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Dik Browne Cartoons

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 19 Mar 2007

Biographical History

Richard Arthur Allan Browne (1917-1989), known as Dik Browne, was an American cartoonist. He was the creator of the newspaper comic strip Hagar the Horrible, and co-creator with Mort Walker of the comic strip Hi and Lois.

Born in New York City in 1917, Browne studied at Cooper Union Art School. His first job was as a copy boy with the New York Journal-American, but he was soon transferred to the art department in recognition of his doodles. After a brief stint with Newsweek creating maps and charts, Browne joined the army where he did similar work for an engineering unit and created the comic strip Ginny Jeep about a WAC.

After the war, Browne worked for Johnson & Cushing in advertising, where he created such well-known icons as the Chiquita banana, the Birdseye bird, and an updated version of the Campbell Soup kids. At the same time he began drawing The Tracy Twins for Boy's Life. His work caught the attention of King Features Syndicate, who invited him to collaborate with Mort Walker on a new comic strip entitled Hi and Lois in 1954.

In 1973 Browne created the lovable Viking Hagar the Horrible, which sold to over 600 papers in its first two years and eventually reaching more than 1800 papers in 58 countries. In his later years his two sons, Robert and Chris, contributed to the strip and continued it after his death in 1989.

The National Cartoonists Society recognized Browne several times by over his career, awarding him Best Humor Strip six times (1959, 1960, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1986) and Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year, also known as the Reuben Award, twice (1962, 1973). Several collections of Browne's work have been published and he has illustrated inspirational books by Bishop Fulton Sheen and children's books by Mort Walker.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Dik Browne Cartoons collection consits of cartoons, correspondence and sketches.

Cartoons contains 340 original daily cartoons and 52 original Sunday cartoons from the newspaper comic strip Hi and Lois (1964-1966). Daily cartoon: traces of graphite, zipatone, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 6 x 18 in. Sunday cartoon: traces of graphite, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 13 ¾ x 19 ¾ in.

Correspondence consists of incoming correspondence from readers (1965-1967).

Sketches contains approximately 300 original preliminary sketches for Hi and Lois daily and Sunday cartoons (c. 1964-1967). Sketches: pencil on paper, some colored, 8 ½ x 11 in.

Arrangement of the Collection

Materials are grouped by type. Daily and Sunday cartoons are housed separately in chronological order.

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 one hundred cartoonists. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Of particular interest may be the Mort Walker Papers, which contain clippings of Walker and Browne's strip, Hi and Lois.

Subject Headings

Persons

Browne, Dik.
Walker, Mort.

Corporate Bodies

King Features Syndicate.

Associated Titles

Hi and Lois (comic strip)

Subjects

American wit and humor, Pictorial.
Caricatures and cartoons -- United States.
Cartoonists -- United States.
Comic books, strips, etc. -- United States

Genres and Forms

Cartoons (humorous images)
Correspondence.
Sketches.

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Dik Browne Cartoons,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Dik Browne, 1968.

Table of Contents

Hi and Lois cartoons

Correspondence

Sketches

Inventory