Showing posts with label Library of Congress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library of Congress. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

"The Gibson Girl's America: Drawings by Charles Dana Gibson" Exhibition Opens March 30


Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington DC   20540
February 26, 2013
Public contact:  Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov

"The Gibson Girl's America: Drawings by Charles Dana Gibson"
Exhibition Opens at Library of Congress on March 30
In the 1890s, illustrator Charles Dana Gibson created the "Gibson Girl," a vibrant, new feminine ideal—a young woman who pursued higher education, romance, marriage, physical well-being and individuality with unprecedented independence.  Until World War I, the Gibson Girl set the standard for beauty, fashion and manners.
The Library of Congress announces a new exhibition, "The Gibson Girl's America: Drawings by Charles Dana Gibson," which opens Saturday, March 30 in the Graphic Arts Galleries on the ground level of the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C., and runs through Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013.  The exhibition is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
"The Gibson Girl's America" presents 24 works, primarily drawings.  The exhibition highlights the rise of the Gibson Girl from the 1890s through the first two decades of the 20th century.  It also illuminates how women's increasing presence in the public sphere contributed to the social fabric of turn-of-the-20th-century America.
The items on display trace the arc of the artist's career.  Gibson (1867-1944) came of age when women's roles were expanding and social mobility was increasing.  He trained at the Art Students League in New York City and also in Europe.  The artist created satirical illustrations based on his observations of upper-middle-class life for such mainstream magazines as Life, Collier's Weekly, Harper's Weekly, Scribner's and Century.
Through creation and development of the Gibson Girl, the artist, an acclaimed master of pen-and-ink drawings, experienced unrivaled professional and popular success. Gibson's skills and prolific output meshed with the high-volume demand at the time for magazine illustrations.  His bold style and virtuoso technique exerted enormous influence on his peers and succeeding generations of illustrators.
The exhibition will be organized into five sections: Creating an Ideal, The Gibson Girl as the "New Woman," Social Relations Between the Sexes, High Society Scenes and Political Cartoonist.  The exhibition presents a selection of Gibson's lesser-known political images, spotlighting the concerns he addressed in his later work.
The items in the exhibition are drawn from Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, which holds the premier public collection of original drawings by Gibson.
The Prints and Photographs Division also includes approximately 14.4 million photographs, drawings and prints from the 15th century to the present day.  International in scope, these visual collections represent a uniquely rich array of human experience, knowledge, creativity and achievement, touching on almost every realm of endeavor: science, art, invention, government and political struggle, and the recording of history.  For more information, visit www.loc.gov/rr/print/.
The Library of Congress, the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 155 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats.  The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov.
# # #
PR13-28
2/26/13
ISSN:  0731-3527

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wertham papers in Library of Congress add fuel to 60-year old battle

 If video killed the radio star, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham did the same for comic books. His papers in the Library of Congress have been recently opened, and Carol Tilley wrote article about his research methodology that's getting some big media attention.
Scholar Finds Flaws in Work by Archenemy of Comics
By DAVE ITZKOFF

Friday, February 15, 2013

Cartoons to see in the L.o.C.

The Library of Congress has several cartoon and comics exhibits up now.  Here's a quick overview.

101_5203 District Comics at LOC

You can buy District Comics in their gift shop in the Jefferson Building. My story on the Army Medical Museum is around page 90, wink, wink.

101_5180

Also in the Jefferson Building for another month is  "Down to Earth: Herblock and Photographers Observe the Environment" curated by Carol Johnson and Sara Duke. Carol's the photograph curator, Sara the Herblock one. I thought this was an excellent exhibit. The photographs and the cartoons really complemented each other, and the unlikely pairing made for a stronger exhibit than either alone would have.

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101_5186101_5183


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There's a small brochure for the exhibit, although you have to get it at the Madison Building's Prints & Photographs department.


At the same location is "Herblock Looks at 1962: Fifty Years Ago in Editorial Cartoons," an exhibit curated by Sara Duke. This smaller exhibit focuses on President Kennedy.

101_5192


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Obviously Sara made curatorial choices to influence this in both exhibits, but it's still depressing how relevant 50-year-old cartoons are:

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101_5200

The third exhibit is a small one on comic books featuring Presidents that Megan Halsband did in the Serials Department (in the Madison Building) for President's Day. The majority of these comics are from Bluewater's current biographical series, but she did find an issue of Action Comics that I don't remember seeing.

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The Prints & Photographs division showed off its new acquisitions this week. Sara Duke showed some original comic book and strip artwork:

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A piece by Keith Knight, and two pages from Jim Rugg's anthology. They collected the entire book except for the centerfold. Not shown is...

