Collection #

P0493

 

 

John t. Mccutcheon
Collection, 1893–1943 (bulk 1914–1929)

Collection Information

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Series Contents

Cataloging Information

 

 

 

Processed by

Kelly Gascoine
1 August 2008

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

 

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF
COLLECTION:

2 boxes of OVB sized graphics
1 box of OVC sized graphics

COLLECTION
DATES:

1893–1943 (bulk 1914–1929)

PROVENANCE:

Shaker Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.  Mrs. John T. McCutcheon, Lake Forest, IL.  Swann Galleries, Inc., New York, NY.  Robert W. Van Buskirk, Indianapolis, IN.

RESTRICTIONS:

None

COPYRIGHT:

The copyright status of these various works is not known.

REPRODUCTION
RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE
FORMATS:

 

RELATED
HOLDINGS:

P131, World War One Poster Collection.  John T. McCutcheon, Congressman Pumphrey: The People’s Friend.

ACCESSION
NUMBER:

1966.0711, 1973.0214, 1991.0153, 2007.0065

NOTES:

This is an artificial collection with additions expected.

BIOGRAPHiCAL SKETCH

John Tinney McCutcheon chronicled significant events of the late nineteenth century and twentieth century as a cartoonist and foreign correspondent for Chicago newspapers.  He was born near South Raub in Tippecanoe County, Indiana on 6 May 1870.  His father, John Barr McCutcheon, was a Civil War veteran and a sheriff for Tippecanoe County.  His mother was Clara Glick McCutcheon, and his brother George Barr McCutcheon was a noted novelist.  John T. McCutcheon attended Purdue University and earned a B.S. in 1889.

Upon graduation McCutcheon joined the Chicago Morning News, later known as the Chicago Record and the Chicago Record-Herald.  His first front page cartoon came in 1895.  In 1903, he moved to the Chicago Tribune.  McCutcheon’s cartoons often appeared on the front page of the newspaper and covered political events, local, national and international news, and the daily lives of Americans.  He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his cartoon “A Wise Economist Asks a Question.”  McCutcheon remained with the Tribune until his retirement in 1946.  During his career, he published volumes of his cartoons as well as several books.  He also illustrated stories for George Ade and his brother George Barr McCutcheon.

McCutcheon regularly traveled abroad, both for business and for pleasure, and often submitted articles to his paper as a foreign correspondent.  In 1898, he witnessed the Battle of Manila Bay.  He traveled to Africa to observe the Boer War in 1900 and toured Africa in 1909 on a hunting excursion, part of which he shared with Teddy Roosevelt.  In 1914 he visited Belgium and was one of only a handful of reporters to witness the German Army’s invasion of that country.  McCutcheon was in Paris for the Peace Conference in 1918 and 1919.  He would continue to travel all over the world throughout his life.

McCutcheon also owned and frequently visited his private island in the Bahamas, Salt Cay.  He purchased the island in 1916 and first visited during his honeymoon.  McCutcheon married Evelyn Shaw on 20 January 1917.  The couple had 4 children, John Jr., Shaw, Barr, and Evelyn who died as a young child.  McCutcheon died on 10 June 1949.  He was well respected among colleagues and known as the “Dean of American Cartoonists.”

Sources:

The Tippecanoe Historical Association.  John T. McCutcheon: Tippecanoe County Cartoonist.  Lafayette, IN:  Tippecanoe County Historical Association, 1974.

Who Was Who in American History—Arts and Letters.  Chicago:  Marquis Who’s Who, 1975.

McCutcheon, John T.  Drawn from Memory: The Autobiography of John T. McCutcheon.  Indianapolis:  The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1950.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection contains approximately 55 original drawings by John T. McCutcheon.  It includes some of his editorial cartoons that appeared in the Chicago Record, Chicago Record-Herald, and Chicago Tribune as well as sketches from books he wrote and illustrated.  The subject matter includes local Chicago politics, national politics, international affairs, and American daily life.  The drawings were made between 1893 and 1943, with the bulk of the materials created between 1914 and 1929.

The drawings are graphite and/or pen and ink on illustration board.  The sizes of the drawings range from 10x14 inches to 18x21 inches. The drawings are in good condition.  They have been organized into chronological order according to subject matter.  Series are arranged according to eras in American history: pre-World War One, World War One, the 1920s, The Great Depression, and World War Two.  In addition to the cartoons, there are two folders containing materials that provide additional details on two drawings.  Further information on these can be found below.

