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Stephen K. Yasinow Collection of Thomas Nast Cartoons

Call Number

PR 288

Date

1863-1882 (bulk 1873-1875), inclusive

Creator

Extent

0.25 Linear feet

Language of Materials

The documents in the collection are in English.

Abstract

The Stephen K. Yasinow Collection of Thomas Nast Cartoons contains 71 political cartoons originally featured in Harper's Weekly magazine between 1863 and 1882.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) was a renowned nineteenth century political cartoonist. His work was highly influential in American politics at the time and is still regarded as a valued record of American history. His widely circulated cartoons are credited with helping to elect President Grant and to re-elect President Lincoln. He popularized the famous donkey and elephant symbols of the Democratic and Republican American political parties, along with the images of Santa Claus, Tammany Tiger, and Uncle Sam.

Nast moved from Germany to New York in 1846 as a young boy. His professional career began at 15 years of age, when despite having little formal training in drawing, he became an illustrator forFrank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. He later traveled to Italy to report on the Garibaldi campaign for theIllustrated London News. Nast began his career atHarper's Weekly during the summer of 1862, following the onset of the Civil War. While working atHarper's Weekly, he gained a reputation as an outspoken supporter of the Union and the abolition of slavery. Following the Civil War, his work focused largely on exposing corrupt politicians, particularly William M. Tweed, who was arrested in 1872. He leftHarper's Weekly in 1886 and began serving as consul general in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1902, where he died of yellow fever.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically according to date.

Scope and Contents

The Stephen K. Yasinow Collection of Thomas Nast Cartoons contains 71 tear-sheets of political cartoons originally featured in Harper's Weekly magazine between 1863 and 1882. In this period, Nast contributed well over 1,000 cartoons to the magazine. The majority of the drawings contained in this collection are from the mid and late 1870's, the height of Nast's renown. The cartoons in this collection touch on a variety of subject matter, but are always suggestive of his personal political affiliations and beliefs.

Subjects to note include: Criticism of William M. Tweed (politician and head of Tammany Hall), Civil War politics and support of the Union Army, post-Civil War politics in America, the use of the donkey and elephant as symbols of the American political parties, and support for Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant. The collection is organized chronologically according to date.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Conditions Governing Use

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Stephen K. Yasinow Collection of Thomas Nast Cartoons, PR 288, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Drawings, New-York Historical Society.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.

Provenance

This collection was donated to the New-York Historical Society in 2011 by Stephen K. Yasinow, in memory of his wife, Constance C. Yasinow, artist.

Related Materials at the New-York Historical Society

The Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections holds the Harry T. Peters Collection of Pictorial Newspaper Illustrations, which includes some Nast cartoons. Bound originals ofHarper's Weekly,Frank Leslie illustrated Weekly, and other illustrated newspapers are held in the library's general collections.

Collection processed by

Processed by Catherine Newton.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:46:59 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024