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Above are voting rights prints by Lalo Alcaraz, possibly selected by Helena Zinkham.

Martha Kennedy had some great acquistions this year, including works by James Flora, editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson, Garry "Doonesbury" Trudeau, and Charles Vess' entire book of Ballads and Sagas:

101_5171 Flora
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101_5166 Vess
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This artwork isn't on exhibit, but you can make an appointment to view it.









Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Our buddy Bernard examines Wertham's cold remains

Local comics historian Warren Bernard (friend of ComicsDC, SPX grand poobah) volunteers at the Library of Congress' prints and photos division, identifying editorial cartoons and topics for them, but he snuck over to the building next door to research and write an article on Fredric Wertham's anti-comics crusade for the Comics Journal #302. Warren's kindly convinced the journal to put his research material online.

Warren Bernard's Citations and Fredric Wertham Documents
BY Warren Bernard Feb 6, 2013   
http://www.tcj.com/warren-bernard-1954/

Thursday, December 06, 2012

Oddity from the Library of Congress

Government librarian Sara Duke mentioned a bookplate collection today - so I did a quick look in the Library of Congress catalogue and came up with this Bookplate of English caricaturist Phil May.
It's part of the 14,000-piece  Ruthven Deane Bookplate Collection. It's out of copyright so you can download a hi-res version.

Years ago I wrote a brief piece for Hogan's Alley about Clifford Berryman's bookplates. It doesn't appear to be online anymore, so I'll recreate it here in the next day or so. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

March 29: How Early American Comic Strips Shed Light on the Nature of the Child

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington DC 20540

March 6, 2012

Public contact: Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov

Swann Foundation Fellow Lara Saguisag to Discuss
How Early American Comic Strips Shed Light on the Nature of the Child

Swann Foundation Fellow Lara Saguisag, in a lecture at the Library of Congress, will examine how early 20th-century comic strips that featured child protagonists revealed the nature of the child during that era.

Saguisag will present "Sketching the 'Secret Tracts' of the Child's Mind: Theorizing Childhood in Early American Fantasy Strips, 1905-1914," at noon on Thursday, March 29, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, D.C. The lecture is free and open to the public. No tickets are needed.

Saguisag will focus specifically on fantasy strips such as Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and Lyonel Feininger's "Wee Willie Winkie's World." These strips featured child characters who inhabited dream worlds and transformed their environments through their imaginations. According to Saguisag, central to these works is the idea that a child's perception and experience of the world was shaped by his/her proclivity for fantasy. This natural connection with fantasy, moreover, made the child a complex, sometimes inscrutable figure, one who was essentially different from an adult.

Comic strips that linked childhood and fantasy drew from and built on themes of late-19th and early-20th-century children's books such as Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses" and Frank L. Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Such literature portrayed and celebrated the child as a highly imaginative being who enters and sometimes creates fantasy worlds that an adult could not readily access.

According to Saguisag, during the same period, psychologists and practitioners associated with the Child Study Movement were also intrigued by what G. Stanley Hall termed the "secret tracts" of the child's mind. Many psychologists concluded that imaginative play and reverie were healthful childhood activities and advised parents to take an active role in cultivating the child's imagination. The intersection of children's literature and psychology encountered in early American "kid strips" helped perpetuate and naturalize the image of the imaginative child.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Saguisag completed an M.A. in Children's literature at Hollins University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at The New School. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Childhood Studies at Rutgers University-Camden, where she held a University Presidential Fellowship from 2007-2009.

This presentation is sponsored by the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon of the Library of Congress and the Library's Prints & Photographs Division. The lecture is part of the foundation's continuing activities to support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world. The foundation strives to award one fellowship annually to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Applications for the 2013-2014 academic year are due Feb. 15, 2013. More information about the fellowship is available through the Swann Foundation's website: www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/ or by e-mailing swann@loc.gov.

# # #

PR12-48
3/6/12
ISSN: 0731-3527

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

March 29: Early Comics and the Nature of the Child Lecture

Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. SE
Washington DC   20540

March 6, 2012

Public contact:  Martha Kennedy (202) 707-9115, mkenn@loc.gov

 Swann Foundation Fellow Lara Saguisag to Discuss
How Early American Comic Strips Shed Light on the Nature of the Child

Swann Foundation Fellow Lara Saguisag, in a lecture at the Library of Congress, will examine how early 20th-century comic strips that featured child protagonists revealed the nature of the child during that era.

Saguisag will present "Sketching the 'Secret Tracts' of the Child's Mind: Theorizing Childhood in Early American Fantasy Strips, 1905-1914," at noon on Thursday, March 29, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, D.C.  The lecture is free and open to the public.  No tickets are needed.

