Featured Resource: Political Cartoons from the Library of Congress Online Prints and Photographs Collection

Herb Block, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, once advised that a political cartoon “should have some purpose beyond the chuckle.” Scholars including William Gamson, William Benoit, David Paletz, Janis Edwards, and others have looked beyond the chuckle to explore the political messages, both explicit and implicit, of these visual images.

In the last issue, we surveyed war photographs and propaganda posters accessible via the Library of Congress’s online Prints and Photographs Collection. In this issue, we turn to collections of political editorial cartoons. Together, these databases offer over 10,000 political cartoon images, representing political issues including campaigns, domestic issues, American symbols, the military, race relations, and international relations.

	American Political Prints This collection features 762 prints of political satires, allegories, campaign banners, certificates and broadsides from the years 1766 to 1876, offering a visual evolution of such iconic portrayals as Uncle Sam, Liberty, and Justice. HarpWeek describes this database as “an unmatched source of information on American political prints.” Most entries are accompanied by thumbnail images.
Cartoon Drawings The largest of the political cartoon collections, this database includes 9,400 drawings spanning 200 years, from 1794-1994. Featuring the work of over 500 artists, the collection includes political and editorial cartoons as they represent international relations, economics, racial relations, military issues, and domestic life. Many cartoons offer portrayals of American presidents, Adolf Hitler, Nikita Krushchev, Benito Mussolini, Josef Stalin, and symbolic figures including Uncle Sam, Dame Democracy, and John Q. Public. Most entries are accompanied by thumbnails.
	Swann Collection of Caricature and Cartoon This collection includes about 2000 drawings from 1780 to 1975, but concentrates on the 1930s. The images were originally collected by a foundation established by Erwin Swann, an advertising executive in New York. They feature domestic life, politics, family issues, gender relations, and superheroes. Many entries offer thumbnail sketches.

Information for the preceding descriptions was drawn from the Library of Congress collection descriptions, unless otherwise noted.

Submitted by Joshua Compton