Dr. Seuss WWII cartoons

[Spencer Thiel]

 From the Scouting Report <http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/>:

Dr. Seuss Went to War
http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/

Between 1941 and 1943, Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was the chief
editorial cartoonist for the New York newspaper _PM_ (1940-1948),
penning over 400 editorial cartoons that commented first on American
neutrality and then involvement in the Second World War. The entire
collection of these cartoons (original drawings and/or newspaper
clippings) is held by the Mandeville Special Collections Library at
the University of California, San Diego. While the 1999 book _Dr.
Seuss Went to War_ reproduced 200 of these cartoons, the remaining
half have not been published or studied since their original
appearance. This amazing collection has now been placed online and is
browseable by year, month, and day. Subject term browsing will be
available in the future. The cartoons are presented as large
thumbnails which link to a full-sized image presented in an
unfortunately cramped frame. The cartoons comment on a wide variety
of topics, including war preparedness, domestic politics, and
isolationism, with particular criticism for the US Congress and
Americans not prepared to sacrifice for the war effort. Caricatures
of the Axis nations, especially the Japanese, reflect contemporaneous
stereotypes. Drawn in characteristic Seuss style, with many creatures
familiar to fans of his best-known work, these cartoons are both an
excellent look into wartime US domestic politics and public opinion
and clever, visually interesting cartoons in their own right. As an
added bonus, the site also features some even rarer cartoons that
Geisel drew for other publications and for war bond drives. This is
simply an excellent resource for students, researchers, and any fan
of Horton, the Grinch, the Lorax, and Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.
[MD]
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