1900

AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER CARTOONIST JAMES H. DONAHEY ENCLOSING AN ORIGINAL SIGNED SKETCH.

1945 · rif. 36520 — Cleveland OH: December 12 1945. 1945. Good. - Letter penned in blue ink & filling two-thirds of a cream-colored 10-7/8 inch high by 8-1/4 inch wide sheet of his Plain Dealer letterhead with his name printed above the address. Signed "J H Donahey". The top left corner of the letterhead has been excised. Folded 3 times for mailing. Together with an original sketch drawn in blue ink on a 2-1/4 inch high by 3-1/2 inch wide card and signed "Donahey". Together with the original "Cleveland Plain Dealer" mailing envelope with the newspaper's banner at top left. Good. Donahey sends an original signed sketch to James Bowman a teacher who collects autographed items for his class. Donahey writes that he was just off on vacation when Bowman's letter arrived "And later when I return I will try and get to your original cartoon on a subject that might be of interest to your youthful audience". He adds a postscript enclosing the sketch. The drawing depicts a bearded country fellow with a spade or hoe being watched by a small dog and a bird perched on a fence. James Harrison Donahey 1875-1949 worked for the Ohio Democrat in New Philadelphia before moving to Cleveland to study at the Cleveland School of Art. He was editorial cartoonist of the Cleveland Plain Dealer from 1900 to 1949. His most famous cartoon published on the death of Mark Twain in 1920 depicted two somber boys rafting a flower-draped bier "Down the River". Cleveland, OH: December 12, 1945. unknown