Political Cartoons of the Past

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Untitled — Edmund Duffy: A Jersey native who studied and worked in London, Paris, and New York as a young cartoonist, Duffy spent the bulk of his career in Baltimore, from 1924-1948, working for _The Baltimore Sun. Much of his work focused on Baltimore and Maryland politics and current events, covering ordinary items of interest like Preakness in addition to more controversial events and issues. This piece caricaturizes the Baltimore City Police Department’s size and their use of force, juxtaposing a comically large policeman with a small criminal being squished by the policeman’s hand.

Recent M&S alum Jesse Chen (’16), through her work as a special collections assistant at the JHU Sheridan Libraries, has curated an exhibit on 11 vintage political cartoons she discovered through her research, which were the work of two Baltimore Sun cartoonists (Edmund Duffy and Tom Flannery) of the last century. The cartoons are from the 1920s through the 1960s and Chen noticed that they parallel many political concerns of present day politics.

Her display is on view in the Special Collections Reading Room in Brody Learning Commons through Aug. 26.

You can read more about the exhibit on the Hub.