LibGuides: Editorial / Political Cartoons: Home

Explore Editorial / Political Cartoon Collections

Please note this list is in alphabetical order. Scroll the list and click on the links that you find most interesting, rather than just choosing the first (few) on the page.

If you need assistance finding something specific or searching the website databases, ask a librarian!

The 1896 Presidential Election: The Cartoons
This Vassar College website provides hundreds of political cartoons, in chronological order, published in newspapers around the country.
Art of the Poison Pens: A Century of American Political Cartoons
Examples ranging in date from 1871 to 2012, Art of the Poison Pens explores more than a century of American political history through the lens of humor. Here we feature the work of Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartoons winners placed alongside several relatively unknown cartoonists who plied their trade in local newspapers.
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This digital exhibit is an extension of 2012 exhibit at the Tampa Museum of Art, which was held in conjunction with the city hosting the 2012 Republican National Convention.
Baldy Editorial Cartoons, 1947 - 1982
Selected Clifford H Baldowski ("Baldy") editorial cartoons from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, covering the Civil Rights movement in Georgia and the rest of the South from 1953 to 1982.
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum: Editorial Cartoon
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum houses the world's largest collection of materials related to cartoons and comics. This collection of editorial cartoons covers a variety of topics from the 1800's through present day.
British Cartoon Archive
The BCA holds artwork for over 200,000 British editorial, socio-political, and pocket cartoons. The collection dates from 19th century to the present.
Cagle Cartoons: Contemporary Political Cartoons
Cagle.com host archives for hundreds of the top cartoonists from all over the globe. With over 160,000 cartoons available for free, they represent the single largest resource for contemporary editorial cartoons.
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You can search politicalcartoons.com (owned by Cagle), which will narrow your search results significantly - but you may miss something of interest that is available on the main website.
The Cartoon Bank
A searchable collection of published and unpublished works from The New Yorker.
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The Cartoon Bank is part of the Conde Nast Collection, which allows users to purchase licensed cartoons that were published in the The New Yorker (along with some unpublished works).
Cartooning Capitalism: Art Young and the Cartoons of American Radicalism
Through pen and ink drawings, usually accompanied by sharp captioning, Young brought his open-faced Socialist commentary to the pages of Life, Puck, Judge, Metropolitan Magazine, The Nation and many of the major daily newspapers. Young’s cartoons specialized in challenging the ideological platitudes of his time, an era of monopolistic excess and imperialism.
CartoonStock
A searchable collection of political cartoons published in notable publications such as The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, Esquire, and more.
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This website is one of the world's largest online databases of cartoons for licensing, products, and original art.
Clifford K Berryman Political Cartoon Collection
Berryman was Washington's best known and most-admired graphic commentator on politics in the first half of the 20th century. The cartoons comment on Washington politics, congressional issues, presidential elections, and both World Wars.
Dr. Seuss Went to War: Political Cartoons
For two years, 1941-1943, Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss) was the chief editorial cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM (1940-1948), and for that journal he drew over 400 editorial cartoons.
Editorial Cartoons of J.N. "Ding" Darling (U of Iowa Collection)
Extensive collection of "Ding" Darling, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for syndicated editorial cartoons. Darling drew almost daily between 1900 and 1949, as is evidenced in this collection of over 11,000 items.
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Please also see The Editorial Cartoons of J.N. “Ding” Darling: The Cowles Collection, Drake University 1912 – 1962 at lib.drake.edu/heritage/ding-darling (link available on main page of this guide)
The Editorial Cartoons of J.N. “Ding” Darling: The Cowles Collection, Drake University 1912 – 1962.
The images presented in this collection are digital copies made from the collection of artist proofs held in Cowles Library's Special Collections at Drake University.
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Please also see the Editorial Cartoons of J.N. "Ding" Darling collection at U of Iowa (link found in this guide)
Fred Wright Cartoons
Fred Write created thousands of cartoons from 1939-184 reflecting the politics and labor issues of the day. This digital collection contains 177 of Wright's original works.
Library of Congress: Cartoon Prints, American
This collection contains more than 800 prints made in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries encompasses several forms of political art. All of the prints meet two criteria: they were originally designed to express sentiments relating to civic life and government in the United States and they were individually issued prints.
Library of Congress: Herblock! Exhibition
The Library of Congress celebrates Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Herb Block (1909–2001) with a look at his remarkable seventy-two-year career (1929–2001). Herblock! includes eighty-two original cartoon drawings, primarily selected from the Library’s extensive Herbert L. Block Collection.
Library of Congress: Puck (magazine)
Puck magazine was published from 1877 - 1918. Puck’s main target was political corruption—regardless of whether it originated in the Republican or the Democratic Party.
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The Hathi Trust Digital Library also has offers a searchable database of Puck via scanned microfilm (larger and sometimes easier to read then the LOC collection). You can find the link in this guide.
Library of Congress: Search Photos, Prints, Drawings
Searchable database of a variety of political, editorial, and commentary cartoons from the United States and abroad from the 1600's through current date.
Library of Congress: The Ungentlemanly Art: Political Illustrations
A digital exhibit featuring some of the most well known and celebrated editorial cartoonists, showing a variety of viewpoints and artistic approaches.
The New York Public Library Digital Collections: Political Cartoons
Political cartoons on a variety of topics, domestic and international, from the early 1800's through mid-1900's.
Political Cartoons.com
A narrower part of cagle.com, this site features an abbreviated selection of current political cartoons.
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Be sure to visit the main Cagle website at cagle.com (link in this guide).
Politically Correct
A collection of conservative political cartoons by Jim Huber. The collection contains works from 1994 - 2012 and 2020.
Politico: Political Cartoons and Humor
Publishes, "The Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics," as well as their staff cartoonists daily renderings. Grouped chronologically by day, week, and month.
Presidential Elections: 1860 - 1912
Political cartoons from Harper's Weekly, Vanity Fair, Puck, and several other periodicals of the time.
Puck (Hathi Trust Digital Library)
Puck’s main target was political corruption—regardless of whether it originated in the Republican or the Democratic Party.
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Also in this guide you will find the full collection of Puck via Library of Congress: Puck (magazine) link. The LOC version offers a "quicker" view via thumbnail visuals.
Punch (Hathi Trust Digital Library)
Punch, or The London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humor and satire established in 1841 to 1992 and from 1996 to 2002.
Thomas Nast Cartoons.com
Thomas Nast (1840-1902), was an illustrator and cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly from 1857 to 1887. This collection focuses on Chinese Americans and Irish Catholics.
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Seen as a whole, Nast’s 46 Chinese drawings align with Harper’s Weekly editorial position of inclusion and tolerance for all immigrants.
U.S. News & World Report: Cartoons
Current political cartoons lampooning politics, congress, gun rights and US leaders. Organized chronologically and by political topic.
The Washington Post Editorial Cartoons
Current daily postings, as well as a chronological archive beginning with the current date.

