Vol. 38, No. 18

2-27-2007
By: Julia Harris

Cartoons part of history lesson project

Editorial cartoons have made political, social and religious statements in American journalism for more than a century.

A new partnership between Ohio State’s Cartoon Research Library, the History Teaching Institute and the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists taps into the colorful legacy and turns comics into curriculum materials for Ohio’s K-12 teachers.

“The Opper Project: Using Editorial Cartoons to Teach American History” is the brainchild of Lucy Shelton Caswell, curator of the Cartoon Research Library. Named in honor of Frederick Opper, a successful cartoonist from the mid- to late-1900s who was born in Madison, Ohio, the project is a series of lesson plans and other educational resources linked to cartoons Caswell and her colleagues selected from the library’s holdings.

Opper had two careers, one as a cartoonist for the great humor magazines of the late 19th century and another as an editorial cartoonist for William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers, according to Caswell.

“He’s especially well known for his very funny, vicious cartoons about Teddy Roosevelt and William McKinley,” she said.

Opper’s contribution to the genre of editorial cartoons includes the creation of the character, “The Common People.” Opper’s influence — and his Ohio connections — made him an easy choice when it came to naming the project, Caswell says.

Another easy choice was deciding on the History Teaching Institute as a partner in creating and packaging the cartoon-based lesson plans that teachers can use in their classrooms.

Described by its director, Stuart Hobbs, as the outreach arm of the university’s history department, the institution provides professional development to K-12 social studies and history teachers in the central Ohio area. Hobbs invited a cadre of teachers to take part in a one-week summer workshop last year where they selected cartoons and crafted lesson plans around them.

This first phase of the project resulted in 12 comprehensive lesson plans on topics such as American Imperialism, immigration, the League of Nations and the Civil Rights movement. Along with those lesson plans are 72 editorial cartoons, complete with detailed contextual information.

Most of the lessons in the first batch are geared for high school classrooms, Hobbs says, but Phase II includes plans to broaden the scope.

A second workshop is planned for this summer where participants will choose the next round of cartoons. Finding suitable material shouldn’t be a problem, says Caswell, considering that the library has almost a quarter of a million original cartoons.

Both Hobbs and Caswell anticipate the expansion of the project to a more national audience — although, as Caswell points out, “There’s nothing to prevent a teacher in Oklahoma from accessing and using this content in their classroom.”

Hobbs is working on finding funding for a national institute of teachers that would come to Ohio State and learn about the historical influence of editorial cartoons on American politics. These teachers would then choose from the collection of cartoons and create lesson plans to further populate the Web site.

The Opper Project Web site, at hti.osu.edu/opper/index.cfm, has been online for approximately a month, so feedback on its resources has been limited. Even so, Caswell is optimistic that teachers quickly will come to see the value of it.

“We know that teachers use cartoons a lot, and we feel like making the rich resources we have here at the library available via the Internet is a perfect way for us to meet our land-grant service requirement,” she says.

Frederick Burr Opper, 1857-1937

Ohioan Frederick Burr Opper was the first great American-born cartoonist. Born in Madison on Jan. 2, 1857, his only formal art training was one term at Cooper Union in New York. His first published cartoon appeared in 1875.

Opper was on the staff of Puck magazine for 19 years, drawing everything from spot illustrations to editorial cartoons and chromolithograph covers. In 1898, he went to work for William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal, for which Opper created several newspaper comic strips with enormous popular appeal.

Opper also did editorial cartoons for Hearst. “Willie and his Papa” satirized President William McKinley and “Papa Trusts” ridiculously depicted Cleveland industrialist and political boss Mark Hanna as “Nursie.” He created Mr. Common People, a small bewildered man who was copied so frequently that he became the widely used symbol for ordinary citizens.

Failing eyesight forced Opper to retire from cartooning in 1934. He died at his home in New Rochelle, N.Y., on Aug. 27, 1937.

Examples of his comic strips may be found at cartoons.osu.edu/newspaper_artists/opper/opper.html

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