Saguisag will focus specifically on fantasy strips such as Winsor McCay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and Lyonel Feininger's "Wee Willie Winkie's World."  These strips featured child characters who inhabited dream worlds and transformed their environments through their imaginations.  According to Saguisag, central to these works is the idea that a child's perception and experience of the world was shaped by his/her proclivity for fantasy.  This natural connection with fantasy, moreover, made the child a complex, sometimes inscrutable figure, one who was essentially different from an adult.

Comic strips that linked childhood and fantasy drew from and built on themes of late-19th and early-20th-century children's books such as Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses" and Frank L. Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz."  Such literature portrayed and celebrated the child as a highly imaginative being who enters and sometimes creates fantasy worlds that an adult could not readily access.

According to Saguisag, during the same period, psychologists and practitioners associated with the Child Study Movement were also intrigued by what G. Stanley Hall termed the "secret tracts" of the child's mind.  Many psychologists concluded that imaginative play and reverie were healthful childhood activities and advised parents to take an active role in cultivating the child's imagination.  The intersection of children's literature and psychology encountered in early American "kid strips" helped perpetuate and naturalize the image of the imaginative child.

Born and raised in the Philippines, Saguisag completed an M.A. in Children's literature at Hollins University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at The New School. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Childhood Studies at Rutgers University-Camden, where she held a University Presidential Fellowship from 2007-2009. 

This presentation is sponsored by the Caroline and Erwin Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon of the Library of Congress and the Library's Prints & Photographs Division.  The lecture is part of the foundation's continuing activities to support the study, interpretation, preservation and appreciation of original works of humorous and satiric art by graphic artists from around the world.  The foundation strives to award one fellowship annually to assist scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon.  Applications for the 2013-2014 academic year are due Feb. 15, 2013.  More information about the fellowship is available through the Swann Foundation's website: www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/ or by e-mailing swann@loc.gov.

# # #

PR12-48
3/6/12
ISSN: 0731-3527

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in Library of Congress going out of print

Excuse my whipsawing you on this, but I'm going to remove Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress from sale in the next couple of days. For a good reason - Joe Procopio of Lost Art Books is going to do a professionally typeset and illustrated version instead. And I know which book I'd rather own...

So if you need the information sooner rather than later, or you're a completist, buy a copy in the next day or so. At the end of the weekend, I'm going to set it back to invisibility as a private project.

The two people who bought a copy should update the entry for John Celardo to read "died 2012". Mea culpa.

Seriously, Joe does nice work, as does Sara, so I'm looking forward to seeing the 'ultimate'* edition.

*except one could hope that some cartoonists in LoC's prints and photos collection, but not in the Swann collection could be added to a new edition which could have an even longer title...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

New book: Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in Library of Congress


I've known Sara Duke since the early 1990s, and have always been impressed with her scholarship and breadth of knowledge. At some point, when I was complaining to her about the lack of a cartoonist biographical dictionary, such as had been done in the UK, she replied that she had a draft of one that had never been published. Terry Echter had begun the project, and Sara took it over in 1993 and completed it by 1995 when the Swann Collection became publicly available (although no additions were made to the collection after 1983). She was kind enough to forward a copy to me, as it is in the public domain.  I have edited and updated it slightly, but this volume remains overwhelmingly the 1995 version that Sara wrote. 

Now available at cost: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/biographical-sketches-of-cartoonists-illustrators-in-the-swann-collection-of-the-library-of-congress/18846113 (print) or http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/biographical-sketches-of-cartoonists-illustrators-in-the-swann-collection-of-the-library-of-congress/18864437 (pdf) or a free download at https://archive.org/details/DukeBioSketchesOfCartoonistsInSwannCollAtLOC

Biographical Sketches of Cartoonists & Illustrators in the Swann Collection of the Library of Congress
by Sara Duke, 340 pages

Inside this book are short biographical sketches about the many artists represented in the Library of Congress' Swann Collection compiled by Erwin Swann (1906-1973). In the early 1960s, Swann, a New York advertising executive started collecting original cartoon drawings of artistic and humorous interest. Included in the collection are political prints and drawings, satires, caricatures, cartoon strips and panels, and periodical illustrations by more than 500 artists, most of whom are American. The 2,085 items range from 1780-1977, with the bulk falling between 1890-1970. The Collection includes 1,922 drawings, 124 prints, 14 paintings, 13 animation cels, 9 collages, 1 album, 1 photographic print, and 1 scrapbook.

UPDATED 2/22/2017: A new printing has been uploaded with a correction - deleting TE Coles and adding in CE Toles.  You can print out the following and insert it in your first printing -



Biographical Sketches of  Cartoonists & Illustrators in the  Swann Collection  of the
Library of Congress - Errata sheet for first edition, first printing (2012)

Delete the entry for T.E. Coles.