Citing Editorial / Political Cartoons

MLA Format:

Artist's Last Name, First Name. "Title if Any." Publication Name, date of publication, page number or URL if online.

Example #1 (political cartoon retrieved in print):

Block, Herbert. "The American Scene." New York Times, 1 Feb. 1942, E3.

Example #2 (political cartoon retrieved from a website):

Block, Herbert. "What's This About Your Letting the Common People Come in Here and Read Books?" Washington Post, 6 June 1954. Library of Congress. www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblock/classic-cartoons-by-a-master.html#obj2. Accessed 6 Aug. 2018.

APA Format:

APA does not list "cartoon" as a specific example in its manual, but here are some ways to approach it:

If found in an online periodical (ex., newspaper) or periodical database:

Cite as you would a periodical article, but include a description [Cartoon] after the title of the cartoon (if there is one). If the cartoon does not have a title then include [Cartoon] after the date.

Ex:

Block, H. (1942, February 1) The American scene. [Cartoon] New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

If retrieved through an online archive, such Herblock's History exhibition through the Library of Congress, indicate the name of the archive.

Ex:

Block, H. (1942, February 1) The American scene. [Cartoon] New York Times. Retrieved from the Library of Congress' Herblock's

History Exhibition: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/swann/herblock/

Citation information created by Hartford Community College Library.

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Editorial / Political Cartoons: Home

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Explore Editorial / Political Cartoon Collections

Citing Editorial / Political Cartoons

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Video: Reading and Analyzing Political Cartoons