After the negatives

The Waller negatives are an ongoing project, and as such come in every so often, but there aren't always negatives that need to be looked through. So what then?

Well, another ongoing project in the Historical Manuscripts area is the AAEC Editorial Cartoons collection which contains a vast number of editorial cartoons. I really enjoy working with the editorial cartoons-

1) They're funny

2) Many of them still relate to today

3) It's a more honest, and sarcastic, view on history. A view in which you get to see what the general population was feeling/thinking and found amusing.

As I was going through the cartoons I noticed that most of the ones I was seeing were done by cartoonist Eldon Pletcher and most were for the New Orleans-Picayune Times. More than just a commentary on the country as a whole Pletcher's cartoons also focused on the state of things in New Orleans/Picayune area.

At one point I noticed that a speech bubble had come unglued from one of the cartoons and I was shown to re-attach it properly. When re-attaching something the primary goal is to preserve it, so anything that you do to the item needs to be reversible if necessary. In repairing the cartoon a glue was applied to the back of the speech bubble, which was then placed back is original position on the cartoon. The cartoons are stored in stacks within large folders which are then placed in drawers, so this cartoon was left to sit out for a few hours before being returned to rightful place to avoid any chance of glue getting on anything else.