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Charles Flanders Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: SBM
Date: Dec 1969

Biographical History

Cartoonist Charles Flanders (1907-1973) began his career as a commercial artist in Buffalo, NY. He moved to New York City in 1928 where he worked for an advertising agency and then as a magazine illustrator before being hired by King Features Syndicate in 1930. For King Features, Flanders worked on several preexisting strips including Tim Tyler's Luck and Bringing Up Father. In the mid-1930s he created comic adaptations of Ivanhoe and Treasure Island for Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's New Fun Comics as well as an original strip, Sandra of the Secret Service.

The last work that he did in his own style was a 1935 Sunday strip, Robin Hood. Following that, he and other King Features artists were encouraged to adopt the style of Alex Raymond, whose Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, and Secret Agent X-9 were very popular. Flanders' emulation was good enough that he eventually was given responsibility for the X-9 strip (1935), followed by King of the Royal Mounted (1936) and The Lone Ranger (1939). Flanders drew the Lone Ranger until 1971, though in his later years he had increasing difficulty and Tom Gill, the artist for the comic book version, often filled in.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Charles Flanders Papers contains the following types of materials:

Cartoons contains 180 original daily cartoons and 26 original Sunday cartoons from the newspaper comic strip The Lone Ranger, from 1963 and 1966. Daily cartoon: traces of graphite, zipatone, brush, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 6 ¾ x 20 in. Sunday cartoon: traces of graphite, brush, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 18 ¾ x 26 ½ in.

Correspondence contains approximately 20 pieces of incoming correspondence (1935-1967, undated) primarily from readers, but also includes letters from cartoonist Jack Kent and comic book artist Joe Sinnott.

Drawings consists of 1 framed original portrait of an Indian chief in full headdress (1966). Untitled: graphite, pen and ink on paper, 12 ¾ x 14 ¾ in.

Published materials consists of books, fanzines, and tear sheets.

Scripts contains a script written by Lone Ranger creator Fran Striker (7 pages), and newspaper clip announcing Striker's death (1962).

Eight original Sketches complete the collection. These are related to The Lone Ranger, including character studies, sketches of trains and sketches of Native American houses, masks, customs and villages (undated). Pencil, crayon, pen and ink on paper, most approx. 8 x 11 in.

Arrangement of the Collection

Daily and Sunday cartoons are arranged separately in chronological order. Other materials are foldered by type. Correspondence is also 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

The Big Book of Fun Comics (National Allied Publications, 1935) has been removed for separate cataloging. This item is noted in the inventory as "Transferred to Rare Books" and can be located via Libraries Search .

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

Flanders, Charles, 1907-1973.
Striker, Fran, 1903-1962.

Corporate Bodies

King Features Syndicate.

Associated Titles

The Lone ranger (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.
Drawings (visual works)
Scripts (documents)
Sketches.

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Charles Flanders Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Charles Flanders, 1966-1967.

Lone Ranger cartoons from May 1963, gift of John and Susan Harvith, 2017.

Table of Contents

The Lone Ranger cartoons

Correspondence

Drawings

Published material

Scripts

Sketches

Inventory