Several other libraries and archives hold portions of McCutcheon’s papers and cartoons.  These include the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Syracuse University Library, and Purdue University Library.

series CONTENTS

Series 1: Political and Editorial Cartoons, 1893–1913

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Title: “President pays high tribute to diplomatic triumphs of the administration”
Size: 14 x 15 inches
Description: A figure who is most likely President Cleveland stands in front of Congress reading his Message to Congress
Date: Ca. 1893–1895

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 1

Title: “Silence is Golden”
Size: 14 7/8 x 15 ¾ inches
Description: A man, most likely President Cleveland, sits on a chair surrounding by screaming figures
Date: Ca. 1893–1897

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 2

Title: [no title]
Size: 18 x 11 7/8 inches
Description:  A group of men firing guns across a field at an unseen enemy.  Occurred in the area around Manila in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
Date: 6 July 1898

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 3

Title:  “From Togo”
Size:  13 ¾ x 15 ¾ inches
Description:  A hand with tattoos of the Japanese flag and a navy anchor uses brush and ink to write “We have met the Enemy and”
Date: ca. 1904–1905

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 4

Title: “News Item-General Kouropatkin has left for Moscow via Tie Pass”
Size:  13 ½ x 15 ¾ inches
Description: Man carrying ‘On to Moscow’ flag walks along winding railroad tracks that lead to Moscow.
Date: ca. March 1905

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 5

Title: [no title]
Size:  14 ¼ x 17 ½ inches
Description: Seven men seated around a dining room table having drinks and toasting.  Two black men are serving the drinks.  From the Congressman Pumphrey book.
Date:  19 March 1907

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 6

Title: “The Way He Will Vote”
Size: 14 ¼ x 18 3/8 inches
Description: A hand labeled Progressive Citizen marks a real Specimen ballot from Chicago.
Date: Ca. September 1907

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 7

Title: “On the National Golf Field:  President Taft will have to use his niblick to get me out of this hole.”
Size: 14 ¼ x 17 inches
Description: A golf ball labeled ‘the poor consumer’ is trapped under rocks labeled ‘Aldrich Tariff Revision Upward’ and ‘Payne Tariff Revision Upward’ while a man’s feet are standing over it.
Date: 1909

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 8

Title: “A little ballot to be marked at home before going to the polls.”
Size: 14 x 15 3/8 inches
Description:  Man, wife, and child hold home ballot to mark.  Ballot asks if voters want a clean government.  Broderick was a state Senator and Wilson was a state Representative; both were involved in a bribery case in 1910.
Date: Ca. 1910.

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 9

Title: “A Knight worthy of the hero medal.  Driver Knight swerved his car to certain disaster rather than run over a fallen mechanician.”
Size: 14 x 16 inches
Description: Man in a race car is bearing down on a fallen mechanic while the crowd looks on in horror.
Date: Ca. March–April 1911

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 10

Typed excerpts from the 1911 Indianapolis Star that explain the above drawing.

OVB Graphics
Box 1, Folder 10

Title: A Temporary Suspension of Hostilities”
Size: 14 ½ x 17 ¼ inches
Description: Three animals stand outside a hospital.  The cartoon references the October 1912 assassination attempt made on presidential candidate Teddy Roosevelt in Milwaukee.  Roosevelt came to Chicago’s Mercy Hospital for treatment.
Date:  Ca. October 1912

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 11

List of society members pictured in the 1913 Indiana Society of Chicago drawings listed below.

OVC Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 1

Title: “In order to get everything in, the Indiana Society had to take the longest day of the year for their picnic.”
Size: 14 x 19 ½ inches
Description: Indiana Society of Chicago picnic at Cedar Lake.
Date: 1913

OVC Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 2

Title: [no title]
Size: 18 x 21 inches
Description: Picnic of the Indiana Society of Chicago at Hazelden.  Many different events happening.
Date: 1913

OVC Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 3

Series 2: World War One Era Cartoons, 1914–1919

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Title: “The End of the Rainbow”
Size: 11 ¾ x 15 ½ inches
Description: U.S. World War One Vet looks at the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  The pot is filled with an insurance policy.
Date: ca. 1914–1919

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 12

Title: “The Headlines in Black and White”
Size: 14 ¼ x 18 1/8 inches
Description: 16 panels each with a man reading a newspaper with the headlines.
Date: Ca. 1914–1919

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 13

Title: “Sleeping at Beaumont”
Size: 14 ¼ x 11 ¾ inches
Description: A group sleeping on the floor watched over by German soldiers.
Date: 1914

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 14

Title: “Reconstructing our Disabled Soldiers”
Size: 14 ¼ x 19 ½ inches
Description: Upper panel depicts Uncle Sam giving Civil War veterans a pension and nothing else.  Lower panel depicts Uncle Sam promising World War One soldiers medical care and job training.
Date: Ca. 1917

