Wayback Whensday: Cartoon Origins of Uncle Sam
Skip to comments
For the Library of Congress Stephen Winick traces the origins of Uncle Sam.
“In a pair of posts, I’ll look primarily at the stories behind the name “Uncle Sam,” and in a third post look more closely at his iconic image.”
In two parts Winick retells the truth and the “metafolklore” about Uncle Sam: Part 1 and Part 2.
Our interest is piqued with Part 3: Cartoons and Advertising in the Nineteenth Century.
“This tale of Uncle Sam’s image first appearing in a Frank Bellew cartoon is as untrue as the tales about Samuel Wilson and the Light Dragoons supplying Uncle Sam’s name. But there’s no great mystery where the story comes from. It seems to be just a result of people repeating and misundersanding out-of-date research. Specifically, this image was identified as “the first American cartoon of Uncle Sam” by Mrs. Harry Hammer of Chicago, who decided in 1897 to try to collect every cartoon ever published of Uncle Sam…”
From Brother Jonathan to Yankee Doodle to finally Uncle Sam Winick traces the illustrated personification.
Comments