Eldon Pletcher Papers, 1951-1966, bulk 1959-1965

Summary

Creator:
Pletcher, Eldon.
Abstract:
Over 1,500 pieces of original artwork for editorial cartoons drawn for the Sioux City Journal, proofs, correspondence and clippings and reprints. Includes one magazine article in French.
Extent:
18.6 linear ft.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Eldon Pletcher Papers

Background

Scope and content:

The Eldon Pletcher Papers are divided into four series.

Cartoons (1956-1966) contains approximately 1,590 pieces of original artwork for editorial cartoons published in the Sioux City Journal.

There are 1,080 dated cartoons that are arranged chronologically as well as 510 undated cartoons that are arranged alphabetically by caption. Topics of interest are the Cold War and the spread of communism to the western hemisphere, efforts by John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower to curb economic recessions, the United States’ relationship with Nikita Khrushchev (including his visit to the United States which included a trip to Iowa), the 1960 presidential election, the U-2 incident and pushes for civil rights legislation as far back as 1960. Within Pletcher’s depiction of the 1960 election is the issue of farming, likely reflecting Pletcher’s Midwestern readers. Many cartoons deal with Berlin and the division of East and West Germany.Later cartoons address the United States' increasing involvement in the Vietnam War.

Only a handful of cartoons are Iowa specific. Those that are typically depict the Iowa Legislature and occasionally the Sioux City government.

Original artwork was produced with pen, brush, ink and crayon on paper of varying weights and textures. Traces of blue pencil are visible. This collection reflects changes in Pletcher's style. Early cartoons feature high contrast crayon shading, while cartoons from approximately 1963 onward have zipatone dot screening in addition to shading. Captions appear at the top in ink. Publication dates appear in ink as days of the week and specific dates are also stamped on the front. Artwork measures approximately 15"x 20".

Correspondence (1951-1966) contains primarily incoming correspondence sent to Pletcher or forwarded on to Pletcher by the Sioux City Journal. There is a handful of copies of outgoing carbon responses from Pletcher or at times his editor. Frequently Pletcher’s name is mistaken for Fletcher on the correspondence.

Letters include: those written by political figures including Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Hubert Humphrey and Harry Truman (as well as the director of Truman's presidental library); a thank you note from Jimmy Hoffa; inquiries from magazine and book publishers about reprinting Pletcher’s work and letters from readers including an 83 year old Omaha woman who writes Pletcher several times in the early 1950s. Subjects include opinions on Pletcher’s work, requests for original cartoon artwork and notifications from organizations and awards committees, particularly the Freedoms Foundation. There are also pieces of correspondence from other cartoonists: Dan Dowling, D.R. Fitzpatrick, Scott Long, Jack Bender, Bill Boynansky and Newton Pratt.

Proofs (1958-1966) contains engraver’s proofs of Pletcher's editorial cartoons printed in black and white on glossy paper. Dates are stamped on the top next to captions written in ballpoint pen.

Clippings and Reprints contains several miscellaneous items (some of which are undated), namely clippings of Pletcher's cartoons as they a appeared in magazines such as Time. There is also a magazine article in French with cartoons about international politics, promotional material from the National Newspaper Syndicate and a newspaper clipping about a Freedoms Foundation award and a photograph of an award.

Biographical / historical:

Eldon Pletcher (1922- ) is an American cartoonist best known for his editorial cartoons.

Eldon Pletcher was born in Goshen, Indiana on September 10, 1922 and while in high school, submitted his cartoons to contests. Pletcher studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for a year under cartoonist Vaughn Shoemaker before serving in World War II with the Combat Engineers Battalion. While in the military, Pletcher drew gag cartoons that he submitted to Yank. He also studied at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and the John Herron Art School in Indianapolis. After getting married, Pletcher moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he worked construction jobs and at an automobile manufacturing plant.

In 1949, Pletcher became the editorial cartoonist for the Sioux City Journal, replacing Roy Justus. Pletcher left Sioux City in 1966 and in December of that year, began drawing cartoons for the New Orleans Times Picayune following Keith Temple's retirement. During the 1970s, Pletcher created First the Good News, a panel cartoon distributed by Rothco Cartoons.

