An Editorial Cartoon is an illustration containing a commentary that usually relates to current events. According to the Herbert Block Foundation, there were approximately 2,000 editorial cartoonists employed at newspapers at the start of the 20th century. By the early 1980s, there were around 250. Current estimates put the number of full-time editorial cartoonists in the U.S. at just a few dozen.
Doug MacGregor has been an editorial cartoonist for more than 40 years. He got his professional start at the Norwich Bulletin in eastern Connecticut in 1980. He moved to Florida in 1988 and drew cartoons for the News Press in Fort Myers until 2011. Doug created five cartoons every week, year in and year out, for nearly a quarter century. These days he draws one a week for The Naples Press.
Doug donated a large collection of his original drawings (mostly pertaining to the local environment) to Florida Gulf Coast University’s “Archives & Special Collections” at the school’s Wilson G. Bradshaw Library and students have completed the process of digitizing them and the team at the Archives helps students use Doug’s work in their studies.
He's giving a talk about the collection, and his work as an editorial cartoonist, at the library on April 16 at 1pm. He’s also giving a talk at the Cape Coral Museum of History on April 15 at 5:30pm in conjunction with his show at the museum titled “Suitable for Framing: A Collection of Cape Coral Cartoons by Doug MacGregor” that runs until June 14.
Guests:
Doug MacGregor, cartoonist and author
Emily Murray, Archives Coordinator at the Archives & Special Collections at the Wilson G. Bradshaw Library at Florida Gulf Coast University
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