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John Hudson Cartoons

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MD
Date: 20 Nov 2008

Biographical History

John Hudson (1902-1989) was an American editorial cartoonist.

Born in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1902, John I. Hudson grew up with artistic parents and his father was a civil engineer who was interested in politics. Hudson knew he wanted to pursue cartooning while in high school and attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.

One of Hudson’s first jobs was with the Columbus Citizen and he went on to work for several other Ohio newspapers including the Cleveland News and the Toledo Blade. But in 1960, Hudson moved to Phoenix, Arizona and became the editorial cartoonist for the Phoenix Gazette. Hudson remained there until his retirement in 1969 and was replaced by Bert Whitman. While at the Phoenix Gazette his cartoons were syndicated nationally.

His work was recognized with several awards including a 1942 Distinguished Service Award from the U.S. Treasury Department and six awards from the Cleveland Newspaper Guild (1949, 1951, 1953, 1955-1957). In 1960 , he won the "Best Editorial Cartoon Award” from the Arizona Press Club of which he was a member and he was also presented with three George Washington awards from the Freedoms Foundation. Hudson held membership in the National Cartoonists Society and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

John Hudson died in Escondido, California on April 7, 1989.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The John Hudson Cartoons are divided into two series. Cartoons consists of over 1,000 original editorial cartoons. One cartoon is from Hudson's tenure at the Cleveland News while the rest are from the Phoenix Gazette (1960-1969). The Cleveland News cartoon depicts the Supreme Court decision of 1957 which broke up Dupont's shareholder powers in General Motors. Also included are Hudson's first (August 16, 1960) and final (June 26, 1969) cartoons for the Phoenix Gazette.

While at the Phoenix Gazette, Hudson's cartoons illustrated a multitude of issues of global, national and local importance. Several cartoons address Arizona's struggles with water and in drawing Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, particularly during his 1964 presidential campaign, Hudson commented on the shift of political power from the East (common depicted as corrupt New York politicians) to the increasingly important Sunbelt region. Also of interest are Hudson's cartoons portraying strong opposition to college students involved in the anti-war movement and draft resisters. Finally, a recurring theme was Hudson's Valentine's Day cartoon, which reminded readers of the upcoming April 15 tax deadline with Uncle Sam as their Valentine.

Each cartoon has a production sticker on the back. Specific dates are provided for many cartoons, while others are marked in pencil with years only. However 158 cartoons lack any date information. The cartoons were drawn on illustration board with ink and crayon. Traces of pencil and blue pencil are visible.

The Clippings series contains a single photocopy of a newspaper article about Hudson's retirement which appeared in the Phoenix Gazette on June 26, 1969.

Arrangement of the Collection

The cartoons are arranged in chronological order with completely undated cartoons appearing at the end of the collection.

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

Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-1998 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Hudson, John.
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994 -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979 -- Caricatures and cartoons.

Corporate Bodies

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- ) -- Caricatures and cartoons.
United States. Congress -- Caricatures and cartoons.

Subjects

American wit and humor, Pictorial.
Caricatures and cartoons -- Arizona.
Caricatures and cartoons -- United States.
Cartoonists -- Arizona.
Cartoonists -- United States.
Cold War -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Editorial cartoons -- Arizona.
Editorial cartoons -- United States.
Elections -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Inflation -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Strikes and lockouts -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Student protesters -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Taxation -- Caricatures and cartoons.
World politics -- 1945-1989 -- Caricatures and cartoons.

Places

Cuba -- Foreign relations -- United States -- Caricatures and cartoons.
Soviet Union -- Caricatures and cartoons.
United States -- Politics and government, 1945-1989 -- 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:

John Hudson Cartoons,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of John Hudson, 1967-1969.

Table of Contents

Cartoons

Clippings

Index to cartoons

Inventory

Index to cartoons

The following is a list of predominant people, places and subjects appearing in the editorial cartoons in this collection. The list is not exhaustive. Some subjects may require you to browse with alternative terms.

B= Box, F= Folder. For example: B1F1= Box 1 Folder 1.