Pletcher was a member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. The Freedoms Foundation honored Pletcher with over a dozen awards, and in 1955, Pletcher won the Christopher Award. Pletcher’s cartoons have appeared in the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year series and magazines including Time. His work is in the permanent collections of the Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential libraries.

Pletcher retired from the Times Picayune in August 1984.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Eldon Pletcher , 1964-1966.
Arrangement:

Original artwork is arranged chronologically where dates appear and alphabetically by caption where undated. Correspondence and proofs are arranged chronologically.

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Art -- Cartoonists
American wit and humor, Pictorial.
Caricatures and cartoons -- United States.
Civil rights movements -- United States -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Arms race -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Cold War -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Cartoonists -- United States.
Cartoonists -- Iowa -- Sioux City.
Editorial cartoons -- Iowa -- Sioux City.
Editorial cartoons -- United States.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Agriculture -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Industrial relations -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Communism -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Elections -- Caricatures and cartoons.
World politics -- 1945-1989 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Cartoonists.
Cartoons (humorous images)
Correspondence.
Engraver's proofs.
Editorial cartoons.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Names:
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ) -- Caricatures and cartoons.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Democratic Party (U.S.) -- Caricatures and cartoons.
United Nations -- Caricatures and cartoons.
United States. Congress -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Pletcher, Eldon -- Archives.
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Gaulle, Charles de, 1890-1970 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-1998 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Castro, Fidel, 1926- -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Hoffa, James R. (James Riddle), 1913- -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Places:
United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Berlin (Germany) -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Indexes:

Index to cartoons

The following is a list of predominant people, places and subjects appearing in the editorial cartoons in this collection. The list is not exhaustive. Some subjects may require you to browse with alternative terms.

B= Box, For example: B1= Box 1.

