Table of Contents
Scope and Contents of the Collection
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Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | D'Alessio, Gregory |
| Title: | Gregory D'Alessio Papers |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1940-1966 |
| Quantity: | 15 linear ft. (approximately 3000 items) |
| Abstract: | Original artwork for cartoons, mostly one-panel gag cartoons though there are a few sketches for editorial cartoons; proof sheets and original art for syndicated panel These Women; a few items of correspondence, clippings, and memorabilia. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: | Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Biographical History
Gregory D'Alessio (1904-1993) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and painter. Born in New York City in 1904, D'Alessio worked as a bank clerk, Wall Street runner, and cub reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle. After the stock market crash, he began selling his drawings to popular illustrated magazines of the time, including the New Yorker, Esquire and the Saturday Evening Post. For more than twenty years (1940-1963) he drew the strip These Women for Publishers Syndicate. In 1961 he turned from cartooning to serious painting, and taught drawing, composition and anatomy at the Art Students League of New York.
Also a musician, D'Alessio was secretary of the New York Classic Guitar Society and, according to his biography on the National Cartoonists Society website, is "known throughout the guitar world as an essayist, memoirist, pedagogue, illustrator, editor and critic." In 1987 Walker & Company published his Old Troubadour, a memoir concerning long-time friend and fellow guitarist Carl Sandburg. D'Alessio was married to the noted artist and fellow Art Students League instructor, Hilda Terry (Hilda Terry D'Alessio).
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Gregory D'Alessio Papers consists almost entirely of original art, most in black and white (charcoal, ink, etc) but a few in color. The collection includes cartoons, cover illustrations, miscellaneous art, and a small number of subject files.
Cartoons consists primarily of original art, including cartoons drawn for various national magazines, including Collier's, New Yorker, and the New York Times Magazine, as well as contributions to College Humor and one item done for a specific client (Macy's department store). Most are black and white but there are a few color items, particularly the ones done for Collier's.
The bulk of Cartoons consists of original art and proof sheets for the syndicated strip These Women, which D'Alessio drew for more than twenty years. Themes represented in These Women are typical of popular culture's view of women in the 1940s and 1950s: women trying to catch husbands, women spending their husband's money, henpecked husbands, and women in the workplace (usually secretaries). Some of the cartoons from the mid-1940s reflect women working in the aerospace and other industries to support the war effort. Recurring characters include Doris of the Chorus, who collects wealthy suitors and their gifts; Mrs. Brodbeem, an enthusiastic but sometimes silly society woman; Cluny, a teenage girl; Miss Jones, a pretty secretary constantly distracted by her nails and the handsome men who come to see her boss; and The Bride, recently married and adventuring into cooking and other domestic management tasks. A selling point of the strip was that D'Alessio drew many of the characters in the latest fashions. The collection contains both proof sheets with one week's worth, or six panels, to a sheet (some 5600 panels on approximately 930 sheets), and original art for more than a thousand panels. A complete list of all dates represented on the proof sheets is given here. No attempt was made to catalog the dates represented in the original art as the majority of them have partial dates with no year, or no date at all.
The other large subset of Cartoons consists of unidentified or unattributed cartoons (that is, no title and no indication of the client for whom they were done). Of particular interest are the cityscapes or scenes (Oversize 5); a series of one-word or one-phrase cartoons (e.g., an excited family in their new car with the caption "First in the Neighborhood) (Oversize 7); and a five-cartoon set about a family getting their first telephone (Oversize 8).
Covers contains original art for magazine covers for Collier's and Liberty magazines. These are in color.
Miscellaneous art contains an assortment of items including sketches for a few editorial cartoons, a photograph of a painting by D'Alessio (the original resides in the Syracuse University Art Galleries), a set of portraits of wounded soldiers drawn in 1945, and a typescript of a series of limericks with pencil illustrations by D'Alessio. Also in this series are a miscellaneous assortment of original sketches, doodles, and other unfinished pieces, most in black and white but some in color.
A few Subject files complete the collection. These include photocopies of correspondence and of a clipping (about President Truman's having a D'Alessio cartoon on his desk). There is also assorted memorabilia, such as two programs from the Art Students League showing D'Alessio as an instructor, and a few pieces of ephemera illustrated by D'Alessio. There is no original art in this series.
Arrangement of the Collection
Cartoons are in alphabetical order by client or title; within that, the These Women art is subdivided into original art and proof sheets and arranged chronologically (as much as possible). The remaining series are arranged alphabetically.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.
Use Restrictions
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Related Material
Two books -- Welcome Home, cartoons about returning soldiers, and a collection of These Women -- have been removed from the collection and transferred to Rare Books for cataloging. Please refer to the Classic Catalog to locate these items.