Insert instead

CLAUDE ELDRIDGE TOLES (“Hugh Morris”)
1875-1901

American cartoonist, who was born and grew up in Elmira, New York and worked as a cartoonist for the Elmira Telegram in 1893 after starting his working career as a clerk. Editorial cartoonist for the Washington Post in 1894. His work appeared in the Texas Sandwich a humorous periodical, as well as the Canadian magazine Toronto Saturday Night. He returned home in 1895 to recover from pneumonia. Cartoonist who worked for the New York Herald as a freelance cartoonist in 1896. In 1898, he went to Baltimore to work for the International Syndicate which distributed his work nationally. He joined the Baltimore Sketch Club while there. His work was distributed to the Philadelphia Press between 1899 and 1901. He soon rose to the position of art director. He created The Reverend Fiddle D.D. for the New York Journal in 1898. He also contributed cartoons to Puck and Judge. He drew under his own name and several aliases, including Hugh Morris. At the time of his death, he had formed the Baltimore Illustration Syndicate. He died of Bright’s Disease – kidney failure – on December 16, 1901 in Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, New York, while visiting his in-laws. He was buried in Elmira, New York. Editorial cartoonist Tom Toles is not related.

Info from: “Guide to the SFACA Collection: Newspaper Comic Strips, series II: comic strips – Philadelphia Press,” Ohio State University, http://cartoons.osu.edu/finding_aids/sfaca/philadelphia_press.html , 10/04/2011 {See Swann Collection}; “Claude Eldridge Toles Collection (1875-1901), http://charleywag.wordpress.com/ , 06/11/2013; “News of Yore: The Life and Times of C.E. Toles,” Stripper’s Guide Blog, entry for March 3, 2012,  http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2012_02_26_archive.html , 06/11/2013: “Wellknown Cartoonist Dead,” Westfield (N.Y.) Republican, December 18, 1901, p. 2; Mike Rhode, “Claude E. Toles exhibit at the Cosmos Club,” ComicsDC Blog, entry for October 25, 2016,  http://comicsdc.blogspot.com/2016/10/claude-e-toles-exhibit-at-cosmos-club.html , 10/25/2016


Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Sept 25: Cartoonists at National Book Festival (corrected)

It's on the Mall today, and includes Richard Thompson, Kazu Kibuishi and others. I'll be introducing Kibuishi at 1:55, so feel free to grab me to say hello.

Here's my intro, as it stands now:

Kazu Kibuishi (KAH-zoo Kee-boo-EE-shee), was born in Japan in 1979, but came to the United States as a young child. Trained in film-making, he worked in animation, , but as comics evolved in recent years, he has distinguished himself in new formats. He began his webcomic Copper in 2002, and the short stories follow the dreamlike adventures of Fred and his dog Copper. These stories were collected in a book in 2010. Kibuishi began the Flight anthology book series in 2004 to showcase the work of young cartoonists, including animators. It was originally published by Image Comics, but moved to mainstream publishers to get into bookstores. He recently ended the series with book #8. While working on Flight, he also created the steampunk graphic novel Daisy Kutter: The Last Train which was an American Library Association 2006 pick for Best Books for Young Adults. In 2008, he began Amulet a child-friendly steampunk series published by Scholastic. His newest book is Amulet #4: The Last Council which debuted this month on the New York Times’ bestsellers lists.

Here's more details on the cartoonists:

The National Book Festival Is Cartoon-Friendly, Too
by Mike Rhode on Sep. 23, 2011
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2011/09/23/the-national-book-festival-is-cartoon-friendly-too/

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Comic Riffs previews new Library of Congress exhibit

Looks good!

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS opens masterful 'Timely and Timeless' exhibit today to celebrate comic art
By Michael Cavna
Washington Post Comic Riffs blog September 15 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/comic-riffs/post/library-of-congress-opens-timely-and-timeless-exhibit-today-to-celebrate-comic-art/2011/09/13/gIQAqMA9UK_blog.html

Note that local cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Matt Wuerker are included.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Stephen Hess and Sandy Northrup speak three times on editorial cartoons

Stephen Hess and Sandy Northrup speak on their new book, Drawn & Quartered: The History of American Political Cartoons in three places this spring:
 
Wednesday, April 13, 7PM, National Archives, McGowan Theater

Wednesday, April 27, 12PM, Library of Congress, 6th floor, Montpelier Room

Sunday, May 15, 2:30 PM, Newseum

Saturday, March 05, 2011

American Political Cartoons, 1754-2010 book

Until I met them today, I didn't realize Stephen Hess & Sandy Northrup, the authors of American Political Cartoons, 1754-2010, were both in the DC area. Sandy tells me that they'll be making at least three appearances, "speaking at the National Archives, April 13th, 7PM; Library of Congress, April 27th, 12PM and; Newseum, May 15th, 2:30PM. It should be a lively discussion accompanied with a power point presentation." I plan to attend at least one and will buy the book, which is an update of the first edition (that I already have).

