Henry McCarn Political Cartoons, circa 1972-1980

Summary

Creator:
McCarn, Henry (1904-1981)
Abstract:

Collection contains 146 political pen and ink cartoons by white political cartoonist Henry McCarn, ranging in date from approximately 1972 to 1980. The cartoons depict state and national national leaders, including Jim Hunt, Jesse Helms, Bob Scott, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Topics include Watergate, the 1974 energy crisis, the 1976 and 1980 presidential elections, social welfare programs, and highway safety. McCarn's works tended to be relatively neutral, an approach that small town newspapers took to steer clear of controversy and offending readers.

Extent:
146 items (1.5 linear feet)
Language:
Materials in English
Library Catalog Link:
View UNC library catalog record for this item

Background

Biographical / historical:

Henry McCarn (1904-1981), a white political cartoonist, was a native of Belmont, N.C., and a self-taught artist. He worked in advertising for several department stores in Charlotte, N.C. and occasionally contributed cartoons to the News and Observer in the 1950s. In 1963, he left advertising and established a small syndicate that distributed his political cartoons to a number of small-town weekly and semi-weekly newspapers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and other states, including Texas, Minnesota, and Alaska. At the peak of his career, he supplied two cartoons a week to approximately 40 newspapers. He drew political cartoons until shortly before his death in 1981.

Scope and content:

Collection contains 146 political pen and ink cartoons by Henry McCarn, ranging in date from approximately 1972 to 1980. The cartoons depict state and national national leaders, including Jim Hunt, Jesse Helms, Bob Scott, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. Topics include Watergate, the 1974 energy crisis, the 1976 and 1980 presidential elections, social welfare programs, and highway safety. McCarn's works tended to be relatively neutral, an approach that small town newspapers took to steer clear of controversy and offending readers.

Acquisition information:

Received from C. R. Duncan in February 2020 (Acc. 20200303.1).

Processing information:

Processed by: Dawne Howard Lucas, June 2021

Encoded by: Dawne Howard Lucas, June 2021

In 2017, we began using "white" as an ethnic and racial identity for individual and families, in addition to "Black," "African American," "Jewish," and other familiar identity terms that we have used for decades in collection descriptions. We use this identity term so that whiteness is no longer the presumed default of the people represented in our collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Sensitive materials statement:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Access and use

Restrictions to access:

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to use:

No usage restrictions.

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the Henry McCarn Political Cartoons #70048, North Carolina Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Location of this collection:
Louis Round Wilson Library
200 South Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Contact:
(919) 962-3765
wilsonlibrary@unc.edu