Acheson, Dean B15
Adams, Sherman B14B16-B18
Adenauer, Konrad B7-B8
AFL-CIO B4B18
Africa B2-B3B9B13
Alabama B3B7-B8B11
Alaska B9
Algeria B1-B3B5
Alliance for Progress B6-B7
aluminum industry B12
American Medical Association B7B10
Americans for Democratic Action B10
anti-trust laws B5
Argentina B5B10
Arkansas (Little Rock) B14-B16B18
armed forces B5B10-B12B18
arts B12
Asia B2B7-B13B17
Austria B2
automation B8B10
Baker, Bobby B8-B11
baker's union B18
Barnett, Ross B6
Beck, Dave B14B18
Benson, Ezra Taft B1B3B15-B16B18
Berlin B3-B8B13-B18
Berlin Wall B4-B8B10-B11
Brezhnev, Leonid Ilyich B10-B12
Britain B3-B4B7B10B12-B13B15B18
Brown Sr., Edmund Gerald B6B13B16
Brown v. Board of Education B4B9
budget B1-B3B5-B8B12-B13B15-B17
Bulganin, Nikolai B14
Bulgaria B5
Burch, Dean B10
Burma B3B9
business B5-B6B13B16
Butler, Paul B14B17
Byrd, Harry B5
California B4-B6B14
Cambodia B5B8-B9
Canada B7-B8B10
capitalism B4B6B8B15
Castro, Fidel B1-B9B12B14
census B1
Central Intelligence Agency B3
charity B6B16
Bowles, Chester B3B7
Chile B10
Chile, Harold B7
China SEE ALL BOXES
Churchill, Winston B7B16B18
civil rights B1-B5B7-B11B13B15-B17
coal industry B7
Cold War SEE ALL BOXES
colonialism B4-B5B9-B10B12
common market B4-B8
communications B9
communism B1-B11B13B15-B18
Congo B2-B7
Congress SEE ALL BOXES
conservatism B5B7B10
copper industry B12
corruption B8B13B15-B16B18
cost of living B13-B18
crime B5B8B10-B12
Cuba B1-B4B6-B10B12-B15B18
Cuba Missile Crisis B6
Cyprus B9B13
Czechoslovakia B5
de Gaulle, Charles B1B3B5-B13B15B18
Democratic Party SEE ALL BOXES
demonstrations B2B8B11-B12
Diem, Ngo Dinh B8
Dirksen, Everett B11-B12
disarmament B1-B4B6-B7B10-B11B13-B15B18
Dominican Republic B11
drug use B3
drunk driving B6
Dulles, John Foster B1B13-B14B18
West New Guinea B5
economy B4-B7B9B13-B17
education B3-B4B16B18
Egypt B13
Eisenhower, Dwight B1-B3B6B8B10B12-B18
elections B1-B10B12-B18
En-lai, Chou B1
Erhard, Ludwig B8B12
U-2 incident B1-B2B6
Estes, Billie Sol B5
ethics B3
Europe B7B10
farming B1-B3B5B7B12B14-B18
Faubus, Orval B13-B15B17-B18
Finland B4
Florida B9
Floyd River Valley B1
Ford, Gerald R. B11
foreign aid B1B3B5B7-B9B11B14-B17
foreign policy B1B9-B10B13B15-B18
Formosa B13B15-B16
France B7B9-B13B15B18
free press B6
Freeman, Orville B3B5B7
Kozlov, Frol R. B15
gambling B4
Germany B1-B4B8B10B13-B15B18
Glenn, John B5B9
gold B2-B3B8
Goldberg, Arthur B6B11
Goldwater, Barry B4-B12
government spending B2-B3B5B7-B10B13-B18
graduates B6B11
Great Society B10-B12
Halleck, Charles B11
Hammarskjold, Dag B2-B3
Harlem B10
health care B1B5
Herter, Christian B1B16-B17
Ho Chi Minh B12
Hoffa, Jimmy B1B3B9B13B15-B18
holidays B2-B4B6B8B10-B14B16
Hoover Commission B14
housing B9B11
Humphrey, Hubert B1B9-B16
Hungary B5B13B15-B17
immigration B11
imperialism B2B5B8B11
India B1B4B6B9B12B17-B18
Indonesia B8B11
industry (general) B3B6B13
inflation B1B3B9B12B14-B18
integration B2-B4B6-B7B9B13-B15B17-B18
Internal Revenue Service B7
Iowa B18
Iowa Legislature B3B9B13
Iran B13
Iraq B17-B18
Italy B7
Japan B2
Jim Crow B9B11
jobs B9
Johnson, Lyndon Baines B1B3-B4B8-B13B15-B16B18
journalism B7B13B18
Kaganovich B5
Kai-shek, Chiang B9
Kefauver, Estes B16
Kennedy, Caroline B6
Kennedy, John F. B1-B8B10B13B15-B16
Kennedy, Robert F. B5-B6B12
Kennedy, Ted B5-B6
Khanh, Nguyen B10
Khrushchev, Nikita B1-B10B13-B18
Korean War B5B12B18
Kosygin, Alexey B11-B12
Ku Klux Klan B11
labor B1B8B10B13-B18
Laos B3-B7B9B15B17
Latin America B1B3B5B7B9B12
law and order B11
League of Nations B4
Lebanon B13
Lenin, Vladimir B3B7
Lincoln, Abraham B9B11
