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Bill Freyse Cartoons

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: EF
Date: 29 May 1968

Biographical History

Bill Freyse (1898-1969) was an American cartoonist. His tenure on the established comic strip, Our Boarding House, ran from 1939 to 1969.

Born and raised in Detroit, Freyse began his newspaper career at a young age, working first as an editorial cartoonist for the Detroit Journal, then later as a staff artist for the Detroit Times. In 1939, Freyse signed on with NEA to continue Gene Ahern's immensely popular Our Boarding House comic strip starring Major Hoople. Ahern had left the strip a few years earlier, in 1936, to launch a knock-off version for King Features Syndicate, Room and Board starring Judge Puffle (Wood Cowan, Bela "Bill" Zaboly and others filled-in on Our Boarding House during the interim). Freyse's tenure on the strip was notable for the success with which he was able to maintain Ahern's identifiable artistic style while adding his own exceptional comic talents. Bill Freyse worked on Our Boarding House until his death in 1969. The strip continued with various artists until 1981.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Bill Freyse Cartoons collection contains original daily cartoons and 90 original Sunday cartoons from the comic strip Our Boarding House (1966-1967), and one item from an unidentified cartoon. Daily cartoons: blue pencil, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 11 ½ x 13 ½ in. Sunday cartoons: blue pencil, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 18 x 26 in.

Arrangement of the Collection

Daily and Sunday strips 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

See also the Wood Cowan Papers for additional material related to the Our Boarding House comic strip. Special Collections Research Center has collections of over one hundred additional cartoonists. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Subject Headings

Persons

Freyse, Bill.

Corporate Bodies

Newspaper Enterprise Association.

Associated Titles

Our Boarding House (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)

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Bill Freyse Cartoons,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Newspaper Enterprise Association, Inc., 1967-1969.

Unidentified cartoon, gift of Mary Sasaki, 2018.

Table of Contents

Our Boarding House cartoons

Miscellaneous cartoons

Inventory