Susan KlineSyracuse University LibrarySociety of American ArchivistsAugust 14, 2010

Cartoons in the Archives: Laughing Our Way Through 1,000 Feet

About my presentationPerspective of a special collections department within an academic library• Cartoons are approx. 1,000 lin. ft. of 30,000 lin. ft.• One area of pop culture we collect• 2 year NHPRC grant funded project

“Cartoons”- umbrella term for magazine (gag) cartoons, comic strips, editorial, political cartoons

Why bother with cartoons?Visual documents and records• visual expression of complex ideas

o editorial cartoonsForm of popular culture and entertainment• storytelling and narratives 

o sequential "soap opera" detective and adventure strips

• beliefs about society and culture as reflected in forms of mass entertainment

Artistic value• genre of art and illustration

Cartoons at SCRC • 186 distinct collections (1,000 linear feet)• Comic strips and panel cartoons• Editorial Cartoons• Sports cartoons• Correspondence, proofs, promotional and other

manuscript material

Typical collection• hundreds to thousands of original artworks• 11”x14” to 2'x3'• Notes, marginalia, corrections

Comic strips

• Insert image here

Abbie an’ Slats cartoon from Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library

Editorial cartoons

Paul Conrad cartoon from Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library

Who are the users?Wide range of possibilities• Scholars in the fields of

rhetoric, journalism, political science, comics studies, art history

• Anyone looking for illustrations of a particular topic ex. Portrayals of American Indians in the mediao understand particular topics through

different types of sourcesKarl Hubenthal cartoon from Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library

Who are the users?

Collectors and fans• Common questions about similar pieces,

people wanting values placed on works• large market for this type of art right now

Publishers• money to be made doing reprints of

complete runs and anthologies o Fantagraphics, Prince Valiant

• image permissions, copyright research

History of Cartoons at SCRCAcquisitions began arriving in 1960s • Some had accruals- Ted Key• Overall little activity past early

1970sProcessing• some processed...sort of...

o handwritten and typed lists and inventories 

          (some later OCR'ed)

o little rehousing o some attempts at subject

arrangement

webcomic courtesy of Derangement and Description, http://derangementanddescription.wordpress.com

Flash forward to NHPRCNational Historic Publishing and Records Commission detailed processing grant, 20082 years, 1 project archivist, and 1 student worker (2nd year of project, 10-15 hrs. wk)

Phases1. Survey2. Create MARC and EAD records3. Arrangement and rehousing4. Update MARC and EAD records (description)(#4 later combined with #3)

Project goals

Included...• Rehousing 134 collections (450 linear feet)• Create or update 134 EAD finding aids and

MARC records• Update Wikipedia entries for 30 cartoonists

and include links to the finding aids• Track use of collections as made available• At least 3 articles or presentations

Survey phase

Goals• find out what we had• determine rehousing requirements

Results• discovered even more "hidden collections"

than previously realized• detailed measurements of materials crucial

for estimating rehousing needs• understanding of past processing

Survey phaseWork products

• Database for project management

• Skeleton EAD finding aids and MARC to be revised later

Processing phaseStraightforward approach to physical arrangement

o Chronological or alphabeticalo date inventory in calendar format

Practices and literature reviewTook inspiration from the few places that have substantial amounts of cartoons

"The Organization and Categorization of Political Cartoons: An exploratory study" by Christopher Landbeck (thesis at the Florida State University, 2002)

"Indexing Editorial Cartoons," by Angie Chapple-Sokol Special Libraries, Winter 1996• Would be great opportunity for a follow up to see how people are now

indexing them? Contact newspaper, syndicates? Magazines?

For all collections:• OPAC records w/ links to

finding aid• LCSH and subdivisions• AAT terms related to the

genres• Particular attention to

biographical notes for   obscure cartoonistso Little onlineo Who's Who in American

Arto cartoon and comics

reference works

Description

How detailed is “detailed”?• Item level access ideal but not feasible• Treat collections as someone's body of work not    individual

piecesInfluenced by format• Comic strips

o date inventoryo description of strip in scope & contents note

• Editorial cartoonso date inventoryo ideally item level description with caption, date, 

          what it depicts

Description

DescriptionEditorial cartoonsWhat type of access do people want?• By a specific date?• By a specific caption?• By subject?

Is chronology enough to guide users to specific subjects?• yes and no • some concepts transcend time periods• problem with obscure and local subjects

Access by individual captions?• Not specific enough ("Next!" reveals little) unless

you have particular cartoon in mind

Description- indexing

Idea to index the cartoons at the folder level

Subjective process

What to index?• What is it of? vs. what is it about?

     (elephant) = (Republican party)?• Interpretation issues- what is cartoonist's intent?

o labels (people, concepts, places)o easily recognizable people

Result:people looking for Fidel Castro can find all the cartoons of him throughout the same collection

Indexing for the finding aidProcessIndex data entered into Excel sheet• Instead of pg. #s, folder IDs (B1F1) for references to

each folder

Exported and generated EAD tags     <index> tag <ref> tag

Result- list of subjects w/ links up to the folder listing and description

Possibility to export data later for a collection wide listing of subjects

Preservation

Rehousing• Custom clamshell comic strip boxes• Newspaper boxes• Map case storage for odd x-large items• Foldering of cartoons

o Minimize handling• Interleaving• Treatment concerns

o Weak, yellowed rubber             cements 

o tape

ChallengesRespecting original order• hard to know how it came since some were

partially processed decades agoScale of this particular project• What is feasible in just 2 years?• Balancing  goals, timeline, successful outcome w/

what would be idealTracking down info about (now) obscure artists• fan generated blogs, databases helpful

But just digitize them all!• complex maze of rights holders of artists,

syndicates

Outreach and resultsIn addition to presentations...Wikipedia links and contributions

o Adds credibility to Wikipedia entrieso In conjunction with FAs indexed by Google- wider

exposure for our collections

Additional accessions from previous donors and single item additions from others

Exhibit and symposium during homecoming w/ alumni cartoonists; preservation lectureSense of how to manage large projects

Goodbye cartoon backlog!

Bill Keane cartoon from Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library