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Fredric Wertham Papers opened at Library of Congress - the author's cut

This was shortened drastically when it appeared in the Washington City Paper's print version and online as "Hate Comic Books? Library of Congress Opens Papers of Comics Opponent Fredric Wertham," Aug. 11, 2010, http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/books/2010/08/11/hate-comic-books-library-of-congress-opens-papers-of-comics-opponent-fredric-wertham/ last year. Completely understandable, as I turned in 3,500 words when they asked for 2,000 and had space for 1,000. Starting a new year, I'll assume ComicsDC readers may be interested in the longer version. My thanks again to everyone who helped me out and cooperated with writing this. Except for the first 3 words, this is as I wrote it last August.


This past summer, the Library of Congress opened a collection of papers from the man who almost singlehandedly destroyed comic books in the 1950s. Or perhaps they instead opened the collection of one of the first psychologists to be concerned with children's mental health and pop culture's possible effects. Opinions vary, and people of good faith disagree, but this past May, the Library of Congress quietly opened 222 containers of psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's papers. While the great majority of Americans haven't heard of the man, for a select few, the ability to read through his letters will be a big deal. That's because Fredric Wertham wrote a book about comic books and juvenile delinquency. Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent came out in 1954 as a culmination of a decade-long campaign against comic books, and quickly became a rallying point for Cold War concerns about teenage culture. Although the Library has had the records since 1987, they've been sealed except to people approved by Wertham's estate—and in that time, only two people were allowed to use them.  

 

 "For comic-book fans, Fredric Wertham is the biggest villain of all time, a real-life bad guy worse than the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Magneto combined," comics historian Jeet Heer wrote for Slate's review of David Hajdu's book, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. "For Wertham, even the most beloved comic-book heroes were suspect: Superman reminded him of Nazi Germany's SS (a cadre of self-styled supermen), the adventures of Batman and Robin had homoerotic overtones, and Wonder Woman threatened to turn healthy young girls into lesbians." Many comic book collectors believe that Wertham almost destroyed comics, as after being hauled before a Congressional investigation, publishers created a Comic Code Authority to self-police themselves and began selling the bland superheroes that the 1960s Batman television show would mock. Amy Nyberg, author of Seal Of Approval: The History Of The Comics Code, places a good bit of the blame on Wertham. She wrote, "The key witness at the Senate hearings and the leader of the crusade against comics was Wertham. He took the position that comic books were harmful, and he pressed for legislation restricting the sale of comic books to children under age sixteen." In Nyberg's work, we see the first signs of rehabilitating Wetham's reputation and she continued, "But Wertham's argument was much more complex than the idea he was often accused of perpetrating: that there was a direct causal link between comic book reading and juvenile delinquency. The problem of juvenile delinquency, he believed, stemmed from the fact that society was trapped in a 'cult of violence' of which comic books were simply a manifestation."

 

Bart Beaty, one of the two people permitted to use the collection before this summer, has probably done the most to renovate the reputation of Wertham with his book, Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture.  At its core, Beaty's book argues that Wertham was right and comic books should have been regulated; however it is worth noting that Beaty, as a Canadian, has no First Amendment rights or protections in his own country. It is also notable that Wertham's crusade against comic books was replicated in many other countries – John Lent's book Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign details a similar story in Canada, Germany, Australia, Britain and Asia.

 

Wertham's research wouldn't be accepted by most today, as it relied on anecdotal evidence from youngsters he saw in his Harlem practice, where he ran the Lafargue Psychiatric Clinic. However, in an online debate with Craig Fischer posted at The Comic Reporter as 'Let's You and Him Fight: Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture Day One,' Beaty wrote "A great many of the things that Wertham believed are things that I believe today, and in his writings and papers what I found was not some crazed loon, but a highly intelligent and highly principled man unafraid to take unpopular stands in troubled times. When comic book fans tell me that Wertham should rot in hell for criticizing EC Comics I am mystified. Here's a man who opened a free psychiatric clinic in Harlem at a time when he was one of a small handful of doctors who would even treat black psychiatric patients, working there no less than two nights each week as a volunteer, and providing testimony that was important to overturning American school segregation, and we're worried about the fact that he didn't like EC? Talk about missing the forest for the trees."

