Karl K. Knecht Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Knecht, Karl K.
Title:	Karl K. Knecht Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1906-1966
Quantity:	2 linear ft.
Abstract:	88 original editorial cartoons (1906-1960) , correspondence (1926-1966) and two photographs (undated)
Language:	English
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu

Biographical History

Karl K. Knecht (1883-1972) was an American cartoonist.

Karl Kae Knecht was born in Iroquois, Dakota Territory on December 4, 1883 and grew up in Illinois. Knecht’s mother was an Irish immigrant and Knecht’s father owned a clothing store and drew cartoons to use in store advertisements. Knecht attended the Chicago Art Institute for three years and after publishing his first cartoon in 1905 in the Freeport (Illinois) Standard, Knecht went to work as the cartoonist at the Evansville Courier where his first cartoon appeared in September 1906.

In addition to drawing cartoons for the paper, Knecht became staff photographer in 1917 when the newspaper bought its first camera and also wrote columns and reviews. His "Say, Kay! What of Folks, Shows, Animals N' Such" column appeared weekly from 1919 until 1954. Knecht was named director of the paper and served as vice president from 1952 to 1960. For most of Knecht’s career, his cartoons appeared seven days a week on the front page until 1954 when they were moved to the editorial page. Knecht worked for the Courier for so long that he came to be known as the “dean of editorial cartoonists”.

Knecht was also involved with the circus. He helped organize the Circus Fans Association in 1925 and was both secretary-treasurer and president of that organization and produced its magazine, White Tops. He also helped found the Mesker Zoo in Evansville after he was given a pair of lions in the late 1920s.

Knecht was a member of Sigma Delta Chi and also a founding member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. In 1953, Knecht received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Evansville College and July 22, 1954 was proclaimed Karl Kae Knecht Day in Evansville, Indiana. He was also a supporter of numerous charitable causes and would at times use his cartoons to bring attention to these causes.

Karl Kae Knecht retired from the Courier in May 1960 and died in Evansville, Indiana on July 28, 1972.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Karl K. Knecht Papers consists of two series: Cartoons and Correspondence and Photographs.

Cartoons contains 88 original editorial cartoons dating from 1906 to 1960 with several undated cartoons at the end of the series. Generally, Knecht's cartoons were drawn on chalk plate from 1906 to 1912 and then with pen and ink. Dmensions vary. Knecht often included an elephant with his signature. Some sources have noted that this was due to Knecht's allegiance to the Republican Party while other sources have said the elephant was included as an homage to Knecht's interest in the circus and possible a reference to the elephants that were given to him. The circus was a motif Knecht frequently used to portray politics and a recurring character in Knecht's cartoons was Mr. Public who represented the way political decisions affected the common person.

Missing from the collection is one cartoon dated April 19, 1955 depicting Albert Einstein.

Correspondence and Photographs is comprised of incoming letters arranged chronologically and two photographs. Notable correspondents include fellow cartoonists: Milton Caniff, Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling (1961) and John T. McCutcheon. Also included are letters from Clyde Beatty (1965), Eddie Cantor, Senator Albert B. Chandler, Joe Cook (vaudeville actor), Katherine Cornell, Representative Winfield K. Denton (1964), John Nance Garner (1940), J. Edgar Hoover, Representative Charles M. LaFollette, Representative Maury Maverick, John Ringling North, Henry Ringling North, and Tiffany Thayer. Knecht's work with circuses is a frequent topic and several letters were written on colored circus themed stationary.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Both series are arranged chronologically with undated material appearing at the end.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Associated Titles

Subjects

Places

Genres and Forms

Occupations

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Karl K. Knecht Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mr. Karl K. Knecht, 1966.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: GBS
Date: Mar 1969
Revision history: 27 Mar 2008 - converted to EAD (MRC); 12 Oct 2009 - revised inventory, bio scope and contents, added index (SK)

