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Stan Drake Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: --
Date: Jan 1967

Biographical History

Stanley Drake (1921-1997), commonly known as Stan Drake, was an American cartoonist. He was co-creator of the newspaper comic strip The Heart of Juliet Jones.

Drake was born in Brooklyn and studied at the Art Students League of New York. His career began with work on comic books and pulp magazines such as Popular Detective and Popular Sports. He served in World War II and afterwards worked in advertising for a time. In 1953 he ventured into newspaper comics, collaborating with writer Elliot Caplin to create the long-running dramatic strip The Heart of Juliet Jones for King Features Syndicate. In 1989, Frank Bolle succeeded Drake on The Heart of Juliet Jones.

In 1984 Dean Young, who had taken over the comic strip Blondie when his father Chic Young died, invited Drake to join his team. Drake worked on Blondie until his death in 1997.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Stan Drake Papers consists primarily of original cartoons. There are 1,740 original daily cartoons, 297 original Sunday cartoons and 1 proof sheet (6 daily strips) from the newspaper story strip The Heart of Juliet Jones (1957-1963, 1965-1967). Daily cartoon: traces of graphite, blue pencil, opaque white, zipatone, pen and ink on illustration board (some on Craftint board), dimension vary approx. 6 x 20 in. to 5 ¾ x 22 ¾ in. Sunday cartoon: traces of graphite, opaque white, pasteovers, brush, pen and ink on illustration board, dimensions vary approx. 14 x 20 in. to 16 ¾ x 22 ½ in. Proof sheet: 8 ½ x 16 ½ on newsprint.

In addition to original cartoons, this collection also contains incoming correspondence from readers (1955-1971), a letter from French film director Alain Resnais (1965), photographs of Drake at various social functions (including photos of Mrs. Drake and family) (1954-1966), and newspaper and magazine clippings by and about Drake (1962-1966). Many of these items are accompanied by hand written explanatory notes from Drake.

A note on the story lines for The Heart of Juliet Jones: starting October 18, 1965, the daily and Sunday versions ran on a single continuity; previously, each ran separate stories.

Arrangement of the Collection

Daily and Sunday cartoons are arranged separately in chronological order. Other materials are foldered by type (with the Alain Resnais letter foldered separately).

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.

Subject Headings

Persons

Caplin, Elliot.
Drake, Stan, 1921-
Resnais, Alain, 1922-2014.

Associated Titles

Heart of Juliet Jones (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)
Clippings (information artifacts)
Photographs.
Proofs (printed matter)

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Stan Drake Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Stan Drake, 1966-1971.

Table of Contents

The Heart of Juliet Jones

Alain Resnais letter [in French]

Clippings

Correspondence

Photographs

Inventory