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Ready for Research: Anne Mergen’s Editorial Cartoons

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The following is a guest post by Martha H. Kennedy, Curator of Popular & Applied Graphic Art, Prints & Photographs Division. It’s another in our blog series “Ready for Research,” which highlights collections moving out of the backlog.

Never underestimate the power of a woman. Women in the Mother's March on Polio chasing "The Dread Disease."Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1956 January 29. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643177/
Never underestimate the power of a woman. Women in the Mother’s March on Polio chasing “The Dread Disease.” Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1956 January 29. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643177/

We’re celebrating the recent cataloging of more than 600 editorial cartoon drawings by Anne Briardy Mergen (1906-1994). The cartoons span Mergen’s career with the Miami Daily News, ca. 1938-1956, and address pressing topics of those years, including World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, segregation in the United States, atomic power and the arms race. The cartoons are of inherent interest for the perspectives they provide on the period; they also offer insight on the work of a woman cartoonist breaking into a male-dominated profession.

When Mergen published her first political cartoon in April, 1933, in the Miami Daily News, she took the initial, fateful step toward becoming an editorial cartoonist. Using her art school training, experience in fashion illustration, and keen interest in current events, she trained herself and by 1936 worked full time. She held this challenging, prestigious position for more than twenty years during a time when few, if any other women are known to have held comparable jobs. Like her peers, she addressed the urgent topics of her times—internationally, nationally, and locally.

During World War II, for example, she joined her colleagues in sharply condemning Adolf Hitler and fellow dictators. She supported the war effort on the home front in “Keep the Home Fires Burning” (below left). In the immediate aftermath of the war, she also noted and affirmed progress toward the triumph of democratic values as seen in “Out of the Catacombs” (below right).

Keep the home fires burning! Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1942 Sept. 24. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643179/
Keep the home fires burning! Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1942 Sept. 24. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643179/

Out of the catacombs. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1946 June 4. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643180/
Out of the catacombs. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1946 June 4. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643180

Mergen also campaigned repeatedly for lasting world peace in her cartoons. In “Hear Ye! Hear Ye!” (below left) the robed judge of History cautions the court and readers to be mindful of past mistakes made in treaty negotiations. On a related issue, the development of atomic energy, she likens the conflict between factions to two sparring genies that arise from mushroom clouds in “Battle of the Century” (below right).

Hear ye! Hear ye! Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1945 Sept. 22. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643182/
Hear ye! Hear ye! Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1945 Sept. 22. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643182/

Battle of the century. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1955 March 9. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643184/
Battle of the century. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1955 March 9. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643184/

Among Mergen’s cartoons on domestic issues, many demonstrate an enduring commitment to community well-being and often highlight the importance of education. Soon after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, she emphatically stood up for it in “The Message from Above” (below left). Like her colleague Herb Block, she also championed the development of school facilities adequate to meet the needs of growing populations as seen in “Running a Poor Second” (below right). Another cartoon, shown at the top of this post, “Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman” (January 29, 1956) underscores her ongoing support for education about and measures to prevent polio—a concern she shared with many who were also raising children, a population particularly vulnerable to the disease.

The message from above. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1954. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643170/
The message from above. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1954 June 1. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643170/

Running a poor second. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1955 Oct. 2. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643173/
Running a poor second. Drawing by Anne Mergen, 1955 Oct. 2. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2019643173/

As a pioneering female cartoonist, Mergen not only managed to balance her professional and personal lives, but also demonstrated balance in the range of issues she addressed in her work, which contributed vitally to her paper winning a Pulitzer Prize. Some sage comments she offered to aspiring cartoonists: “Read your newspaper carefully. See newsreels. Apply plenty of salt to news analysts’ columns and to their counterparts on the radio. The successful cartoonist must to do his own thinking. Always keep in mind that the general public is smarter than politicians and others realize when they try to mould opinion.”

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  1. Hello about 30 years ago plus I received a marine reef oil painting by Anne Mergen from an in-law of hers just wanted you to know that she worked with oil and painted underwater marine life also besides her cartoon work

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