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Eugene Payne cartoons

 Collection
Identifier: MS0008

Scope and Contents

This collection represents exclusively Payne's years at The Charlotte Observer, with the majority from the period 1967 through 1971. Most of the cartoons are original copies sketched with India ink on heavy bond poster board. The Pulitzer Prize series is represented by dry mounted reprints.

Dates

  • Creation: 1962-1987 and undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the patron's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.

Biographical / Historical

Eugene Gray Payne was born on January 29, 1919. He was the only son of Eugene Payne and Sarah Brockenbrough Payne. His father died in 1923 at the age of thirty-eight, when he was just four years old. Payne's oral history interview on Goldmine contains many details of his early life. Eugene matriculated through Fishburne Military School, in Waynesboro, Virginia, graduating on June 7, 1938. While there, he was on the honor roll, had an impressive record of achievement, and exhibited skill in leadership. From Fishburne, he went on to Syracuse University, in New York, where he secured a scholarship. There, he studied illustrating.

During World War II, he served with the crew of a B-24 weather scouter. After the war, he worked as a freelance artist, and also drove a milk wagon. He went to work for the Charlotte Observer starting in 1958. A year later, he moved to Birmingham, to work for the Birmingham News, but returned to Charlotte a year later. He won the 1967 Sigma Delta Chi award for cartooning, and soon thereafter won the Pulitzer prize for cartooning in 1968. In 1971, he left the Observer to work for WSOC-TV, but returned again to the Observer in 1978. Over the course of his career, Payne traveled to the White House on more than one occasion to meet with Presidents Nixon and Ford. He also received several notes and letters from these and other political figures, complimenting him on his artistic work in portraying them in the media.

With his wife, June, his family consisted of four children and three step children. Aside from his work in the newsroom, Payne enjoyed golfing. This collection represents exclusively Payne's years at The Charlotte Observer, with the majority from the period 1967-71. Most of the cartoons are original copies sketched with India ink on heavy bond poster board. The Pulitzer Prize series is represented by dry mounted reprints.

Extent

7.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Original cartoons by an editorial cartoonist for The Charlotte Observer (1958-1971, returning in 1978) and WSOC-TV (1971-1978). Includes reprints of his 1968 Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoons.

Arrangement

Cartoons in the first two series are numbered consecutively and arranged, where possible, and within each series in chronological order. In series 3 and 4, separate numbering systems, designated UNCC and PP, are applied; and arrangement is also chronological when possible.

The collection is divided into five different series, these being:

Daily Editorial Page, 1966-1971; Sunday Edition, 1969-1971; Charlotte College/UNC Charlotte; 1962-1971; Pulitzer Prize, 1967; Gene Payne's View, 1978-1983; Newspaper Clippings, 1963-1982; 2005 accession; 2012 accession; 2014 accession. Series 1 through three constitute the bulk of the collection and the contents of these series are arranged chronologically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gifts of Eugene Payne in 1970, 1983, and 2005 ; Gift of Jarrett M. Tran, 2014. Tran acquired the drawings in 2012 upon the death of Muriel Manch, the widow of Al Manch ; gift of Wayne Robinette, February, 2017.

Oral History Interviews

There are two oral history interviews with Eugene Payne available in the Charlotte Regional Oral History Collection

Processing Information

Processed by Robert A. McInnes. Description revised by Rita Johnston, 2015-2016.

Title
Eugene Payne cartoons
Status
Completed
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscript Collections, J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections and University Archives, UNC Charlotte Repository

Contact:
Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte NC 28223 United States

About this Site

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