Lindsay, John B12
Liu, Shaoqi B13
Lodge Jr., Henry Cabot B2B8-B10
Long, Russell B9
Louisiana B2-B3
MacArthur, Douglas B18
MacMillan, Harold B7-B8B10B15B17
Malaya B5
Malaysia B8-B9B11
Malenkov, Georgy B5
Malinovsky, Rodion B2
Martin, Joe B15
Marx, Karl B2-B3
McNamara, Robert B7-B12
Meany, George B16B18
Medicare B5B7B10-B11
Meyner, Robert B. B13B15-B16
Middle East B2B7B13-B18
Mikoyan, Anastas B12B17-B18
minimum wage B3B12
Mississippi B6B10
Missouri River B16
Molotov, Vyacheslav B4-B5
Monroe Doctrine B2-B3
Morse, Wayne B1B16
Morton, Thurston B. B16
Nasser, Gamal Abdel B7B16B18
national debt B1B5B7-B8B10B13-B15B17-B18
nationalism B13B15B18
NATO B1B6-B12B14B18
Nehru, Jawaharlal B1B4B6B16-B17
neutrality B6
New Deal B2
New Frontier B2-B3B5-B8
New York City B15
Nhu, Madame Ngo Dinh B8
Nixon, Richard M. B1-B10B12-B15B17-B18
North Korea B1
nuclear weapons B1-B16B18
Organization of American States B5
organized crime B2B4B8B13B15-B18
Pakistan B12
Panama B9B17
Paraguay B10
Pasternak, Boris B15
payola B1
peace B1-B5B7-B8B11-B12B14-B17
Pentagon B5B18
Peron, Juan Domingo B5B10
Poland B5B17
politics B4-B6B8B15
pollution B16
Pope Paul VI B12
population B9B13
Portugal B4
poverty B9
Profumo Affair B7B10
propaganda B1-B3B5-B7B13B16-B17
public works B5B16
Quemoy (Kinmen) and Matsu B2B6B16B18
quiz shows B13B15B17
racial violence B3B8-B11
railroad industry B8B17
Rayburn, Sam B4B18
religion B1-B3B9
Republican Party B1-B3B5-B18
Reuther, Walter B13B18
Rhodesia B12
right to work law B12
Rockefeller, Nelson B1-B4B6-B10B13-B18
Romania B5
Romney, George W. B6-B9
Roosevelt, Eleanor B2
Rusk, Dean B3B6B9B12
Russia B1-B4B6B10B13-B14B17-B18
Salinger, Pierre B6B10
schools B3-B5B8B10B15B17-B18
Scranton, William B7-B10
SEATO B2
Seaton, Frederick B16
segregation B1B6-B8B14-B15B17
Shao-Chi, Liu B13
Shastri, Lal Bahadur B11
Sioux City, Iowa B1-B2B8B16
smoking B9B11
social security B11B15
socialism B3
South America B1
South Korea B1
Soviet Union SEE ALL BOXES
space exploration B1-B5B7B10-B14B16-B18
sports B2B4B8B12
Stalin, Joseph B5B8
Stassen, Harold B7B9B16B18
steel industry B1B5-B6B12-B14B16B18
Stevenson, Adlai E. B1-B3B6B13B15-B18
stock market B6
strikes B1B3B7-B8B12-B13B16-B18
Suez Canal B13
Sukarno B5B8-B9B11
summer vacation B2B15
Supreme Court B9
Symington, Stuart B1B13B15-B16
taxes B1-B3B5-B9B11-B18
Teamsters B14-B18
terrorism B4B9
Thailand B3B5B9
Thant, U. B11
Tibet B13B15B17
Tito, Josip Broz B7
trade B4-B5B8B14-B15
traffic fatalities B2-B4B6-B9B12B15
transportation B3B12B15
Truman, Harry S. B2B13-B18
U.S. Postal Service B1B5B9B14B16
Ulbricht, Walter B8
United Auto Workers B16-B17
United Nations B1-B12B15-B18
University of Alabama B7
University of Mississippi B6
Vietnam B3-B5B18
Vietnam War B6-B12
Virginia B15B17
Voroshilov, Kliment B5
voting B1B9-B11B16B18
voting rights B6B9B11
Wallace, George B7-B9B12
Wallace, Lurleen B12
war B12
War on Poverty B9-B11
Warren Commission B10
Washington D.C. (home rule) B12
Washington, George B5
weather B5B7B11-B12B15-B16
Williams, G. Mennen B3B15
Wilson, Charlie B16
Wilson, Harold B12
World War II B1B3B11B18
Zedong, Mao B1B3B7-B13B17-B18

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Terms of access:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Preferred citation:

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Eldon Pletcher Papers

Location of this collection:
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Libraries
Bird Library, Room 600
Syracuse, NY 13244, United States
Link to repository site
Contact:
315.443.2697
scrc@syr.edu