Migrated from OhioLink 7/2019
This collection is broken into two series with further subseries. More information on the contents can be found in the container list. Three abbreviations can be found in the finding aid and on the folders: JJG, AKF, and NCS. "JJG" stands for John J Gallagher; "AKF" stands for American Kitchen Foods; and "NCS" stands for National Cartoonist Society.
Series 1: Career (1950s-2000) Subseries 1.1: Commercial Work (1950s-2000) Subseries 1.2: American Kitchen Foods (1960s) Subseries 1.3: Armed Forces Cartoons (1966-1970) Subseries 1.4: Professional Organizations (1957-1968) Subseries 1.5: Clippings (1950s-2000) Subseries 1.6: Speculative Cartoon Work (1950s-1990s) Subseries 1.7: JJG Press (1950s-2000) Subseries 1.8: Comic Art (1961-2000) Series 2: Personal (1950s-2002) Subseries 2.1: Student and Early Works (1930s-1950s) Subseries 2.2: Family (1950s-2002) Subseries 2.3: Workspace (undated) Subseries 2.4: Correspondence (1954-2002)
Donated by Michael Gallagher, Lynn Gallagher-Ford, Jean Gallagher-Heil, and John S. Gallagher, 2014.
[identification of item], John J. Gallagher Papers, SPEC.CGA.JJG, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Ohio State University
Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum reading room only.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyright, and are made available for research and educational purposes. In general, the OSU Libraries do not own the copyright for materials from our collections and cannot grant copyright permissions for these materials. The user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exceptions to the law. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and do not require permission to use.
Processed by: Stephen Maxwell, 2015; Finding aid written by: Stephen Maxwell, 2015.
John J. Gallagher was born in 1936 in Englewood, New Jersey, and was known primarily
for his gag cartoons. He served in the Navy as a signal man on the destroyer escort,
Carroll during World War II. After the war he studied art at Syracuse University and
Pratt Institute. He married Dorothy Lotter in 1951. During the 1950s, Gallagher
focused on gag cartoon panels that appeared in publications such as
The John J. Gallagher Papers contain his commercial work, clippings and press material, "spec" or speculative cartoon work, which was created to sell to various publications, correspondence, early works, and personal materials from his family. This finding aid is arranged in intellectual order rather than sequential box and folder numbers order to accommodate the varying material sizes. Some of the folders include notes from Gallagher's son, Michael, that provide context for the materials.
Original art has been separated and entered into the
The collection was assembled, owned, and maintained by John J. Gallagher.
This series contains any work associated with John J. Gallagher's career. This series is broken into seven subseries. This series contains his various cartoon and commercial works, with a separate subseries for AKF, which was a company he worked for; publications that contain his cartoons or articles about him; information and photographs from the professional organizations that he was involved in; newspaper and magazine clippings of his published work and other cartoonists; and speculative cartoon work which was pitched to a client or publication, but which was not published.
This subseries contains John J. Gallagher's commercial works, except those from AKF. Most of the materials are for the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company. It also contains a collection of various safety posters, most of which are created for Marlin Industrial Division corporation. Of particular interest in this subseries is a t-shirt from "Mario's New York Style Pizza," for which Gallagher designed the logo and his daughter Lynn also worked at while in college.
This subseries contains JJG's cartoons and advertising work for AKF. Most of the material is for either the "I Hate [Vegetables]" campaign or "Tasti Fries." The "I Hate [Vegetables]" campaign characters is actually based in part by his four children, Michael, Lynn, Jean, and John. Also included are promotional objects with Gallagher's work such as grocery store freezer separator to advertise AKF products, packaging and promotional cards, and a "pocket secretary" mini notebook/datebook.
This subseries contains cartoons about life in the armed forces and published in magazines with military topics or for a military audience.
This subseries contains materials associated with the professional organizations that JJG was involved with, namely the National Cartoonist Society (NCS). Photographs from NCS events that he attended as well as the Reuben Award for Best Gag Cartoonist of Year, 1957, are also included.
This subseries contains any newspaper or magazine clippings of cartoons. Most of the clippings are of JJG's published cartoons, while others are of other cartoonists, such as his brother, George Gately Gallagher. There's a collection of twenty-eight spiral notebooks which contains of clippings of JJG's work which was kept by his father.
John J. Gallagher illustrated cartoons in this books and is acknowledges in the author's introduction.
This subseries contains cartoon work created to be sold during Gallagher's sales trips once a week to New York City to sell his cartoons door-to-door to the leading magazines of the day. Other material in this series was created as roughs to be presented to clients.
This subseries contains published works, or articles about JJG and his work. The subseries contains copies of "For Laughing Out Loud" and "1000 Jokes", which featured many of his cartoons. It also contains an unpublished manuscript by admirer, Dave Thorne. The manuscript contains JJG's cartoons and was compiled by Thorne to encourage JJG to publish a retrospective of his cartoons. Ultimately only two copies were created, one which was kept by Thorne and the other that was given to JJG.
This subseries contains clippings of comic art created by JJG, specifically the "Moose" comic strip and "Needles" which appeared in Golf magazine. JJG ghost wrote the Moose comic strip for Bob Weber, who requested he write for the series because of his comical prowess.
This series contains materials relating to the home life of JJG. There are four subseries which are described further in the subseries' scope and content notes. The largest is subseries 1, Student and Early Works, which contains work from Gallagher's days at Syracuse University, Pratt Institute and his childhood. This series also contains artwork he created for his family and events he went to with them. The third subseries consists of items and objects from JJG's personal workstation. A researcher may re-create the environment in which JJG created his artwork. Subseries IV includes correspondence that JJG had with friends, family and professional acquaintances that became good friends.
This subseries contains all works created by JJG from his childhood to his college years. "Yeggs and I" is a book that JJG created for an assignment for one of his classes in college. The professor would not allow cartoon work to be done for the course. However, JJG turned in an assignment entirely of cartoon artwork. The professor called JJG in about the assignment, and surprisingly and commended him for his work. The professor happened to be a failed cartoonist and admired JJG's work.
This subseries also contains belongings from JJG's childhood such as a book he won a prize for a cartooning contest held by a local radio program and New York Evening Journal "Art Lessons" that JJG frequently referenced as a child.
Many of the items in the subseries contain context notes from his son Michael.
This subseries contains personal drawings done for his family, including Christmas cards. Of particular interest are family photographs.
This subseries contains his clipping library from the 1950s, and artifacts that surrounded JJG's personal workspace. Included are notes from Michael about the significance of each artifact.
This subseries contains Christmas cards from other cartoonists and correspondence.