The National Cartoon Museum was an American museum dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of cartoons, comic strips and animation. It was the brainchild of

Mort Walker Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...

, creator of ''

Beetle Bailey ''Beetle Bailey'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker, published since September 4, 1950. It is set on a fictional United States Army post. In the years just before Walker's death in 2018 (at age 94), it was among the old ...

''. The museum opened in 1974, went through several name changes, relocations, and temporary closures, before finally closing for good in 2002. Originally known as the Museum of Cartoon Art in 1974, the name was changed to the National Cartoon Museum when it moved to Boca Raton, Florida, in 1992. In 1996, it became the International Museum of Cartoon Art. In June 2008, Walker's collection was merged with the

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library ...

, affiliated with

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in Columbus, Ohio.

History

Walker began preserving cartoon artwork in the 1940s, when he discovered King Features Syndicate using '' Krazy Kat'' drawings to sop up water leaks. Walker lived in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

, and in 1974, with a contribution of $50,000 from the Hearst Foundation, he opened his museum nearby at 850 Canal Street in Stamford, Connecticut. Two years later, the landlord decided he could rent the mansion for more, forcing a move to a space on Field Point Road in Greenwich, Connecticut. Later, the museum occupied Ward's Castle, a large, dilapidated house in

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most popu ...

. In late 1991 the city of Boca Raton, Florida invited Walker to relocate there, and the museum prepared to move in 1992. While working to re-open, the museum was robbed of '' Dick Tracy'' and ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

'' originals, as well as some

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animation cel A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, bu ...

s. After acquiring more funding, and a donation of

art from Diamond Comic Distributors'

Steve Geppi Stephen A. Geppi (born January 24, 1950) is an American comic book distributor, publisher and former comic store owner. Having established an early chain of comic shops in Baltimore in the mid-late 1970s, he is best known for his distributing busi ...

, the newly minted International Museum of Cartoon Art finally opened the doors to its new facility in 1996. Gary Hood was appointed director of curatorial affairs. However, the museum did not attract enough donations and two corporate sponsors went bankrupt. In 1998, the Hearst Foundation again stepped in, giving the museum $1 million."News Watch: International Museum Gets a Cool Million," ''The Comics Journal'' #201 (Jan. 1998), p. 22. Nonetheless, to pay off some of the debts (including outstanding mortgage payments), Walker auctioned off a Mickey Mouse drawing in 2001 for $700,000. It was not enough, however; the museum was forced to close in 2002, and the collection was put into storage. An attempt was made to relocate to three floors of the Empire State Building in New York City in 2007, but the deal fell through for reasons that are disputed. Walker finally accepted an offer to merge his collection with that of Ohio State University in 2008.Whiteman, Doug. "Addition to make school's comic art collection really super", Associated Press, May 16, 2008.
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Collection

The collection includes over 200,000 original drawings, 20,000

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, 1000 hours of film and tape, and various other items. It consists almost entirely of donations from artists, including

Chester Gould Chester Gould (; November 20, 1900 – May 11, 1985) was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the '' Dick Tracy'' comic strip, which he wrote and drew from 1931 to 1977, incorporating numerous colorful and monstrous villains. ...

('' Dick Tracy''),

Hal Foster Harold Rudolf Foster, FRSA (August 16, 1892 – July 25, 1982) was a Canadian-American comic strip artist and writer best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Prince Valiant''. His drawing style is noted for its high level of draftsmanship ...

(''

''),

Bil Keane William Aloysius "Bil" Keane (October 5, 1922 – November 8, 2011) was an American cartoonist most notable for his work on the newspaper comic '' The Family Circus''. It began in 1960 and continues in syndication, drawn by his son Jeff Kea ...

(''

Family Circus ''The Family Circus'' (originally ''The Family Circle'', also ''Family-Go-Round'') is a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and, since Bil's death in 2011, is currently written, inked, and rendered (colored) by his son, Jef ...

''), political cartoonist

Jeff MacNelly Jeffrey Kenneth "Jeff" MacNelly (September 17, 1947 – June 8, 2000) was an American editorial cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Shoe''. After ''Shoe'' had been established in papers, MacNelly created the single-panel strip '' Plu ...

, Mike Peters (''

Mother Goose and Grimm ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

''),

Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography Caniff was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout and a r ...

