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Re: Insulting political cartoon



To use the ubiquitous counsel of youth, "Chill out, man!"  It's a cartoon!
I laughed...guess that makes me a poor archivist.  And I think it is the
duty of a good cartoonist to insult the integrity of one or more presidents.
I suspect that the artist really wasn't trying to imply that archivists
destroy public documents, just that the former president wants them to.  Get
it?  A joke!

Michael

F. Michael Angelo
University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian
Thomas Jefferson University
Scott Memorial Library
1020 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
U.S.A.
<michael.angelo@mail.tju.edu>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Schultz" <CSCHULTZ@LIB-GW.TAMU.EDU>
To: <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 2:24 PM
Subject: Insulting political cartoon


Yesterday our local paper published a cartoon that was apparently initially
drawn for or was distributed by the Daytona Beach News-Journal.  It shows
what is probably supposed to be President George W. Bush delivering some of
his papers to the George Bush Presidential Library.  The person representing
what the cartoonist calls the Bush Sr. Presidential Library asks  "Why do
you want to store your gubernatorial papers here?"  The delivering person
responds "All the shredders over at ENRON are busy."  I have sent the letter
below to our local paper and am forwarding it to the List in hopes that any
of you who see that cartoon in your paper will sent that paper a letter of
protest.  As you can see if you read my letter, I find the whole thing a
great insult to all archivists everywhere and hope and trust you will have
the same feeling should your paper print the cartoon.



March 13, 2002

The Eagle
P O Box 3000
Bryan, TX  77804-3000

Dear Editors:

        Whatever possessed you to publish that highly insulting and
tasteless cartoon by Beattie on March 12?  It ranks right up there with the
awful racist cartoon published recently by the student editors of the
Battalion.  I would expect better judgment from people who claim to be
professional journalists.

        In one brief moment of questionable judgment you have managed to
seriously insult the integrity of two Presidents of the Untied States and
the professional staff of the George Bush Presidential Library.  You have
also insulted every archivist in every presidential library when you
insinuate that they shred presidential documents.  You have also insulted
every one of the several thousand archivists in the United States when you
imply that any one of them illegally or unethically destroys documents given
over to their care.

        Every reader of the eagle deserves a public apology from you for
your tasteless and insulting action.  Both Presidents Bush and the staff of
the Bush Presidential Library should all receive formal apologies from you.

        Your poor judgment is also an insult to all those who worked
assiduously to convince President George Bush to place his presidential
library on the A&M campus.  Your choice to publish that cartoon may well
make it considerably more difficult for those who are currently working with
President George W. Bush to locate his library on the A&M campus adjacent to
his father's library.  Two presidential libraries at a single academic
institution would be a great honor to Texas A&M and would provide a great
boost to the local economy from tourism.

        While I am at it, that picture of President George Bush on the front
page on March 12 is certainly not the quality of photography Dave McDermand
customarily produces.  No photo at all would have been preferable to the one
that you chose to use.  I know Mr. McDermand always takes numerous shots,
one of which must have been a more accurate (or at least a less distorted)
picture of Mr. Bush.



Charles R. Schultz


Dr. Charles R. Schultz, CA, SAA Fellow
Clements Professor and Clements Archivist
Cushing Library
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-5000
c-schultz@tamu.edu
979-862-1555
FAX 979-845-1441

State-of-the-art automation will never beat the wastebasket
when it comes to speeding up efficiency in the office.
Ann Landers Gem of the Day, July 27, 1994

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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>