chuckles television cartoon, which ran from 1954 to 1977. In 1960, after he and his family settled in Paradise Valley, Arizona, Keane debuted The Family Circus. Keane served as the president of the National Cartoonist Society during the 1980s.
The Family Circus (1960- ) is a single-panel daily and Sunday comic known for its distinctive, circular presentation. The panel was inspired by creator Bil Keane’s own life and experiences as a husband and parent. More recently The Family Circus, now written and drawn by Bil Keane’s son Jeff, has achieved international popularity.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961-09-11
graphic artist
Keane, Bil
publisher
Register and Tribune Syndicate
ID Number
2010.0081.299
accession number
2010.0081
catalog number
2010.0081.299

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