Gene Basset Collection of Political Photographs
Collection
Identifier: GTM-770301
The collection consists of photographs of politicians that were used as reference materials by the newspaper cartoonist Gene Basset, dating from 1912 to 1989 (bulk 1960s-1980s). The photographs extensively document U.S. political figures from the 1960s through the 1980s, especially Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. It also includes some foreign political leaders (1930s-1980s) and a small selection of actors/performers/film productions (1930s-1960s). The collection consists entirely of photographic prints, almost all of them black-and-white. The majority are 8x10 inches in size, with a smaller selection of oversized prints.
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Gene Basset (1927- ) is an American cartoonist primarily known for his editorial cartoons.
Born in Brooklyn, New York on July 24, 1927, Gene Basset served with the United States Coast Guard from 1944 to 1946. He then attended the University of Missouri from 1946 to 1947 and also studied at Cooper Union from 1947 to 1950. Basset also studied at Brooklyn College, the Art Students League and the Pratt Institute. He received degrees in both art and psychology.
During his career, Basset worked in several artistic capacities. From 1951 to 1953, Basset was a sketch artist at the Indianapolis Times. He then drew sports and theatrical cartoons for the Brooklyn Eagle before working as a sports cartoonist at the Boston Post. In 1962, after a brief stint as the Honolulu Star Bulletin's first editorial cartoonist, Basset became the chief editorial cartoonist with Scripps Howard newspapers. Beginning in 1972, his work was also syndicated by the United Feature Syndicate. In 1982, Basset joined the staff of the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Basset was a member of the National Cartoonists Society and the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists of which he was president in 1973. Basset also taught art at the Famous Artists School in Westport, Connecticut from 1957 to 1962. The Population Institute named one of his cartoons the Best Editorial Cartoon in 1974 and his cartoons were reprinted in magazines such as Time and Newsweek. His work has been exhibited at the Pratt Institute and in 2005 drawings done by Basset during a trip to Vietnam were exhibited at Gustavus Adolphus College.
Basset retired from the Atlanta Journal Constitution at the end of 1992. Gene Basset's son, Brian Basset worked as an editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Times during the 1980s and 1990s and is now a comic strip artist working on Adam at Home and Red and Rover.
[Source: "Gene Basset Papers, an inventory of his papers at Syracuse University." Accessed October 6, 2022.]
5.2 Cubic Feet (10 boxes)
English
The first three accessions from this collection were arranged alphabetically by an archivist (boxes 1-8), but later accessions have not been arranged.
Gift of Gene Basset, 1976-1992.
The collection has been rehoused in archival-quality boxes and folders. And inventory and index for the first 8 boxes in the collection were produced in 1977 and updated in 1979. These were produced by George M. Barringer, Franklin J. Black, and Llarellyn E. Tillery.
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository