ABSTRACT: Collection of original drawings for Weatherbird cartoons and other editorial and advertising cartoons produced for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.
DATE: 1932-2019
CREATORS: Wohlschlaeger, Amadee (December 3, 1911 – June 24, 2014); Schweitzer, Albert L. (Al), Jr. (November 28, 1921 – January 30, 2023); Martin, Dan (20th-21st Century).
SCOPE: This collection is comprised of original Weatherbird drawings, drawings on other editorial and advertising subjects by Weatherbird artists, and archival materials. This collection complements the Mercantile Library’s extensive holdings of bound St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspapers, which is a small part of the much larger historic newspaper collection.
EXTENT: Approximately 24 linear feet.
HISTORICAL NOTE: The Weatherbird cartoon began in 1901 and is the longest continuous daily cartoon in American journalism. Early cartoons only commented on the weather, but over time the drawing and title commented on local and national current events.
ARRANGEMENT: The collection is arranged chronologically in 2 series: 1) Weatherbird Drawings, and 2) Drawings by Weatherbird Artists.
Series 1 – Weatherbird Drawings, holds original Weatherbird drawings by Amadee Wohlschlaeger, Albert L. (Al) Schweitzer, Jr., and Dan Martin, and one box of ephemera and archival materials including photographs of Amadee Wohlschlaeger at his desk at the Post-Dispatch.
Series 2 – Drawings by Weatherbird Artists, consists of drawings by Al Schweitzer for editorial and political cartoons created for the Post-Dispatch.
ACCESS: This collection can be viewed on-site in the Rare Book and Manuscripts Reading Room. Some of the material may be photocopied, digitally scanned or photographed, subject to condition and other access restrictions. Information on conducting research with the archival collections of the Library, including current building hours and reading room policies, can be found on our Research page. The St. Louis Mercantile Library is located on levels one and two of the Thomas Jefferson Library building on the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ north campus.
A PDF finding aid is available for this collection.
PREFERRED CITATION: When citing the materials from this collection, the preferred citation is “From the Special Collections of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri – St. Louis."