 

Among the 88,000 items in Wertham's papers are "notes, drafts, and related materials for Wertham's major works including Seduction of the Innocent (1954)." In Seduction, Wertham showed multiple examples of disturbing scenes reprinted from comics, including torture and murder. According to Sara Duke, the librarian who mentioned the opening of the collection on the Comix-Scholar's e-mail list, rather than sending the comics to be housed with the rest of the library's collection, "The Manuscript Division is keeping the comic books [Wertham used] because he made notations on onion skin paper and inserted them in his comic books." Wertham's papers add another important component to the library's comic-art collection, which includes comic books in the Serials Department and original comic art in the Prints and Photographs Division (including the original artwork to the first Spider-Man appearance).

 

Beaty's devoted a significant portion of his life to studying comic books – an avocation that he feels that Wertham probably wouldn't appreciate. In the third day of his debate with Fischer, Beaty noted, "…[I]n Seduction Wertham sees absolutely no value in comic books. It's hard to find a single approving thing he has to say about comics in the entire manuscript (whatever exceptions exist are sarcastic). On the other hand, he does seem to find some value in them in The World of Fanzines, his last book. I sometimes wonder if this is a drastic late career shift in belief (as many argue) or a natural continuation and logical extension of his existing thinking. It seems to me that Wertham did recognize some value in comics - particularly comic strips. He was friendly with people like Milton Caniff (and owned a Caniff original) and Al Capp, for example.  I think that The World of Fanzines sheds some light on the reasons: Wertham didn't hate the form so much as the industry (though, clearly, he was no fan of the form). Some of the excised material from Seduction would have made this even more clear. Wertham spoke with a number of cartoonists who told him that it was the publishers who required more blood, guts and gore in the book, and many of these whistleblowers saw Wertham as someone who could help end a practice that they themselves were uneasy with. The draft that Wertham sent to the publisher, for example, contained revelations about DC's treatment of Siegel and Shuster that came right from the source, and would have blown the lid off the shoddy treatment that they received decades before it became a cause celebre in fandom. The lawyers, however, thought it would be actionable and that entire chapter becomes a series of unnamed sources, which considerably dampens its impact (it's so gutted and toothless that I sometimes wonder why he even bothered to retain it)."

 

Charles Hatfield, author of Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature says he had "never heard or read a defense of his work until 1995, when I attended a conference panel in comics studies that happened to include Wertham scholar James Reibman. To say that I was surprised to hear Reibman defend Wertham, and endorse some of the findings of Seduction, would be a pitiful understatement. I was shocked, frankly, and I remember discussing that panel with my wife and others afterward and trying to grapple with the possibility that there could be a reading of Wertham other than the comic fan's usual demonization. I would soon learn that Wertham was a progressive intellectual, that his expert testimony played a part in dismantling legal segregation in this country, and that he provided low-cost or free mental health care to the disenfranchised and neglected.  While I don't endorse Reibman's interpretation, it's hard not to admire, and to be fascinated by, a figure such as Wertham, one who defied many of the prejudices of his time and took such forward-looking and liberating positions."

 

 

"I still believe that Wertham was wrong about comics: not necessarily about the content of the most retrograde and vicious of the comics of that era (there was indeed some hateful material in those comics), but about the supposed impact of the form on literacy and reading habits, which he saw as uniformly detrimental. The larger literacy argument that Wertham tried to make was and still is generally neglected, as opposed to the moral hygiene and social justice arguments, and I think on the literacy question he was dead wrong. After more than fifty years we are still obliged to reference Seduction in much of our comics scholarship, and so the opening of Wertham's papers to more researchers should be celebrated. This is a very important resource!"

 

Joseph Witek is the author of the groundbreaking study Comic Books as History: The Narrative Art of Jack Jackson, Art Spiegelman, and Harvey Pekar. He's undertaken a project where he is now reading a lot of pre-Comics Code books and notes, "One thing that gets lost in the demonization of Wertham  is something that has become clear now that digital scans of pre-Code comics are becoming widely available:  his characterization of those comics is often absolutely accurate.  To a large extent, later comics readers have been misled by the narrow selection of reprinted crime and horror comics that were previously available--EC comics were not "average" in taste or quality by a very long shot.  You don't have to agree with Wertham's ideas about the social or moral consequences of reading such comics to see that many of them contain depictions of violence, sex, and to some extent, racism that go far beyond anything shown in most other media of the day.  Many comics were available to anyone big enough to put a dime on the counter that certainly would have "Mature readers" or other content warnings today. "

 

"The question of whether Wertham was "right" depends on what he is supposed to have been right about--he made a lot of sweeping statements about a number of complex issues, and it's obvious that the main question of media effects has yet to be resolved, if indeed it ever could be. Comics of the day often: Were more graphically violent than almost any other popular media; were extremely racist and sexist; were poorly drawn, written, and edited; were shoddily printed; contained manipulative and arguably fraudulent advertisements;  were available to readers of all ages; and contained story content and ads aimed at readers of wildly different ages. How such content actually affected the behavior of different readers and what, if anything, should be done about such comics are different matters."

