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C. D. Batchelor Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: CAK
Date: 26 June 1979

Biographical History

Clarence Daniel Batchelor (1888-1972), known as C.D. Batchelor, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist.

A transplanted Midwesterner, C.D. Batchelor worked for the New York Mail and the New York Journal as a staff artist and occasional political cartoonist before landing his first full-time job as a political cartoonist for the liberal New York Post. In 1931, Batchelor joined the staff of the New York Daily News as its chief editorial cartoonist. In The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons (New York: Gale Research Company, 1980), Richard E. Marshall noted that at first the News supported the New Deal, "but the paper and its cartoonist eventually grew disenchanted with liberalism and bureaucracy....Batchelor's strong cartoons were drawn with irony, a moralizing viewpoint and direction; with labels and captions written on scrolls, they have the appearance of documents. In effect, with his crisp style and strong ideas, they are proclamations in cartoon form."

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1937, Batchelor, having retired from the News in the early 1970s, wound up his career at the National Review, a journal of the political right.

Between 1963 and 1979, Batchelor and his wife, Allegra, donated over six thousand original cartoons to Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Clarence D. Batchelor Papers comprise one series: Editorial Cartoons. This series is divided by rough topical arrangement into 34 categories, including New York City, Foreign Aid, World War II, the United Nations, and Miscellaneous. Miscellaneous cartoons concern general topics such as lifestyle, health, safety and education.

There are approximately 6000 cartoons drawn in crayon and charcoal. They are stored in packages of about 150 each, varying in size. All cartoons are captioned but most are undated.

Batchelor's cartoons often center on his concerns about post-war repercussions and communist aggression. He portrays these issue with intense graphic images. For example, Batchelor personifies war with a skull-like face superimposed on a woman's body, and depicts communist infiltration in government as a cobra curled around the White House.

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

Special Collections Research Center has collections of over 150 cartoonists. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Subject Headings

Persons

Batchelor, Clarence Daniel, 1888-1977.

Subjects

American wit and humor -- Pictorial.
Caricatures and cartoons -- United States.
Cartoonists -- United States.
Editorial cartoons -- United States.

Places

United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
United States -- Social life and customs -- 1945-1970 -- Caricatures and cartoons.

Genres and Forms

Cartoons (humorous images)
Editorial cartoons.

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

C.D. Batchelor Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of C.D. Batchelor and Mrs. Batchelor, 1968, 1978, 1979.

Artwork by John Noble and a watercolor by Batchelor, gift of anonymous donor, 2010.

Table of Contents

Cartoons

Miscellaneous artwork

Inventory