William Morris
Nationality: American
Affiliations: Editorial cartoonist, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, and Washington
William C. Morris was an early editorial cartoonist at The Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, Washington. The early 1900s was an era when politics captured public attention. In Spokane, clamorous crowds gathered along Riverside Avenue during the presidential elections in 1904, 1908, and 1912, to see the election returns projected onto a large outdoor screen from a stereopticon located inside The Spokesman-Review editorial offices. Meanwhile, the politicians shoved into the editorial offices leaning over noisy clusters of reporters pounding out election news from the Western Union wires. These were scenes ripe for exploitation by political cartoonists like Morris who won nationwide fame with his talent for capturing the personality of political figures and poking fun at campaign manipulators. In 1908, the The Review Publishing Company published a three-volume set of its popular cartoonist’s political cartoons; one set is maintained at the Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture. The Museum also owns two original cartoons by Morris.
Sources: Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane.
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The Father of Spokane
Date: Early 20th Century
Image Dimensions: 16 3/8 x 12 1/4 inches (image)
Medium: ink, paper
Inscription: “The Father of Spokane,” lower right corner, on drawing; “Morris,” lower right corner, on drawing
Subjects: cartoon and James Glover
Collection Number: 2583.1