Gene Basset Editorial Cartoons, 1984-1992

Summary

Creator:
Basset, Gene, 1927-
Date:
1984-1992
Extent:
7 box(es) (385 pen and ink drawings)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Gene Basset Editorial Cartoons, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.

Background

Scope and content:

The Gene Basset Editorial Cartoons include his original editorial cartoons from the Atlanta Journal (1984-1992). There are 385 pen and ink drawings, some pencil sketches, and a smattering of negatives and plates. Subject content relates to state and local (Atlanta-Fulton County) politics and feature such topics as public transportation, pension padding, and political corruption. There are also drawings relating to the Atlanta-based Falcon football team, the University of Georgia Bulldogs, the Atlanta Zoo, women's rights, Turner Broadcasting, and the Mercer University vs. Baptist Church controversy.

Biographical / historical:

Gene Basset was born on July 24, 1927, in Brooklyn, New York. He attended Cooper Union and Boston Colleges where he earned degrees in art and psychology. He also studied at the Art Students League, Pratt Institute, and the University of Missouri. From 1944 to 1946, Basset served with the United States Coast Guard.

Basset joined the staff at the Indianapolis Times as a sketch artist, where he later became a sports cartoonist. He has also been a theatrical caricaturist for the Brooklyn Eagle and a sports cartoonist for the Boston Post.

Following a teaching stint at the Famous Artists School in Westport, Connecticut, where he also did free lance art for advertising agencies in New York, Basset moved to Hawaii. He worked as the first editorial cartoonist for the Hawaii Star Bulletin. Afterward, he returned to the mainland and became chief editorial cartoonist for Scripps-Howard Newspapers for nineteen years. Some of Basset's cartoons have even appeared as covers for U.S. News and World Report.

In August 1982, Basset joined the editorial staff of the Atlanta Journal as an editorial cartoonist. Having retired in December 1992, Basset currently resides in Minnesota with his wife, Ann.

Arrangement:

The cartoons are loosely grouped together by subject, such as Georgia politics, civil rights, congressional races, developer issues, international issues, metro Atlanta, presidential politics, and state agencies.

Access and use restrictions

Terms of access:

Library acts as "fair use" reproduction agent.

Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Preferred citation:

Gene Basset Editorial Cartoons, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.