This collection is arranged by format.
CGA.2019.036: Helma Harrington, 2019; CGA.2026.021: Helma Harrington, 2026
[identification of item], [box number/ folder number], Ollie Harrington Collection and Papers, SPEC.CGA.OWH, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Ohio State University
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Kay Clopton, 2021.
Ollie (Oliver Wendell) Harrington was born in Valhalla, NY on February 14, 1912. Channeling his experiences with racism, he began drawing in his youth as a way to vent his frustrations with a viciously racist sixth grade teacher. He went on after high school to attend Yale for a degree in Fine Arts, earning his B.F.A. in 1940. Having been inspired by – and later involved with – the Harlem Renaissance, Harrington published cartoons in a number of Black and leftist newspapers, including The Amsterdam News and The Chicago Defender. The Pittsburgh Courier sent him to Europe and North Africa as a war correspondent. He chronicled the efforts of Black military personnel, including the Tuskegee Airmen; and his biting criticism of fighting in Europe over rights that were denied Blacks back home in the U.S. attracted the attention of the NAACP’s Walter White for whom he worked in 1946. Best known for his series Bootsie (originally titled Dark Laughter), an African American male who would make pointed criticisms of the world around him, Harrington continued with his work, even after leaving the United States due to the scrutiny he was under by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s. Harrington was a noted scholar as well as an outspoken artist unafraid to confront racism. He expatriated to Paris in 1951 but subsequently moved to East Germany in 1961 when he suspected the sudden death of his friend Richard Wright was an assassination. Harrington was also a well-noted author who talked about his experiences in his book Why I Left America and Other Essays (1993). He passed away at age 83 on November 2, 1995.
The Ollie Harrington Collection and Papers includes original published cartoons, along with roughs, sketchbooks and other archival materials.
Original art by Harrington has been catalogued at the item level in the original art database. To view catalog records of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum holdings of Harrington's original art work, please see the
Works by Harrington have been cataloged in The Ohio State University Libraries
Possibly a notebook Harrington had while in Paris.
Commemorating his visit at Michigan State University, January 1994. Clear files contain copies of flyers from his lecture (and other lectures for the academic year), a syllabus, programs from events he participated in and awards ceremonies he attended, a class list, a flyer for celebrating his 82nd birthday on February 15th. Photographs, Newspaper clippings, a thank you letter from the director of the MSU School of Journalism (Stan Soffin) and a thank you card from the students.
The typed manuscript of “Look Homeward Baby” with a note stating it was published in 1977 in the Freedomways Reader.”
An assortment of personal correspondence, clippings, and flyers: Letters from Christine McKay, Art Spiegelman (with a copy of The Wild Party “(Intro to a slice of my book in this week’s New Yorker--)”, Draper Hill (with a proof of a cartoon about the death of privacy for the American president), Theida Gregory Thomas (with a newspaper clipping of an obituary for Yvonne Gregory from 1979), D’Anne Burley, Martyn Turner, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (an invitation to speak), Sandy Northrop, Seetha A-Srinivasan with the University Press of Mississippi, Seymour Joseph with The Daily World, Charkes H, Wright, Syd Hoff, Julia Wright, Lucy Shelton Caswell, Gregory Pumphrey (along with articles written about race), Bobbye M. Booker (with a bio/obituary of Earl Richardson), Mrs. M. Elizabeth Huggins, Doris Roberson, Elizabeth A. Wheatley, Dennis Renault. A copy of a “Partial List of Signatories of An Open Letter to the Citizens of Washington concerning the theatrical production ‘Paul Robeson’”. Letters from Ellen Tarry, L. Lorch. Newspaper clippings. Letters from José Saucha, S. Joyner, Pamela. A flyer for the 1994 National Black Arts Festival. Letter from Avery Brooks about said festival. Letter(s) from Joshua W. Weinberg, Charles Wright from the Museum of African American History, Jacques Paul Kelin, a hostile fan(?) letter, Charles E-Belle, Samuel Joyner (a fan letter). A flyer for an Ollie Harrington talk in 1992
Newspaper clippings, photocopies of clippings, and copy about Ollie Harrington. At least one Editorial cartoon is in the folder. English, Russian, and German offerings. An entire copy of The City Sun (August 7-13, 1985) with an article about Ollie Harrington is included. There is also a German postcard with Harrington’s artwork in the folder. A flyer for a student organization using his artwork is also included. [A copy of the copy for the New York Times piece about Harrington’s death. Photocopy of article about Harrington from the Columbus Dispatch 11/1/92. Photocopies and newspaper clippings about Harrington.
A program for a film festival dedicated to Ollie Harrington.
A German magazine with his work on the inside back cover page.
A book of cartoons and other items. A program of Cuba. Ollie Harrington’s work is featured on page 63.
