Bill Andrews Editorial Cartoons and Papers
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Abstract
Bill Andrews, born William Grant Andrews on June 2, 1937 in Tucson, Arizona, was a graphic artist, photographer and journalist. After graduating from high school in 1955, he worked as a copy editor, writer, photographer and staff cartoonist at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, and then as a a one-man art department at KNME-TV in Albuquerque. In April 1963, shortly after graduating from the University of New Mexico, Andrews moved to New York City, where, he began to draw cartoons for the La Nueva Voz. Shortly thereafter, he was hired as a staff photographer for The Daily World, and later became a staff cartoonist. He created artwork for the paper on a daily basis, and also authored comic strips, articles and music reviews. After leaving the paper in October 1977, Andrews returned to Arizona, where he worked in Arizona State University's Graphics Department from January 1978 until 1997. The collection contains artwork created by Bill Andrews throughout his life, including drawings, prints and paintings, as well as materials gathered or created in preparation of this artwork such as idea files, clippings and notes. The large majority of the material in the collection dates from the period that Andrews was employed by the Daily World in New York City. Cartoons from this period deal with a variety of political and social issues, including the Presidential administration of Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, housing conditions and United States-Soviet Union relations. Material from before and after Andrews' tenure at the paper is also present in the collection, including his employment at the Arizona Republic, KNME-TV, the University of New Mexico and Arizona State University.
Biographical Note
Bill Andrews (1937-2013), born William Grant Andrews on June 2, 1937 in Tucson, Arizona, was a graphic artist, photographer and journalist.
Raised in a working class family, Andrews began drawing at an early age, copying popular comic strip characters and inventing his own while still in middle school. After graduating from high school in 1955, he worked as a copy editor, writer, photographer and staff cartoonist at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix. During this time, he became politically radicalized through an acquaintance (and Communist Party member) named Joe Owen with whom he traded recordings of early jazz and blues musicians. In 1959, he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and enrolled in the University of New Mexico, where he majored in Art Education and minored in Government. He graduated with honors in 1963 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. While attending classes, he worked as a one-man art department at KNME-TV in Albuquerque.
In April 1963, shortly after graduating from the University of New Mexico, Andrews moved to New York City to become a graphic artist. He found short-term employment as a commercial artist, as well as a cartoonist for La Nueva Voz. After being introduced to staff at The Worker through his contacts at New World Review in 1964, he began to draw cartoons for the paper. When The Worker changed its name to The Daily World and began daily publication in 1968, he was hired as a staff photographer. He worked for the paper and its associated Spanish-language papers El Mundo Diario and Voz del Pueblo until October 1977. Although initially hired as a photographer, Andrews soon became a staff cartoonist as well, creating artwork for the paper on a daily basis, as well as authoring comic strips including "Is This the Way it Was?," "Nix!" and "The Optic Nerve." In addition, he wrote articles and music reviews for the paper, sometimes under the pseudonyms of Stark Jeffreys and Neil Harris. During this time, he received the Newspaper Guild of New York's Page One Award honoring outstanding achievement in journalism for his cartoons in 1972, 1973 and 1974. He was also awarded a Silurian Society Medallion in 1974.
After leaving the paper in October 1977, Andrews returned to Arizona, where he worked in Arizona State University's Graphics Department from January 1978 until 1997.
William Grant Andrews passed away at home in Lake Montezuma, Arizona on May 20, 2013 at age 76.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in six series: I: Preparatory Material; II: Finished Artwork; III: Pre Press Prints; IV: Subject Files; V: Ephemera, and VI: Artwork by Others. Series II: Finished Artwork and Series III: Pre Press Prints both contain subseries for Andrews' comic strips.
All series are arranged first alphabetically and then chronologically. Due to space constraints, physical arrangement of materials does not match intellectual arrangement.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains artwork created by Bill Andrews throughout his life, including drawings, prints and paintings, as well as materials gathered or created in preparation of this artwork such as idea files, clippings and notes. Halftoned and sized Pre Press Prints of his artwork, many of which have spot corrections to highlights, are also present in the collection. Also included are Subject Files containing Andrews' correspondence, published artwork, clippings of other artists' work, leaflets, and files related to organizations of which he was a member. A small number of ephemeral and three-dimensional objects are also part of the collection, as is a small amount of artwork given to Andrews by other artists.
The large majority of the material in the collection dates from the period that Andrews was employed by the Daily World in New York City. Cartoons from this period deal with a variety of political and social issues, including the Presidential administration of Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War, housing conditions and United States-Soviet Union relations. Generally speaking, these cartoons reflecting the editorial perspective of the Daily World as well as the Communist Party of the United States of America.
Material from before and after Andrews' tenure at the Daily World is also present in the collection. This includes promotional artwork from the Arizona Republic, KNME-TV and the University of New Mexico. A significant amount of material, including promotional material, departmental brochures, informational flyers and event posters, produced while Andrews was employed by Arizona State University is also part of the collection.
Subjects
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Bill Andrews were transferred to New York University in 2009 by Bill Andrews. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. Please contact Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Bill Andrews Editorial Cartoons and Papers; GRAPHICS 038; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Bill Andrews, 2009. The accession number associated with this collection is 2011.120. In February 2024, an accretion was transferred by the William B. Grant Andrews Estate; the accession number associated with this donation is 2024.021.
Appraisal
Copies of New Masses and The Liberator were appraised out of the 2024 accretion to this collection.
Separated Materials
Artwork created by other artists for publication in the Daily Worker, The Worker and the Daily World including Fred Ellis, Ollie Harrington and Erik (James Erickson) was separated to the Daily Worker/Daily World Cartoons Collection (GRAPHICS 24.001). Negatives were separated to The Daily Worker and the Daily World Negatives Collection PHOTOS 223.001, and photographs were separated to The Daily Worker and the Daily World Photographs Collection (PHOTOS 223).
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials were placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Acidic dust covers were removed from artwork and replaced with buffered interleaving tissue. A scrapbook was unbound and the contents of each page foldered individually.
The collection exhibited very little original order. Original artwork seemed to be arranged chronologically, but some materials had also been sorted by size in order to facilitate transportation of the collection from Arizona to New York. As a result, the archivist imposed an order on the collection which reflects Andrews' creative process and the editorial process of the publications and institutions for which he worked. Andrews describes these processes in detail in a talk titled "Editorial Art," which can be found in Box 35, Folder 608 of this collection.
In 2016, oversized artwork was removed from Boxes 32-37 and rehoused in flat-files. Boxes 38 through 48 were then re-numbered to reflect these changes.
In 2024, an accretion of correspondence, ephemera, and a scrapbook was rehoused in archival boxes and folders and intellectually incorporated into the collection's existing series.
