Nelan
Charles Nelan (1858-1904) was a native of Akron, Ohio. He was hired as the cartoonist for the Cleveland Press in 1888, and his work was soon distributed by the Scripps-McRae League. He is considered the nation’s first syndicated editorial cartoonist. In 1897 Nelan began work at the New York Herald and the cartoons he drew for this newspaper during the Spanish-American War were compiled into his only book, Cartoons of our War with Spain. He went to the Philadelphia North American in 1901 where his caricatures of Samuel Pennypacker motivated the Pennsylvania legislature to pass an anti-cartoon law. Nelan was hired by the New York Globe in 1903, but illness forced him to retire shortly thereafter.
"Polly Got a Cracker" by Charles Nelan, Philadelphia North American May 16, 1903. Richard Samuel West Collection
Samuel Pennypacker was infuriated by Nelan's caricatures of him as a parrot because of their implication that he was the mouthpiece for his cousin, Republican U.S. Senator Matthew Quay. Nelan comments in this cartoon on the public's indignation when Pennypacker ramrodded an anti-cartoon bill through the Pennsylvania legislature. [NC1429.N435A76 1903]
