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George Wunder Cartoons

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: [Summit record]
Date: 2001-01-01

Biographical History

George Wunder (1912-1987) grew up in Kingston, New York and studied art via correspondence courses. He began his career in 1936 with the art department of Associated Press in New York City. After a tour of duty in the army (1942-1946), he submitted his work for consideration as a replacement for Milton Caniff on Terry and the Pirates. He got the job and remained with the strip until it ended in 1973, thus working on it longer than its creator. Initially he copied Caniff's style but gradually evolved a distinctive look of his own. George Wunder died in 1987.

George Wunder was a member of the National Cartoonists Society and received its Silver T-Square Award in 1970.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The George Wunder Cartoons collection consists of more than 3,100 original daily cartoons and more than 240 original Sunday cartoons from Terry and the Pirates (1947-1970). Daily cartoons are approximately 7 1/2 x 23 inches, while Sunday cartoons are approximately 19 1/2 x 28 1/2 in. All show traces of graphite; text is on pasteovers (some of which are detaching) and art is brush, pen and ink on illustration board. There is also a single weekly proof sheet (covers May 5-10, 1958) which is 11 1/4 x 17 1/2 in.

The collection also contains 2 color proofs and 4 original cartoons from the strip Our Guest Star (1955). This was a promotional strip featuring characters from Terry and the Pirates with cameo appearances from movie stars and other celebrities. Color proofs are approximately 5 1/2 x 14 in. and the original art is approximately 7 x 23 in. Original art is brush, pen and ink on illustration board, with traces of graphite.

Arrangement of the Collection

Daily and Sunday Terry and the Pirates cartoons are arranged separately in chronological order. The Our Guest Star cartoons are foldered separately and can be found at the head of the Sunday series.

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

Terry and the Pirates material by Milton Caniff can be located in the Milton Caniff Collection and the Vernon Greene Papers.

Special Collections Research Center has collections of more than 150 cartoonists. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing. In addition, the Rare Books holdings include a number of published reprint collections of Terry and the Pirates; please refer to Libraries Search and search on "Terry and the Pirates" as title.

Subject Headings

Persons

Wunder, George, 1912-1987.

Corporate Bodies

Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate.

Associated Titles

Our guest star (comic strip)
Terry and the pirates (comic strip)

Subjects

Adventure stories -- Comic books, strips, etc.
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)
Proofs (printed matter)

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

George Wunder Cartoons
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of George Wunder, 1968-1969.

Terry and the Pirates, 7/20/1958, gift of Susan W. Price, 2015.

Table of Contents

Our Guest Star comic strip

Terry and the Pirates comic strip

Inventory