Cultures & Communities

Cleveland Many Peoples One Language Poster

Furniture, cooking wares, clothing, works of art, and many other kinds of artifacts are part of what knit people into communities and cultures. The Museum’s collections feature artifacts from European Americans, Latinos, Arab Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, Gypsies, Jews, and Christians, both Catholics and Protestants. The objects range from ceramic face jugs made by enslaved African Americans in South Carolina to graduation robes and wedding gowns. The holdings also include artifacts associated with education, such as teaching equipment, textbooks, and two complete schoolrooms. Uniforms, insignia, and other objects represent a wide variety of civic and voluntary organizations, including youth and fraternal groups, scouting, police forces, and firefighters.

Topic: Communications

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Captain Easy

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

Letter to "My Dear Children" from Samuel Copp

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1829-07-15
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.090
catalog number
6873.090
accession number
28810

Letter to Mary Copp from Sarah Rathbone

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1807-10-19
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.176
catalog number
6873.176
accession number
28810

Letter to Mary Copp from Sarah Rathbone

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1819-02-22
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.072
catalog number
6873.072
accession number
28810

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Dennis the Menace

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dennis the Menace comic strip shows Henry doing yard work and Dennis helping, but hindering, his father’s work.Henry King "Hank" Ketcham (1920-2001) left the University of Washington in 1938 to pursue a career in animation.
Description (Brief)
This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Dennis the Menace comic strip shows Henry doing yard work and Dennis helping, but hindering, his father’s work.
Henry King "Hank" Ketcham (1920-2001) left the University of Washington in 1938 to pursue a career in animation. He soon began working for Universal Studios with Lantz Productions, where he worked on various film shorts such as Donald Duck. During World War II Ketcham served in the U.S. Navy where he developed a strip called Half Hitch. After the war Ketcham worked as a freelance artist, and in 1951 he debuted Dennis the Menace and continued to draw it until his retirement in 1995.
Dennis the Menace (1951- ) is a comic strip about the antics of a mischievous five-year-old boy named Dennis Mitchell. Dennis is well-meaning but extremely curious and, as a result, often finds himself in trouble. Often at the receiving end of Dennis’s mischief is the Mitchells' neighbor, Mr. Wilson, who mostly sees Dennis as interfering with his retirement. The Mitchell parents, Henry and Alice, are regularly seen trying to explain their child’s behavior, to the best of their abilities. The strip has remained popular over its run. At the peak of its popularity it was published in some fifty countries. Though creator Hank Ketcham died in 2001 after leaving the strip to his assistants, it is still signed in Ketcham's name.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1952-06-01
graphic artist
Ketcham, Hank
publisher
Post Hall Syndicate, Inc.
ID Number
2010.0081.305
accession number
2010.0081
catalog number
2010.0081.305

Engraved woodblock of a "Haida totem post"

This engraved woodblock of a “Haida totem post” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 24 (p.68) in an article by Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) entitled “Pictographs of the North American Indians: a preliminary paper” i
Description
This engraved woodblock of a “Haida totem post” was prepared by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C.; the image was published as Figure 24 (p.68) in an article by Garrick Mallery (1831-1894) entitled “Pictographs of the North American Indians: a preliminary paper” in the Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian, 1882-83.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1886
publisher
Bureau of American Ethnology
printer
Government Printing Office
author
Mallery, Garrick
block maker
J. J. & Co.
ID Number
1980.0219.1509
accession number
1980.0219
catalog number
1980.0219.1509

Letter to Mary Copp from Samuel Copp

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1812-10-19
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
maker
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.038
catalog number
6873.038
accession number
28810

Picture postcard, "The Bells of Mission San Juan Capistrano, California"

This postcard view of the Bells of Mission San Juan Capistrano was printed by the Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of the Bells of Mission San Juan Capistrano was printed by the Curt Teich Company using photomechanical processes. It was published about 1915 by Eno & Matteson in San Diego to mark the Panama-California Exposition.
The Curt Teich Company of Chicago printed postcards between 1898 and 1978 in association with many publishers. It used the term "Photochrom," later "Colortone," to describe its color printing processes.
Mission San Juan Capistrano, founded in 1776, is located southeast of Los Angeles. The seventh of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions to be founded in California between 1769 and 1823, it was established to convert American Indians of the Juaneño and Luiseno tribe to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a museum and a parish chapel.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1915
publisher
Eno & Matteson
graphic artist
Curt Teich & Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.0599
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0599

Letter to his parents-in-law from Elisha Starr

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1818-07-15
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Starr, Elisha
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
Copp, Dolly Emery
originator (author, etc.)
Starr, Elisha
ID Number
DL.006873.066
catalog number
006873.066
accession number
28810

Letter to Sarah Rathbone from Aaron Rathbone

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1817-05-06
recipient
Rathbone, Sarah
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Aaron
ID Number
DL.006873.057
catalog number
6873.057
accession number
28810

Letter to his parents from Samuel and Pheobe Copp

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1815-08-06
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
Copp, Dolly Emery
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.047
catalog number
6873.047
accession number
28810

Camera-ready comic strip, entitled "Beetle Bailey".

"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

Letter to her grandparents from Clarissa Brewster

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1816-01-01
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.052
catalog number
6873.052
accession number
28810

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Beetle Bailey

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

Letter to her parents from Sarah Rathbone

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1801-08-01
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
recipient
Rathbone, Sarah
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.118
catalog number
6873.118
accession number
28810

Letter to one of the Copp family from Louisa Tyler

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1812 - 1813
ID Number
DL.006873.077
catalog number
6873.077
accession number
28810

Letter to Esther Copp from Sarah Rathbone

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1797-08-10
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
recipient
Copp, Esther
originator (author, etc.)
Rathbone, Sarah
ID Number
DL.006873.196
catalog number
6873.196
accession number
28810

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Winthrop

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

Letter to Mary Copp from Eliza Phelps

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1812-08-12
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.017
catalog number
6873.017
accession number
28810

Letter to Marry Copp

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
recipient
Copp, Mary Esther
ID Number
DL.006873.002
catalog number
6873.002
accession number
28810

Camera-ready comic art drawing for Dan Flagg

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

Camera-ready comic art drawing for The Family Circus

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

Picture postcard, "Santa Barbara Mission, Founded 1786, Santa Barbara, California"

This postcard view of Santa Barbara Mission was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company (1908-1921) and the M. Kashower Company (1914-1934) in Los Angeles, Calif. using photomechanical processes.
Description (Brief)
This postcard view of Santa Barbara Mission was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company (1908-1921) and the M. Kashower Company (1914-1934) in Los Angeles, Calif. using photomechanical processes. The companies are examples of the many picture postcard publishing firms producing scenic views of California landmarks during this period.
Mission Santa Barbara was founded on December 4th, 1786. The tenth of twenty-one Spanish Franciscan missions founded in California between 1769 and 1823, it was built to convert American Indians of the Chumash tribe to Catholicism.
Today the mission serves as a parish church and includes a museum, a Franciscan friary, or monastery, and a retreat center.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1908-1921
graphic artist
Van Ornum Colorprint Co.
M. Kashower Co.
ID Number
1986.0639.0498
accession number
1986.0639
catalog number
1986.639.0498

Letter to Mary Copp from Samuel Copp

The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s.
Description
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1812-06-10
originator (author or composer, etc.)
Copp, Mary Esther
recipient
Copp, Jr., Samuel
originator (author, etc.)
Copp, Jr., Samuel
ID Number
DL.006873.030
catalog number
6873.030
accession number
28810

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