A taped interview with Gregory D'Alessio is available through the Belfer Audio Laboratory & Archive (see: "National Cartoonist Society Interviews, 1959-1962"). Please consult the Classic Catalog for additional information. Special Collections Research Center also has the papers of over one hundred other cartoonists. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.
Subject Headings
Persons
Associated Titles
Subjects
Genres and Forms
Occupations
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Gregory D'Alessio Papers
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Gift of Gregory D'Alessio, 1967.
Finding Aid Information
Created by: MPK
Date: 29 Aug 1978
Revision history: 16 Mar 2007 - converted to EAD (MRC);
25 Feb 2009 - revised (MD);
7 Apr 2009 - revised (MD);
7 Oct 2009 - inventory completed (MRC)
Inventory
| Cartoons | |||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | for American Magazine | ||||||||||
| Oversize 3 | for College Humor | ||||||||||
| Oversize 4 | for Colliers Weekly | ||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | for Colliers Weekly, oversize | ||||||||||
| Oversize 4 | for Macy's | ||||||||||
| Oversize 4 | for the New York Times | ||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | for the New York Times, oversize | ||||||||||
| Oversize 3 | for the New Yorker | ||||||||||
| Oversize 1 | for the New Yorker, extra large | ||||||||||
| These Women | |||||||||||
| Original art | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | 1940 Jul | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | 1942 Jan-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 1 | 1943 Jan-Jul (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | 1943 Aug-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | 1944 Oct | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | 1948 Jan-Dec (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | 1949 Jan-Dec (4 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | 1950 Jan-Mar | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | 1950 Apr-Dec (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | 1951 Jan-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 4 | 1952 Jan-Mar | ||||||||||
| Box 5 | 1952 Apr-Dec (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 5 | 1953 Jan-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 6 | 1954 Jan-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 6 | 1955 Jan-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 6 | 1956 Jan-Mar | ||||||||||
| Box 6 | 1960 Jun-Nov | ||||||||||
| Box 7 | 1961 Jan-Dec (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 7 | 1962 Jan-Dec (3 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 8 | 1963 Jan-May (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 8 | No year, Jan (2 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 9 | No year, Feb-Apr (6 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 10 | No year, May-Jul 13 (5 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 11 | No year, Jul 14-Aug (5 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 12 | No year, Sep-Oct 10 (4 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 13 | No year, Oct 11-Dec 15 (5 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 14 | Undated | ||||||||||
| Oversize 4 | Undated | ||||||||||
| Proof sheets - 6 cartoons (1 week) per sheet; click here for detailed listing of dates present | |||||||||||
| Oversize 11 | 1940-1949 | ||||||||||
| Oversize 12 | 1950-1956 | ||||||||||
| Oversize 13 | 1957-1963 | ||||||||||
| Oversize 13 | Undated | ||||||||||
| Oversize 5 | Unidentified - includes some cityscapes and other non-cartoon scenes | ||||||||||
| Oversize 6 | Unidentified | ||||||||||
| Oversize 7 | Unidentified - several one-word (or phrase) captions, e.g. cartoon of crying baby with caption "Tax deduction" | ||||||||||
| Oversize 8 | Unidentified - includes several stamped "December Holiday" or "February Holiday" and a five-cartoon set about getting a telephone | ||||||||||
| Oversize 9 | Unidentified - includes two of fashionable young women using the telephone | ||||||||||
| Oversize 2 | Unidentified | ||||||||||
| Oversize 2 | Unidentified - miscellaneous color cartoons | ||||||||||
| Oversize 2 | Unidentified printed or photocopied cartoons | ||||||||||
| Covers | |||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | for Collier's Weekly | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | for Liberty | ||||||||||
| Miscellaneous | |||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Editorial cartoon sketches - World War II (several), eugenics, Negro baseball, labor unions, United Nations, debutantes | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Limericks, with accompanying sketches - typescript, 7 pp | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Photograph of painting of H.R.H. Julian the Innocent - black and white photograph of a painting by D'Alessio; original is in the collection of SU Art Galleries | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Portraits 1945 - envelope is labeled "Bedside portraits of wounded servicemen, Deshon Hospital, Pennsylvania for USO, 1945" | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Miscellaneous original art (black and white) - sketches, doodles, unfinished pieces, etc. | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Miscellaneous original art (color) - sketches, doodles, unfinished pieces, etc. | ||||||||||
| Oversize 10 | Miscellaneous printed cartoons | ||||||||||
| Subject files | |||||||||||
| Box 14 | Clippings 1955, undated | ||||||||||
| Box 14 | Correspondence 1948, 1949, 1957, 1959, 1962 | ||||||||||
| Box 14 | Memorabilia 1942, 1949, 1966, undated | ||||||||||