Translated to be a celebration of Paul Robeson’s 75th birthday (4/9/73) by the Paul Robeson Committee from the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic. Ollie Harrington’s piece is on page 11. [Translated from the German: “Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic Paul Robeson Committee of GDR” Paul Robeson “Corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic Founding member of the World Peace Council Lenin Peace Prize Winner” “celebrates his 75th birthday on April 9, 1973”]
An article discussing Ollie Harrington and Henry Jackson Lewis is on page 69. It starts to discuss Harrington on pages 74-80.
Features the program for the festival, and the program for Ollie Harrington’s work: "Political Satire."
Two copies of a program for a Black film festival. One copy is signed by Donald M. Griffith. It includes the text to Look Homeward Baby and some of his artwork.
A program about Richard Wright in which Ollie Harrington was a participant.
Excerpt from Amistad 1, 1970. Newspaper Clippings from 1946 with an article about Ollie Harrington. (New York Herald Tribune).
The printed program looking at “The social, political and cultural significance of cartoonist Ollie Harrington” that took place on Friday, July 26, 1991 at the Museum of African American History in Detroit. It was a lecture/discussion.
Clippings from newspapers and magazines dated 1950; 1969; 1970; 1971; 1973; 1974; 1980; 1993, that either feature Harrington’s work or his words. Esquire magazine article among others. Some are printed on cardboard or cardstock. Includes the paper cover to the book The Runaway Elephant that he illustrated. Also features “The Artists’ Response to Political and Social Issues”, an art exhibition in which Harrington’s work was featured.
A folder of poems from unknown person named Dee Dee, which twas sent to Ollie Harrington (1971-1990) as well as an article about Harrington (1994). The other materials are photocopy clippings of articles about Ollie Harrington and programs from an exhibit of his work.
Declassified in 1998, final entry dated 2002.
A booklet of Harrington’s talk at Wayne State University in 1991.
A booklet of Harrington’s talk at the United Nations General Assembly in 1946, published in 1991.
Photographs of Ollie Harrington and others. Art Spiegelman is in one with him. Some are dated, one is signed. Also includes a thank you card with a photo inside.
Article on pages 19-21.
A catalog of University of Mississippi Press publications. Ollie’s Book, Dark Laughter, is advertised on page 3.
Dīalogue: Arts in the Midwest publication featuring an article about Ollie Harrington. His article is on page 16.
A booklet from a show in France. Portraits de Billie Holiday par Walter Coleman, Mars 1961 Karin Moutet. Harrington wrote a poem for the booklet about Billie Holiday.
A certificate in recognition of outstanding contribution to the school of journalism. Also includes a poem written for Ollie by Dee Dee.
Two newspaper clippings about Ollie Harrington and his work.
A Dutch publication with an article about Ollie Harrington.
Two articles (one a book review) and a German newspaper with Harrington on the cover.
An introduction about Ollie Harrington by Langston Hughes and a newspaper clipping about Ollie Harrington.
An acknowledgement thanking Ollie Harrington for contributing to the success of the conference at the Sorbonne. Also includes an invitation with a Julie asking if he would attend a plaque unveiling.
2 sets of advertising proofs for his book, a program from a Bulgarian festival, featuring Ollie Harrington.
Art exhibit brochures (several are duplicates) for exhibits in Germany, at Jackson State University, Randolf-Macon College, Michigan State University, two different exhibits in Berlin also includes a Christmas card that has an image from Ollie Harrington and a photocopy of a newspaper clipping about Ollie Harrington featuring his work.
A newspaper clipping of an article “The Mysterious Death of Richard Wright” written by Ollie Harrington. It was published in World Magazine (a newspaper publication) on December 17, 1977.
A magazine from the World Peace Council featuring an image by Ollie Harrington on the cover. Published in June, 1977.
Two different issues of Gewerkschaftsleben (Union Life) the monthly publication for the Free German Trade Union featuring Ollie Harrtington’s artwork on the inner back cover of the issues in February 1985 and August 1987.
An issue of Emerge magazine from November 1992 featuring an article about Ollie Harrington.
A copy of the book “The Indochina War: Why Our Policy Failed”, part of the Opposing Viewpoints Series with a cartoon by Ollie Harrington on page 11. Published in 1975.
Some, if not all, are from The Daily World. Handwritten dates on the clippings. Several duplicates of clippings are in the folder.
A padded shipping envelope with Ollie Harrington cartoon clippings. (Mostly 1973, mostly Daily World publications, but at least one is from a Spanish paper).
[At least one clipping is in Spanish, another from “Afro-American Affairs” volume 3 number 13 in Athens Ohio, a clipping from a German publication, one from a Russian publication with information paperclipped together, a clipping from The Ghahanian Times in 1964]. Also a Russian publication of an artist and his work in the 950s that was written on by Harrington.
The Daily World front page, June 6, 1970. Harrington’s cartoon is on the cover.
A loose copy of an Ollie Harrington cartoon of a man looking over children with Dynamit in his back pocket (German). Published in Eulenspiegel, a German humor magazine.
A full-color map of Europe for a children’s Swedish publication.
A German magazine featuring a number of cartoonists. Ollie Harrington is on page 42-44.