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 15

Title: “Post War Suggestion”
Size: 14 ¼ x 18 inches
Description: A family stands in a corn field as planes fly by overhead bringing much needed rain.
Date: 10 September 1917

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 16

Title: “How will ‘Fraternizing’ affect the German troops?”
Size: 14 ¼ x 16 ½ inches
Description: A group of German soldiers listens to a group of Russian soldiers talk about the benefits of communism.
Date: Ca. 1917–1918

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 17

Title: “Another Invitation from Berlin”
Size: 14 ¼ x 16 ¾ inches
Description: Von Kuehlmann stands over a defeated Russia and Romania offering his brand of peace to France, Britain, Italy, and America.
Date: Ca. 1917–1918

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 18

Title: “The new taxes will make the Kaiser more unpopular than ever.”
Size: 14 ¼ x 15 inches
Description: Group of angry men shaking their fists at a picture of the Kaiser in front of Uncle Sam.  A sign listing the new war taxes hangs next to Uncle Sam.
Date: Ca. 1917–1918

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 19

Title: “The Advance Guard of Peace”
Size: 14 ¼ x 16 ¾ inches
Description: A soldier labeled ‘Gen. Demobilization’ holds weapons labeled ‘German Arms.’  Fallen soldiers lay behind him.
Date: Ca. 1918

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 20

Title: “He’ll be present whether invited or not”
Size: 13 ½ x 15 ½ inches
Description: A man labeled ‘Cancellation of debts’ sits at a table with empty chairs labeled America, Britain, Italy, France, and Belgium.
Date: Ca. 1918–1919

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 21

Title: “After Lent, the loan.  April 21st.”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 ¾ inches
Description: Uncle Sam with long arms.  Images about the Victory bonds and loan.
Date: Ca. 1919

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 22

Title: “The Acid Test of Americanism”
Size: 14 ¾ x 15 inches
Description: A man speaks to the U.S. Senate while Uncle Sam and Britain look on.
Date: Ca. 1919

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 23

Title: [no title]
Size: 14 5/8 x 17 ½ inches
Description: 6 panels of a man reading the newspaper.  He starts out happy and is upset by the end.
Date: Ca. 1919

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 24

Series 3: The Roaring Twenties Era Cartoons, 1919–1929

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Title: “Harder to climb than Mt. Everest”
Size: 14 ½ x 16 ¾ inches
Description: Three men labeled the pound, franc, and mark are roped together and struggle to climb a mountain labeled ‘Mt. Normalcy.’  The American dollar, wages, and prices climb a nearby mountain.
Date: Ca. 1920s

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 25

Title: “Our Hostages on the Rhine”
Size: 14 x 13 ¾ inches
Description: A group of American soldiers sits near the Rhine, representing ‘Foreign Entanglements.’ Europeans on either side of the Rhine look on.
Date: Ca. 1920s

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 26

Title: “Prince Carol is still spending the holidays in a Milan hotel”
Size: 14 ½ x 17 7/8 inches
Description: Reporters gather around the door to Prince Carol’s hotel room.
Date: Ca. 1920s

OVB Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 27

Title: “Straws that show the way the wind blows”
Size: 14 ½ x 17 inches
Description: An American flag stands in a field with straw votes wrapped around showing support for constitutional nationalism not monocratic internationalism.  The two men may represent James M. Cox (left) and Warren G. Harding (right) during the 1920 Presidential campaign.
Date: Ca. 1920

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 1

Title: “America sits in again as an Observer”
Size: 14 5/8 x 17 ½ inches
Description: Lloyd George, Briand, Italy, and Japan sit with the American Col. Harvey playing cards.  The meeting is labeled the ‘Supreme Council Diplomatic Game.’
Date: Ca. 1920–1921

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 2

Title: “The Queen’s Homecoming”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 ¾ inches
Description: Queen Marie sails home to a Romania where rumors are flying about the king’s death and the succession.
Date: 1926

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 3

Title: “They’ve got to blame somebody for their blunders”
Size: 14 x 18 1/8 inches
Description: A broken down car full of people labeled ‘French Finance’ and a British politician point to Uncle Sam and blame him for their problems.
Date: 1926

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 4

Title: “The Victor and the Vanquished”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 ¾ inches
Description: France, the Victor, is sick in bed and tended by a doctor.
Date: 1926

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 5

Title: “He’s likely to spoil a perfectly good party”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 ½ inches
Description: A man representing the Federal Reserve Board puts a pot of power on the dinner table in front of a group of men while Congress looks on.
Date: 1927

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 6

Title: “Making the War Zone Safe for Democracy”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 ¼ inches
Description: Britain, France, Japan, America, and Italy stand in China watching the fighting in the North and South.
Date: 1927

