Monday, June 11, 2012

Campaigns and Cartoons is now OPEN in the Keller Gallery!

On Friday night we opened Campaigns and Cartoons: the Role of Caricature in Political Persuasion from the collection of Julian and Sue Ridlen in cooperation with the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Sit.  It is a fantastic exhibition of political cartoons, ranging from 1876 to 1908.

Many of the cartoons in the exhibition depict McKinley or issues relating to his presidency or campaign (the Spanish-American War and the Gold Standard, for example).  But I also wanted to display some cartoons from our own collection about McKinley.  And Doug Bennett emailed me after seeing an ad for the exhibit in About magazine to loan me three more framed cartoons about McKinley.

In total, there are more than 20 about our president!

I've also added several McKinley campaign artifacts, including canes, buttons, ribbons, a soap baby, a punched lantern, instruments used in parades to the Front Porch Campaign house, and lots more.

The exhibit is on view through September 30.  I hope you come see it!

Here are some photos from Friday night's opening:










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