 

Joel Pollack, owner of the local Big Planet Comics store, came to comic books as Wertham's crusade was fading a bit. "I discovered comic fandom (and Wertham) at the age of 14. I assumed the popular belief that Wertham had tainted comics, and peoples' opinions of comics, in an irreparable manner. I regularly borrowed Seduction of the Innocent from the Silver Spring Public Library, but never read it fully cover-to-cover. Nonetheless, I felt Wertham was wrong, and that he never recognized comics as an art form. Of course, by the time I discovered Wertham, TV was established as the dominant corrupter of youth, and comics were already becoming a very minor player in youth media. However, I believe the CCA did stifle creativity. Seeing what EC Comics accomplished, even with all of their excesses, made me realize how soporific comics became once the code was installed. As a retailer, I like to know what to expect in the comics I sell, but I'm not sure a ratings system is necessary, as they tend to be inconsistent and often unpredictable."

 

The Library didn't actually collect Wertham's papers for his comic book work. Len Bruno, Manuscript Historian, is a specialist in science and technology collections at the Library. He's one of ten specialists in different fields that break up the responsibility for collections between them. When one specialist retired, Bruno noted, "I got all the Shrinks. Sigmund Freud's papers are a magnet that bring in other collections. Having the Freud papers here is the lodestone, the foundation for other collections to come in and build upon. The Library documents any and all aspects of American life." The opening of the collection after 23 years doesn't surprise him. "It's not an unusual situation. A lot of collections come with "ten years after my death" provisos.  It's business as usual for us. " Personally I feel that Beaty's sympathetic reading of Wertham's lifework, in contrast to much else written about him, was the key to the estate's changing its terms of access.

 

Bruno described the process that a typical collection goes through before the public can access it easily. "It was processed and put in some kind of order. We're really blessed that we have a bunch of archivists that are schooled on how to do this and follow classical and traditional ways and respect original order. They look at every piece of paper and spread everything out and once they understand the person and his or her career and why it's here, they put like with like. To them it's business as usual. It's amazing what they do. It takes a certain type of person who can see both the forest and the trees. You see just one and you're unable to do the job. The average person would look at it and just throw up their hands. They have to respect the details, but not get overwhelmed by them. And once they do it all, the finding aid really is literally that - it tells you need to go to a box to find a particular thing without wasting your time. They prepare the finding aid, right a biography of the person, and a little scope note. They produce a complete package when they're done - really essential when you want to use a big collection like that. To use it, you register with the Library, and get a reader card, and then show up, and be over 18 and behave yourself. You can have four boxes at a time, and check with us before photocopying.  It's stored offsite and we've been calling in boxes so there's next-day service."

 

Bruno  says, "Yes, there have been a number users already. I thought there would a waiting line, and fortunately there weren't. It's been steadily, but not heavily used. I'm not in the reading room so I don't always know when something's been used.  Casual readers are welcomed at the Library – "European researchers always mention that they didn't have to demonstrate credentials or have an interview, and they're very happy at the way we run things. We're geared to do one thing, and that's to serve readers." One restriction does exist though – "We're required to segregate patient records. There were the equivalent of four boxes of obvious patient records so they were physically removed and put in a closed box at the end of the collection. We had the feeling that Wertham, the way he did things, may have patient information that didn't jump out at you so there's a requirement that researchers agree that they not disclose patient information or names they come across."

 

When asked if he had any plans for the collection, Bruno replied "No, given that it just opened, it's only come to the forefront for us and we've only started recently thinking about it. It's just business as usual." Bruno's not a comic book reader now, but "When I was a kid I was; I grew up in the 50s, I had Daffy Duck and Scrooge McDuck... I grew up in a blue-collar household and money was a little spare, so comic books were exceedingly a luxury. When I was very sick at home for more than a few days, my dad would drop off one or two, and for me that was very thrilling." Bruno also noted the Manuscript Division had a couple of other collections of interest – "Jules Feiffer's papers, he's a top of the line cartoonist whose a curious, biting intellect, interested in lot of things. Herblock too - 205 boxes of his papers for a total of 75,000 items."