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Inventory

	Cartoons
		Titles appearing in brackets are not official captions but rather prominent phrases or people mentioned in the cartoon.
Oversize 1, Folder 1		1906-1907
			1906- Sep 29: Labor Day at Oyster Bay 1907: The victor or our next president
Oversize 1, Folder 2		1912-1936
			1912: Always Lurking About 1912- Feb 29: [Leap Year] 1920: [Christmas] 1925: The Bryan/Darrow Trial, Dayton, Tennessee 1927: [Lindy (Charles Lindbergh)] 1932- May 16: [Aw! Gee! Wizz, Paw] 1933: [Relief Fund] 1933: Nov 28: Birds 1934: [U.S. Migratory Bird Laws] 1935- Oct 30: [Halloween] 1936- Oct: [FDR]
Oversize 1, Folder 3		1938-1939
			1938- Nov 17: [Today's Newspapers of the World] 1939: A Circus Innovation: Air Conditioning 1939- Feb 16: [The Fleet in Maneuvers Around the Panama Canal] 1939- Mar 10: [The Flu] 1939- Mar 17: [Hitler's New Home ] 1939- May 19: Ben Hur 1939- May 24: [Stand Pat on New Deal] 1939: [Indiana politics]
Oversize 1, Folder 4		1940-1947
			1940- Jun 5: [Hitler] 1940- Jun 6: [Monroe Doctrine] 1941- Apr 1: Animals and Circus Plus Theater 1941- May 8: [Haile Selassie ] 1941- Jul 14: [Joint Action Against Germany] 1943- Oct 28: [Yugoslavia] 1946- Oct 28: Caught in a Whirlwind 1946- Nov 14: [Politics] 1947- Apr 18: When Will We Learn 1947- Jul 3: [Old Time Fourth of July]
Oversize 1, Folder 5		1949-1951
			1949- Jan 25: [Republican National Committee] 1949- Apr 29: [Leaving China] 1949- May 13: Blue Cross Blue Shield 1949- May 19: [Tammany of NYC -- FDR, Jr.] 1950: Across the Horizon 1950: [Noah's Ark] 1950- Mar 17: [Come Back to Erin] 1950- Mar 22: [Evansville, Indiana] 1950- Sep 16: Closed and Open Books 1951- Sep 3: Labor Day
Oversize 1, Folder 6		1952-1953
			1952- Jun 28: [Police Fund Charity] 1952- Jul 4: [Abraham Lincoln] 1953- May 26: [French Cabinet Crisis] 1953: [The Great Outdoors] 1953- Jun 5: [United Nations] 1953- Jun 7: [Education] 1953- Jun 13: [Ike on a Fishing Trip] 1953- Aug: "No!" 1953- Sep 10: [Jewish New Year]
Oversize 1, Folder 7		1954-1955
			1954- Feb 9: "A-Men-!" 1954- May 18: [A Rival] 1954- Nov: [Thanksgiving] 1955: [Arbitration] 1955- Apr 19: [Einstein] 1955- Jun: [Tell th' boys I'll be home soon- with lots to tell, an' to look at the situation over] Aug 5: Which will Kentucky choose? 1955- Nov 4: Time to Change Again 1955- Dec 6: Bound to Be a Few Discordant Notes at First
Oversize 1, Folder 8		1956-1957
			1956- Jan 2: There are Other Mirrors, Look! 1956- Aug 31: How Time Doth Fly 1956- Oct 17: Not the Time for That! 1956- Oct 24: When the Big "Poles" Snap, Look Out 1957- May 17: Their Days 1957- Nov 1: Get It Out from Under the Stack 1957- Nov 13: Not Quite "Second Table," But...! 1957- Nov 16: At Least Get His Belt Buckled
Oversize 1, Folder 9		1958-1959
			1958- Apr 12: Mr. X Senator, How did your folk react, to unemployment and taxes? Mr. X Congressman, How did your's react to recession and high prices? 1958- Apr 16: A Blotch! Botch! 1958- May 31: The French Merry-Go-Round 1958- Nov 26: Turkey Time Traffic Tie-up 1958- Dec 24: There Is a Santa Claus 1959- Jan 7: What I Say Is, Please Forget About 1960! 1959- Jan 20: To Tip the Balance 1959- Mar 25: Holy Week 1959- Sep 3: Now For the Top Mounter of "the Big Four"
Oversize 1, Folder 10		1960; undated
			1960: As of Today 1960- May 6: Bump--bump--bumping Along 1960- May 10: Is My Face Red! 1960- May 14: At Least Start to Bury It! 1960- May 19: Reverting to Type! 1960- May 26: Can't Run From the Shadow -- As Long As Such a Sun Shines year unknown- May 26: [Herr Hitler] [Hallowe'en] If this...why not this...? [I've Decided to Handle Your Letters From the Little Ones] [Storm Clouds] [Juvenile Delinquency]

	Correspondence and photographs
		Written comments and annotations appear on many pieces of correspondence with further details about the correspondent.
Box 1		Correspondence 1926, 1929-1933, 1935-1939
Box 1		Correspondence 1940-1943, 1947
Box 1		Correspondence 1964-1966
Box 1		Correspondence Undated
Box 1		Photograph of Knecht Undated
Box 1		Photograph of cartoon "His Only Hope"- marked as first cartoon- Evansville Courier Undated

