Collection inventory

Special Collections home page

Bob Montana Cartoons

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: DB
Date: 26 Apr 1978

Biographical History

Bob Montana (1920-1975) was born in Stockton, California to a vaudeville family. A self-described "art school dropout" from the Boston Museum, the Phoenix Institute and the Art Students League of New York, he is best known as the creator of the popular comic character Archie. His other cartoons include Danny in Wonderland, Inspector Bentley, Lu-Nar, and Spark Stevens. He also created cover art during World War II for Pep, Zip, Top-Notch, and Jackpot, frequently depicting superheroes such as The Shield, Steel Sterling, and the Black Hood battling Japanese and Nazi soldiers.

Archie debuted in Pep and Jackpot in 1941 and got his first solo comic book in 1942 but was put on hold for four years when Montana joined the Army Signal Corps where he worked on training films with fellow cartoonists Sam Cobean and Charles Addams. After leaving the army, Montana started the Archie newspaper strip, which ran in both daily and Sunday versions. Since Montana did not own the character, other artists also drew the red-headed teenager, but Montana remained with the strip until his death.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Bob Montana Cartoons collection consists of 1,537 original daily cartoons and 183 original Sunday cartoons from the newspaper comic strip version of Archie. Daily cartoon: traces of graphite, zipatone, brush, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 7 ¼ x 23 in. Sunday cartoon: traces of graphite, blue pencil, paste-overs, brush, pen and ink on illustration board, approx. 15 ¼ x 22 in.

Arrangement of the Collection

Daily and Sunday cartoons are arranged 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.

Subject Headings

Persons

Montana, Bob.

Associated Titles

Archie (comic strip)

Subjects

American wit and humor, Pictorial.
Andrews, Archie (Fictitious character)
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:

Bob Montana Cartoons,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Bob Montana, 1970.

Table of Contents

Archie comic strip

Inventory