James Thurber collections

Renowned humorist and cartoonist James Thurber (1894-1961) was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and attended The Ohio State University. Although he moved away from Ohio as an adult, his family continued to live here, and his memories of the city and the university continued to serve as inspirations for his comedic writings and artwork. One of the Thurber family homes has been preserved, and serves as a museum and cultural arts center in downtown Columbus (link to https://www.thurberhouse.org/about-thurber-house).


The James Thurber Papers, including many of his original drawings, are housed in the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library at OSU, in addition to other collections of papers donated by family members and researchers over the years. A sampling of his cartoon art was scanned in preparation for exhibits at the Columbus Museum of Art (https://www.columbusmuseum.org/a-mile-and-a-half-of-lines-the-art-of-james-thurber/) and the gallery at Thompson Library on the OSU campus (https://library.osu.edu/exhibits/past) in 2019, and has been made available in the Digital Collections.


To learn more about the Thurber archives please see the finding aids for the James Thurber Papers (https://library.osu.edu/collections/SPEC.RARE.CMS.0004), and the Thurber Family Papers (https://library.osu.edu/collections/SPEC.RARE.0214).