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Index to cartoons
	The following is a list of predominant people, places and subjects appearing in the editorial cartoons in this collection. The list is not exhaustive. Some subjects may require you to browse with alternative terms.
	B= Box, F= Folder. For example: B1F1= Box 1 Folder 1.
	AFL-CIO	B1F7
	Adenauer, Konrad	B1F9
	Blue Cross Blue Shield	B1F5
	Bricker, John W.	B1F7
	Britain	B1F4-B1F5, B1F8
	Bryan, William Jennings	B1F1
	Chandler, Sr., Albert Benjamin "Happy"	B1F7
	China	B1F2, B1F5-B1F6
	Christmas	B1F2, B1F9-B1F10
	Churchill, Winston	B1F6
	Congress	B1F4, B1F7-B1F9
	Coolidge, Calvin	B1F6
	Daley, Richard J.	B1F10
	Democratic Party	B1F2-B1F3, B1F9-B1F10
	Einstein, Albert	B1F7
	Eisenhower, Dwight	B1F6, B1F8-B1F10
	Ethiopia	B1F4
	Formosa	B1F5
	Fourth of July	B1F4, B1F6
	France	B1F6, B1F9
	Germany	B1F4, B1F6
	Halloween	B1F10
	Hitler, Adolph	B1F3-B1F4, B1F10
	Holy Week	B1F9
	Humphrey, Hubert	B1F10
	Indiana	B1F3, B1F5, B1F7, B1F10
	Indiana State Convention	B1F3
	Ireland	B1F5
	Japan	B1F4
	Jews	B1F3, B1F6
	Kennedy, John F.	B1F10
	Kentucky	B1F7
	Khrushchev, Nikita	B1F10
	Korean War	B1F5-B1F6
	Labor Day	B1F5
	Landon, Alf	B1F2
	Lewis, John	B1F7
	Lincoln, Abraham	B1F6
	Lindbergh, Charles	B1F2
	MacArthur, Douglas	B1F5
	MacMillan, Harold	B1F9
	March of Dimes	B1F8
	McCarthy, Joseph	B1F7
	Meany, George	B1F7
	Mihalovic	B1F4
	Monroe Doctrine	B1F4
	Morse, Wayne	B1F10
	NATO	B1F8
	National Rifle Association	B1F2
	Nazism	B1F3-B1F4
	New Deal	B1F3
	New York City	B1F5
	Nixon, Richard M.	B1F10
	Panama Canal	B1F3
	Republican Party	B1F3, B1F5
	Reuther, Walter	B1F7
	Roosevelt Jr., Franklin D.	B1F5
	Roosevelt, Franklin D.	B1F2-B1F3
	Roosevelt, Theodore	B1F1
	Rosh Hashanah	B1F6
	Russia	B1F4-B1F6, B1F8, B1F10
	Scopes trial	B1F2
	Selassie, Haile	B1F4
	South Dakota	B1F6
	Soviet Union	B1F8
	Stevenson, Adlai E.	B1F8, B1F10
	Symington, Stuart	B1F10
	Thanksgiving	B1F7
	Titanic	B1F2
	Tito, Josip Broz	B1F4
	Truman, Harry S.	B1F4, B1F7
	Twining, Nathan Farragut	B1F7
	U.S. Mail	B1F10
	United Nations	B1F5-B1F6
	Yugoslavia	B1F4
	airline industry	B1F9
	armed forces	B1F8
	birds	B1F2
	cancer	B1F4
	charity	B1F2, B1F6, B1F9
	children	B1F2, B1F8
	circus	B1F3, B1F7
	communism	B1F6
	de Gaulle, Charles	B1F9
	delinquency	B1F9-B1F10
	democracy	B1F1
	diseases	B1F3
	economy	B1F9
	education	B1F6
	elections	B1F10
	government spending	B1F8-B1F9
	hunting	B1F2
	leap year	B1F2
	nuclear weapons	B1F8
	park board	B1F10
	police	B1F6
	polio	B1F8
	politicians	B1F8
	politics	B1F4, B1F8
	prices	B1F9
	progress	B1F7
	railroad industry	B1F7
	science	B1F8
	strikes	B1F7, B1F9
	summer	B1F6-B1F7
	taxes	B1F9
	transportation	B1F5
	unemployment	B1F9
	unions	B1F5
	weather	B1F10
	women	B1F8

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