THOMAS NAST PAPERS

de Grummond Children's Literature Collection
The University of Southern Mississippi


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Creator: Thomas Nast
Title: Thomas Nast Papers
Dates: 1885
Quantity: 0.30 cubic feet (1 box)
Identification: DG0726

Abstract: The Thomas Nast Papers consist of a single ink illustration for a New Year cartoon from 1885. Although best known for his political cartoons, Nast also illustrated several children's books during the 1860s, most notably Clement C. Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas (1864).

Biographical Note

Thomas Nast was born in Landau, Bavaria, on September 27, 1840, to Thomas and Apollonia (Apres) Nast. His father, a musician in the army, moved his family to New York City when Thomas was six years old. Nast preferred drawing to attending the local public school so he left school at age fourteen and, after a bit of artistic training, talked his way into the position of staff artist for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in 1855. He stayed for three years until joining the New York Illustrated News in 1858 for which he covered Garibaldi's Italian campaign.

Nast married Sarah Edwards in 1861 and became staff artist for Harper's Weekly the following year. The pro-union cartoons he produced during the Civil War established his notoriety as a political cartoonist and secured a firm position for him at Harper's Weekly. Until he left the journal in 1884, Nast enjoyed a tremendous popularity with his cartoons against the Tammany Ring of New York and in favor of Republican politicians. His work established his reputation as the first great American political cartoonist and caricaturist. In addition to his cartoons, Nast also illustrated several children's books during the 1860s, most notably Clement C. Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas (1864). In the last decade of his life, Nast started an unsuccessful newspaper and made a series of well-received public lectures. He died of yellow fever on December 7, 1902, while serving as U.S. consul in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Sources:
Something About the Author, ed. Anne Commire (Detroit: Gale Research, 1988), 51:131-141.


Scope and Content Note

The Thomas Nast Papers consist of a single ink illustration for a New Year cartoon from 1885. The cartoon depicts a boy-angel placing a card reading "I wish you better times and better principles" into a basket hanging from an unmarked door. It is not known for what publication Nast made the cartoon or if it was ever published at all.


Series and Subseries

A. Illustration (1885)


Restrictions

Restrictions on Use

Noncirculating; available for research.

Copyright Restrictions

The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.


Related Material

Production material for Boss Tweed and the Man Who Drew Him by Syd Hoff (1978), a children's book featuring Nast's Tammany Hall cartoons, is kept in the Syd Hoff Papers (DG 0465).


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

(Identify the item), Thomas Nast Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries, (Cite the item's box/folder numbers).

Provenance

The illustration was purchased from Justin G. Schiller, Ltd., by the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection of the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries in August 1973.

Processing Information

Processed by Hans Rasmussen, June 2003. Encoded into EAD Version 1.0 by Danielle L. Bishop. This finding aid is the product of a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.


Container Listing

Box/Folder

.

A. Illustration

1/1 Ink illustration for a New Year cartoon, with note from dealer, 1885, (1 item)


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The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection

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Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
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