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Baldy Editorial cartoons database available online



'BALDY' CARTOONS AVAILABLE ONLINE

A collection of editorial cartoons from the most tumultuous decades
in American history are now available to everyone from scholars to
schoolchildren on the web via the Digital Library of Georgia, an
initiative of GALILEO, Georgia's online virtual library.

 Clifford "Baldy" Baldowski, cartoonist with the Atlanta Constitution
 for more than 30 years, gave more than 7,000 cartoons to the Richard
 B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies at the
 University of Georgia before his death in 1999. The electronic
 availability of the work, which deals with topics including the Civil
 Rights Movement, the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, is the
 culmination of a collaborative effort between the Russell Library and
 the Digital Library of Georgia.

"In snapshot form, Baldy's cartoons provide a kaleidoscope view of
three eventful decades of post-World War II American history. Baldy
produced cartoons in a heyday of newsmaking events, which were
promoted by social unrest, nuclear anxiety, antiwar sentiment, and
epochal changes in his native South," said Sheryl Vogt, director of
the Russell Library. "His thought-provoking approach to news led Time
magazine to call him 'one of the South's leading appeals to reason.'"

Known by the pen name "Baldy," Baldowski retired from the Atlanta
newspaper in 1982. His cartoons regularly appeared in other
publications including the major newsweeklies and leading newspapers
across the United States. In his tenure with the Constitution, he
drew more than 15,000 cartoons, appearing seven days weekly for more
than 30 years. Baldy was a Pulitzer Prize nominee for a cartoon on
U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign in 1964, and he
was awarded the Sigma Delta Chi National Award for Distinguished
Service in Journalism for a cartoon reflecting the threat of Southern
school closings in the Sixties. He also was awarded four different
Freedom Foundation's George Washington Medals for cartoons heralding
America's constitutional freedoms and patriotism.

Presidents, including Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy, requested
originals of his cartoons. An officer in World War II, Baldowski
returned to his hometown of Augusta after the war and began work at
the Augusta Chronicle. Following a stint with the Miami Herald, he
joined the Constitution.

The Clifford H. "Baldy" Baldowski Collection includes his original
editorial cartoons from both the Augusta Chronicle (1946-1950) and
the Atlanta Constitution (1950-1982). Subject content relates to
international, national, state and local (Augusta and Atlanta-Fulton
County) politics, and to society in general, and features such topics
as individual politicians, world leaders, the Civil Rights Movement,
the Vietnam Conflict, and the Cold War.

"Students will find these cartoons not only useful in examining
historical events, but entertaining as well," according to Vogt.
"Noted for 'getting to the heart of the matter,' Baldy excelled in
taking the complex issues of current events to a few visual brush
strokes captioned with wit and savvy - leaving the delight of
interpretation and judgment to the individual reader."

Not only do students and scholars have access to Baldy's view of the
post-war world through the online collection, but they also can
discover some of the unique aspects of Baldy's cartooning style.

"For example, during his earliest days at the Augusta Chronicle,
Baldy was working part-time and left his cartoons unsigned as he
feared reprisals from the ruling Cracker Party whom he criticized in
his works. Only after becoming a permanent employee at the paper did
he begin to sign his work with the nom-de-plume he used throughout
his long career," said Stephen Miller, DLG director.

Through search features built into the database, users may easily
locate some of his earliest work by searching for unsigned cartoons.
Another search will reveal two stock characters Baldy used throughout
much of his career: the "rooty toot," which represented
ultra-conservative views, and John Q. Public, a mild, bespeckled man.

The cartoons, along with supplementary supporting materials such as a
commentary on Baldy's cartooning, a biographical essay, as well as
suggested reading links, are available through the Digital Library of
Georgia, a GALILEO initiative that provides online access to
Georgia's history and culture found in digitized books, manuscripts,
photographs, newspapers, audio, video and other materials. The
Russell Library was established in 1974 to document the late
senator's public service career. The library's holdings now include
the papers of more than 100 Georgia politicians, elected officials,
federal appointees and political parties, as well as related
materials. It has the distinction of being the single repository in
Georgia directed solely toward scholarly research in modern political
history. It also is the official repository of the Democratic and
Republican parties for the state of Georgia.

To access the Baldy collection, go to
http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/baldy.html.


WRITER: Jean Cleveland, 706/542-8079, jclevela@uga.edu
CONTACT: Sheryl Vogt, 706/542-0619, sbvogt@uga.edu


Sheila McAlister
Digital Metadata Coordinator
Digital Library of Georgia
University of Georgia Libraries
Athens, GA 30602
mcalists@libris.libs.uga.edu
706-542-5418
fax: 706-542-4144

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