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Gee Tee Maxwell political cartoons and caricatures
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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
George T. (Gee Tee) Maxwell, a native of New Castle, Delaware, was born in 1889. He worked as a reporter, copy-writer, and cartoonist for various newspapers during his career. Maxwell was first hired as a cartoonist for the Wilmington
News Journal in 1920. At the time, the News Journal was titled the Wilmington Morning News, which first added local cartoons as a daily feature in 1920. In 1934, Maxwell was hired as the first full-time cartoonist for the News Journal and worked in that position until 1940, when he moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Maxwell died in 1965.The Fourth Estate: A Weekly Newspaper for Publishers, Advertiseres, Advertising Agents and Allied Interests, May 15, 1920, page 19. Accessed via Google Books. Object Record, Object ID 2002.056.0002, Delaware Historical Society https://dehistory.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/09AD9B3F-BBA4-4881-B7E5-770230229821.
Lead Graffiti is an experimental letterpress lab owned and operated by Ray Nichols and Jill Cypher. Located in Newark, Delaware, Nichols and Cypher founded the studio in February 2008.
"Lead Graffiti - About - Our Lab," Lead Graffiti. https://www.leadgraffiti.com/lab (accessed Fabruary 1, 2021).
The collection contains five prints, made circa 2010s, of political cartoons and political caricatures originally created by Gee Tee Maxwell, and believed to date from the 1920s. The prints were made by Lead Graffiti, a Newark, Delaware, letterpress lab. Also included is a photocopy of an additional cartoon by Maxwell, dated to 1941.
Box 1, Item 0007: Shelved in SPEC GRA 0098 manuscript boxes
Gift of Ray Nichols, 2016
Processed and encoded by John D. M. Caldwell, December 2020.
Organization
- Publisher
- University of Delaware Library Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Finding Aid Date
- 2020 December 4
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec
Collection Inventory
An image of General Assembly Speaker Samuel N. Culver (D), banging a gavel and saying "The House will come to order! And let us remember, gentlemen, we are here to serve the people of Delaware to the best of our ability." Culver served as Speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives during the 102nd session, 1923-1924.
Cartoon depicts an elephant getting spooked by paper blowing in the wind. The paper reads "November ballot." The elephant has a strap reading "GOP" around his middle, with a basket on top labeled "Cabinet." When the elephant is spooked, he stands on his hind legs, throwing a rider named Daugherty from the Cabinet basket.
The cartoon is believed to refer to former U.S. Attorney General Harry Micajah Daugherty, who served as Attorney General under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. In 1924, a corruption investigation forced Daugherty to resign months before the 1924 presidential election.
A photocopy of a cartoon from the Wilmington Journal-Every Evening from December 8, 1941. The cartoon shows a personification of Japan stabbing the United States' hand on the Japanese Peace Negotiations at Washington conference table. The dagger has a note attached which says "That treacherous delcaration of war without warning." The hilt of the daggar displays a swastika.
Caricature of Thomas M. Monaghan, a Democratic member of the State Senate and President Pro Tempore. Monaghan is seen holding a shoe.
Caricature of William H. Reed holding a gun and leaning against a tree, a grinning rabbit is seen peeking around the tree. Reed was a well-known merchant in Dover and a sportsman in Kent County, Delaware. He served as a member of the State Board of Game and Fish Commissioners.
Caricature of James M. Satterfield, holding a legal brief, "The State of Delaware vs John Doe, 1920." Satterfield was a Republican attorney in Dover, Delaware, who served as Dover City Attorney and Deputy Attorney General for Kent County.