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 7

Title: “The only nation China likes and trusts, rushes to the front”
Size: 15 x 18 inches
Description: American warships sail towards Hankow where anti-British riots are taking place.
Date: 1927

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 8

Title: “Will he be allowed to block the Navy Bill?”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 inches
Description: A man labeled ‘Boulder Dam Bill’ talks to the US Senate and Treasury as he points to Uncle Sam holding the hand of a young boy labeled ‘Naval bill’
Date: Ca. 1927–1928

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 9

Title: “If other office holders who took Public Utility campaign contributions were also unseated.”
Size: 12 x 18 inches
Description: Men being thrown out the windows of the Public Office building.
Date: 1928

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 10

Title: “Politics and Polar Exploits”
Size: 14 3/8 x 18 7/8 inches
Description: Upper panel shows men marching for clean government against entrenched corruption.  Lower panel depicts Byrd’s flight.
Date: 1929

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 11

Series 4: The Great Depression, 1929–1938

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Title: One angle of the Bowler’s flight”
Size: 14 ½ x 17 inches
Description: Uncle Sam and Canada stand at the border and watch the ‘Untin’ Bowler
Date: Ca. 1929

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 12

Title: “The great joy ride is about over”
Size: 14 ¼ x 16 ¼ inches
Description: A car labeled ‘National Prosperity’ full of people labeled ‘banks,’ ‘speculators,’ and ‘extravagance’ drives down a road oblivious to the danger signs.
Date: Ca. 1929–1930

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 13

Title: “Another Glider Experiment the Country will watch with interest.”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 inches
Description: A plane labeled ‘Machine Politics’ tows a second plane full of ‘unfit candidates’ during the Chicago primary.
Date: 1930

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 14

Title: “As Seen by the Man in the Street”
Size: 14 ½ x 15 ½ inches
Description: A group of desperate-looking men sleeping on cots.  One is reading the newspaper.
Date: 1930

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 15

Title: “Life Saving in Europe is not such as easy matter”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 5/8 inches
Description: A man rushes off with a Hoover plan life preserver to help Germany while a man labeled France tries to stop him.
Date: 1931

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 16

Series 5: World War Two Era Cartoons, 1939–1943

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Title: “Which way is war less likely to come?”
Size: 14 x 19 inches
Description: Upper panel depicts Europe exploding into war.  Lower panel depicts many people rushing around with different opinions about current affairs.
Date: 1939

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 17

Title: “Congress comes back to a super session to fight again for the nation’s independence.”
Size: 14 x 15 7/8 inches
Description: Pictures of Washington and Jefferson shout for help as man depicting Congress comes back to an anxious crowd representing unions, foreign entanglements, inflation, and tax payers.
Date: 1943

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 18

Title: “If the Nazis acquire the habit of retreating, a second front should find advancing easy.”
Size: 13 ½ x 16 ¾ inches
Description: Two men labeled USA and Britain watch the Russians rout the Germans.
Date: 28 November 1943

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 19

Series 6: Undated Cartoons

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Title: “Indiana”
Size: 14 x 10 inches
Description: The state of Indiana is impaled on a large tack while a Democratic donkey and Republican elephant look on.
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 20

Title: “The Long Quarantine is about over”
Size: 14 ½ x 18 ½ inches
Description: A man representing Congress carries a bottle labeled Tariff Bill Tonic to a worried businessman.
Date: n.d., probably prior to the 1930s

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 21

Title: [no title]
Size: 14 ¼ x 15 inches
Description: Left panel shows a man pointing to an angel.  Right panel shows him cowering from a devil.
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 22

Title: [no title]
Size: 14 ¼ x 17 inches
Description: Upper panel shows heavy foot traffic on one side of the road and heavy car traffic.  Lower panel shows heavy car traffic and heavy foot traffic on the opposite side of the road.
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 23

Title: [no title]
Size: 9x10 un-matted; 16x20 matted
Description: A church with a few people entering
Date: n.d.

OVC Graphics:
Box 1, Folder 4

Title: [no title]
Size: 11 1/8 x 14 ¼ inches
Description: An elderly man with a GAR hat and medal boards a train recalling events of the Civil War.
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 24

Title: [no title]
Size: 14 x 17 7/8 inches
Description: 6 panels show a man at work, reading the Sports page of the newspaper, and entering a Pool Room.
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 25

Title: [no title]
Size: 13 3/8 x 17 inches
Description: seven scenes depicting man’s daily life
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 26

Title: [no title]
Size: 14 5/8 x 17 ½ inches
Description: 8 scenes showing thanksgiving celebrations at various points in American history
Date: n.d.

OVB Graphics:
Box 2, Folder 27

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, P0493).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.