Amid the original art, rare newspaper clippings and books galore- the Cartoon Library also preserves all kinds of treasures that are not necessarily comic art, but related to the history of the cartoonist or collector. As we saw in the Eldon Dedini holdings that included grade school report cards and the like, these objects help to flesh out the complete story of a life.

Rube Goldberg, one of the few cartoonists whose name became a household expression, was not only a master of the pen but an incredibly talented sculptor as well. Goldberg spent much of the last ten years of his life working at sculpture, and we are happy to have a good number of them here in our collection here at the Cartoon Library.

Below, a sampling of Rube Goldberg’s sculptures, starting with his rendering of American politician Everett Dirksen:

Rube Goldberg sculpture of Everett Dirksen. From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Goldberg’s bust of Harry Hershfield, his cartoonist contemporary and friend.

Rube Goldberg’s sculpture of Harry Hershfield. From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

The following three: “Woman with Earrings”, “Fighter” and “Elderly Man”

Rube Goldberg’s sculpture of “Woman with Earrings” From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

Rube Goldberg’s sculpture “Fighter“. From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Rube Goldberg’s sculpture “Elderly Man” From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

Rube Goldberg also captured his sense of humor through a lot of his sculptures, like the one below, cleverly titled “Snake’s Day Off”

Rube Goldberg’s sculpture “Snake’s Day Off” From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (click to enlarge)

Detail of Rube Goldberg’s sculpture “Snake’s Day Off” From the International Museum of Cartoon Art Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

The Rube Goldberg sculptures are among many others included in various collections here at the Cartoon Library, and we take pride in our ability to archivally house them.  In case any readers out there are curious about how we store them, take a look below! All sculptures are wrapped in archival corrosion-interception bags, tied snug with ribbon instead of tape, with their finding numbers easily located on a string tag.