Dorothy Waugh's National Park Service Posters

 

Dorothy Waugh's 1924 passport photo.

Dorothy Waugh (1896 - 1996) was best known for creating a series of posters promoting national and state parks in the 1930s. Her graphics were influential in the early use of art by the National Park Service to promote public lands. Until the other day, I had not heard of Ms. Waugh. I wanted to share some of her graphics here. 

Originally born in Vermont, her Dad was landscape architect. She would sit in on his classes at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  She would study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Massachusetts School of Art, the Museum School of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Ecole des Beaux Arts d'Orleans, the John Herron School of Art. and the Trenton School of Art.

 Wikipedia:

 

"Conrad Wirth had studied with Waugh's father Frank while earning his Bachelor of Science degree in landscape gardening from Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst).^[14] Wirth joined the National Park Service (NPS) in 1931.^[15] With the coming of the New Deal, he supervised the service's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program in the state parks. Many CCC participants could not interpret blueprints or the accompanying directives.^[15] To address this he hired Dorothy Waugh in August 1933^[15] to develop simplified diagrams and instructions for constructing basic park structures.^[14] Waugh produced Portfolio of Comfort Stations and Privies (1934) and Portfolio of Park Structures and Facilities (1934).^[16] During this time she also drew color illustrations for Recreational use of land in the United States: Part XI of the Report on land planning (1934).^[1]

"Due to the scale and importance of this effort for the CCC, Waugh went from being the sole NPS employee working on the project to hiring and leading a team of male draftsmen. Additionally, the government hired architects to supervise the building projects who added their own drawings as needed.^[17] This meant that her portfolios were followed by manuals in which Waugh had an advisory role, but no longer was contributing drawings.^[1]

"In 1933, the Roosevelt administration designated 1934 as the 'National Parks Year.'^[18] This allowed for a small budget to create a marketing campaign for the National Parks. Waugh designed posters for the campaign, although she was hampered by the small budget for materials that required her to execute her design on the first try.^[19] By late summer of 1934, she had produced 'a set of six colorful posters depicting national park scenes.'^[20][21] In 1935, Waugh produced another five posters, with recreation the theme for two, cultural heritage for two, and wildlife preservation for the fifth.^[1]"

 

 

Some Cartoons from Cartoon Capers Volume 3, Number 2 April 1968

When there were lots of magazines that had gag cartoons in them, there were a lot of gag cartoonists who plied their trade. The cartoonists who submitted in person would start on Sixth Avenue in Midtown. That was where the prestige, national magazine offices were and those mags paid the best. Eventually, a cartoonist travel to to the lower-priced markets with his batch of submissions, hoping for a $10 or $15 sale. One of these mags was Cartoon Capers, which had a big appetite for cartoons since it was pretty much mostly "Loaded! with Cartoons, Girls, Joke, Fun, Gags." Here are some of the risque (for the 1960s) magazine cartoons from the April 1968 Volume 3, Number 2 issue of Cartoon Capers. 

 

Dick Buchanan's Gag Cartoon Heritage Consignment

 

There are some great gag cartoon originals for auction at Heritage Auctions from my friend Dick Buchanan. Take a look and consider bidding. These are hard to find by some of the masters of 20th century magazine cartooning (Hank Ketcham, George Booth, Barbara Shermund, Gahan Wilson, Virgil "VIP" Partch). Here are a few screengrabs. 

You can view and bid on his entire consignment in the Wednesday Comic Art & Illustration Select Auction #322547 at the following link: https://comics.HA.com/c/search.zx?saleNo=322547&collection=89&FC=0&type=friend-consignorlive-notice

From the Dick Buchanan Files: Favorite Gag Cartoons 1947 - 1958

Dick Buchanan, who frequently contributes great vintage gag cartoons to this here blog, has another terrific batch. These are his favorites from the golden age of magazine cartooning. As ever, thanks for sharing and take it away, Dick:

 

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20th CENTURY FUN

GAG CARTOONS 1947 - 1958 

It is time once more to dip into the Cartoon Clip File and emerge with another hodgepodge of cartoons haphazardly clipped from the great magazines of the 20th Century—one of the funniest centuries ever. 

Here are just a few examples of vintage American humor by some of the leading cartoonists of the era.  

1.  CHARLES ADDAMS. True June 1949.

2.  MARTHA BLANCHARD. The Saturday Evening Post December 15, 1956.

3.  PETER VATSURES. The Saturday Evening Post July 18, 1953.

4.  CHON DAY.  The Saturday Evening Post January 31, 1948.

5.  JOSEPH KIERNAN. For Laughing Out Loud April-June 1958.

6.  JOHN GALLAGHER. Collier’s December 1, 1951.

7.  BRAD ANDERSON. For Laughing Out Loud January-March, 1958.

8.  HERB GREEN.  1000 Jokes Magazine June-August, 1958.

9.  SIDNEY HARRIS.  Laugh Parade May 1957.

10.  JOHNNY HART.  American Legion Magazine January 1956.

11.  TOM HENDERSON.  American Legion Magazine March 1956.

12.  GEORGE LICHTY.  Lichty’s NCS award winning syndicated panel Grin and Bear It was created in 1932. Lichty drew the panel until 1974. Collier’s October 11, 1947.

13.  IRWIN CAPLAN.  The Saturday Evening Post.  November 22, 1952.

14.  CARL ROSE.  Rose illustrated one of The New Yorker’s most celebrated cartoons—the “I say it’s spinach and I say the hell with it” gag. Collier’s October 11, 1947.

15.  JOHN DEMPSEY.  Another example of Dempsey’s “not for prime time” gags that were perfect for 1000 Jokes. 1000 Jokes Magazine November-January, 1958.

- This has been an edited version of a blog entry that originally appeared on January 5, 2018.