Other divisions of the Library have records that may mesh well with Wertham's papers. Georgia M. Higley, Head, Newspaper Section of the Serial & Government Publications Division is responsible for the Library's comic books. She tells us, "The Comic book collection is one of the largest in the United States, comprising over 120,000 issues. It is mainly, but not exclusively, a product of copyright deposit over the decades. We have original print issues as well as color microfiche comprising several thousand issues. Also, the library recently acquired the Underground and Independent Comics, Comix, and Graphic Novels database produced by Alexander Street Press. Over the past seven years or so there has been increased interest in comic books by both the Library and researchers. The Library has invested considerable resources to inventory, deacidify, rehouse, and preserve the comic book collection—they are stored in acid free containers in a climate controlled facility. In part due to our inventory efforts as well as increased interest in popular culture by researchers, our comic book collection is being used in greater numbers and with a diversity of titles and subject interests. It is my hope that we will have more interest in the collection, especially since holdings are available through the library catalog giving researchers a good idea of what they can expect to find when they get here."



Sara Duke, Curator, Popular and Applied Graphic Art, Prints & Photographs Division, is in charge of another big collection – "The Prints and Photographs Division has about 128,000 works of cartoon art on paper, dating back to the 16th century. We have some exceptional comic book works that have come in by gift -- an R. Crumb page, the Steve Ditko art for Spider-Man's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, and works produced in reaction to 9/11. However, the Library never had a full-scale collecting effort, soliciting works from individual creators, the way it did with editorial cartoons, comic strips, New Yorker cartoons and illustration." In response to my question as to why not, Duke responded, "I have never seen any written record of any decision-making regarding comic book illustrations. In my personal opinion, it would be easy to draw the conclusion that the Library was affected by Wertham. Perhaps it was because the artists who worked for the comics publishers were treated like work-for-hire and their original art was retained by the publishers. Now, we're preparing for a collecting effort, but of course we're not in the forefront and so it's harder to collect. We can't hope to compete with private collectors at auction. Everyone thinks the Library has deep pockets, but because we're collecting in so many different directions - even within Prints & Photographs we're acquiring architectural and engineering works, photographs, fine prints, posters, illustration and cartoon art. For me, it doesn't make sense to spend my portion of the budget on one comic book page - because I'm not serving researchers well. So I have to think about all the ways researchers approach the collection and look to fill in gaps the best I am able. However, I do approach comic artists for gifts and so far have been well received. Perhaps someone who has collected comic book illustration will feel moved, as Erwin Swann, Art Wood and the Herb Block Foundation have done, to make their collection part of the Library of Congress in the future."



Duke's colleague Martha H. Kennedy, also Curator, Popular & Applied Graphic Art, feels, "The release of Wertham's papers will make possible careful study of the questionable research methods on which he based his publications, which had such a devastating impact on the comic book industry. This material will hopefully generate much needed reassessment of Wertham's motivations underlying his work on comic books, the child rearing climate in which he produced it, and his place in the cultural and social landscape of 1950s America."



Duke realizes "Comics haven't been "just" about superheroes for a long time, but now they have an impact on almost every field of study imaginable. We are in the process of developing a game plan so that we may collect more systematically.  I hope the opening of the papers has a huge impact on my department - that researchers will be drawn into the Library to access the Wertham papers and then avail themselves of the opportunity to look at original cartoon art. The mission of the Library is to make its collections available to researchers, both via the Internet and in person, and if the Wertham Papers increase scholarship here, it's all to the good."

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

It's Banned Books Week...

... and this cartoon is working its way through the comics blogosphere. It's from the Library of Congress

* Title: Books are weapons in the war of ideas / S. Broder.
* Date Created/Published: [Washington, D.C.] : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942.
* Medium: 1 print (poster) : color.
* Summary: Poster showing Nazis burning books, with quotation by Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Books cannot be killed by fire ...."
* Reproduction Number: LC-USZC4-4267 (color film copy transparency) LC-USZ62-121473 (b&w film copy neg.)
* Call Number: POS - US .B761, no. 1 (C size) [P&P] [P&P] [P&P]
* Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
* Notes:
o GPO no. 1942-O-487131.
o OWI no. 7.
o Promotional goal: U.S. J49. 1942.
* Subjects:
o Book Burning--Germany--1940-1950.
o World War, 1939-1945--Communications--United States.
* Format:
o Posters--American--1940-1950.
o Prints--Color--1940-1950.
* Collections:
o Posters: Artist Posters
* Bookmark This Record:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96502725/

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Jeff Smith at Library of Congress National Book Festival

100_0590 LOC NBF Jeff Smith

I got to talk to Jeff Smith for a few minutes at the National Book Festival of the Library of Congress. The interview should appear at the Washington City Paper site this week, but here's my Book Festival pictures.