(''

Terry and the Pirates ''Terry and the Pirates'' is an action-adventure comic strip created by cartoonist Milton Caniff, which originally ran from October 22, 1934, to February 25, 1973. Captain Joseph Patterson, editor for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, ...

''),

Dik Browne Richard Arthur Allan Browne (August 11, 1917 – June 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing ''Hägar the Horrible'' and ''Hi and Lois''. Biography Browne attended Cooper Union and got his start at the '' New Yo ...

(''

Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973 and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirem ...

''), Stan Lee ('' Spider-Man''), Rube Goldberg and others. According to the curators, it is valued at an estimated $20 million. Among its prized possessions is the first drawing of Mickey Mouse, by

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...

for the character's film debut in ''

Plane Crazy ''Plane Crazy'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first Mickey Mouse film produced, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test sc ...

'' (1928).

William Randolph Hearst Cartoon Hall of Fame

Begun in 1974, the Hall of Fame was renamed the

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

Cartoon Hall of Fame in 1997 after a sponsorship was provided by the Hearst Foundation. The 31 inductees, chosen by non-cartoonist authorities, are: *

Peter Arno Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. (January 8, 1904 – February 22, 1968), known professionally as Peter Arno, was an American cartoonist. He contributed cartoons and 101 covers to ''The New Yorker'' from 1925, the magazine's first year, until 1968, the ...

* Carl Barks *

* Al Capp *

Roy Crane Royston Campbell Crane (November 22, 1901 – July 7, 1977), who signed his work Roy Crane, was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer. He pioneered the adventure comic strip, establi ...

* Billy DeBeck * Rudolph Dirks *

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

Bud Fisher Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher (April 3, 1885 – September 7, 1954) was an American cartoonist who created ''Mutt and Jeff'', the first successful daily comic strip in the United States. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a merchant, ...

* Harold Foster *

Charles Dana Gibson Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator. He was best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent Euro-American woman at the turn of the ...

* Rube Goldberg *

Harold Gray Harold Lincoln Gray (January 20, 1894 – May 9, 1968) was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the newspaper comic strip ''Little Orphan Annie''. Early life Harold Gray was born in Kankakee, Illinois on January 20, 1894, to Este ...

* Cathy Guisewite *

George Herriman George Joseph Herriman III (August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip '' Krazy Kat'' (1913–1944). More influential than popular, ''Krazy Kat'' had an appreciative audience ...

Lynn Johnston Lynn Johnston (born May 28, 1947) is a Canadian cartoonist and author, best known for her newspaper comic strip '' For Better or For Worse''. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award. Ea ...

* Chuck Jones *

Walt Kelly Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973), commonly known as Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip '' Pogo''. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contr ...

Winsor McCay Zenas Winsor McCay ( – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip '' Little Nemo'' (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film '' Gertie the Dinosaur'' (1914). For contractual reasons, he w ...

George McManus George McManus (January 23, 1884 – October 22, 1954) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the main characters of his syndicated comic strip, ''Bringing Up Father''. Biography ...

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...

Frederick Opper Frederick Burr Opper (January 2, 1857 – August 28, 1937) is regarded as one of the pioneers of American newspaper comic strips, best known for his comic strip '' Happy Hooligan''. His comic characters were featured in magazine gag cartoons, c ...

* Richard Outcault *

Alex Raymond Alexander Gillespie Raymond Jr. (October 2, 1909 – September 6, 1956) was an American cartoonist who was best known for creating the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip for King Features Syndicate in 1934. The strip was subsequently adapted into many ...

Charles Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wi ...

* Elzie Segar *

Jimmy Swinnerton James Guilford Swinnerton (13 November 1875 – 8 September 1974) was an American cartoonist and a landscape painter of the Southwest deserts. He was known as Jimmy to some and Swinny to others. He signed some of his early cartoons Swin, and on on ...

Chic Young Murat Bernard "Chic" Young (January 9, 1901March 14, 1973) was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip '' Blondie''. His 1919 ''William McKinley High School Yearbook'' cites his nickname as Chicken, source of his familiar pen name an ...

References

External links

Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
{{authority control Cartooning museums Defunct museums in Connecticut Defunct museums in Florida Defunct museums in New York (state) History of animation Art museums established in 1974 Art museums disestablished in 2002 1974 establishments in Connecticut 2002 disestablishments in Connecticut

History

Collection

William Randolph Hearst Cartoon Hall of Fame

See also

References

External links