Thomas Nast Education Cartoons

On View At Macculloch Hall

 

1c Nast-Miss Columbia

Thomas Nast engraving, “The Good-For-Nothing, in Miss Columbia’s Public School,” Harper’s Weekly, November 4, 1871.

11/3

THOMAS NAST EDUCATION CARTOONS ON VIEW AT MACCULOCH HALL W/1CUT

AVV/JAR SET 10/24 #674259

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — Macculloch Hall Historical Museum presents its newest exhibit, “Thomas Nast and the Public School System,” through September 1.

Nast was very interested in public education and drew many cartoons about the issues surrounding education. Many of these cartoons appeared in Harper’s Weekly, while others were drawn for books and other publications. In many of Nast’s illustration about education, he also addressed his belief in the separation of church and state. Nast believed that public money should be used for public schools and not for parochial schools.

Nast, a German-born immigrant, often depicted Irish immigrants as apes in his cartoons and portrayed Catholic bishops in a derogatory way. Though many of his cartoons portray Irish people in an offensive manner, he had Irish servants living with him and his family in their Morristown home on Macculloch Avenue. These Irish women even appear in family photographs taken at Villa Fontana, Nast’s home.

Nast often expressed more than one of his views in a single cartoon. His pro-public education cartoons, which many times had anti-Catholic themes, were a product of his political views rather than his religious beliefs. Most of the public school cartoons were drawn to support President Ulysses S. Grant’s administration because Nast was a great ally and friend of Grant.

Nast created many of the pro-public school cartoons to try to save the Republican ideals of the country and repress Democratic ideas. Nast drew some of his most popular characters in these types of cartoons to convey his points. Both Uncle Sam and Columbia are represented in various cartoons to promote the public school system. The attack on the Catholic Church was much more of a political attack on the Democrats than an assault on the religious beliefs of the Church.

Macculloch Hall Historical Museum is at 45 Macculloch Avenue. For information, 973-538-2404.