(AAPNW-KY) – On view through March 31, at the Public Policy Archives at University of Kentucky Libraries in Lexington, are works of political cartoonist and Kentuckian, Clifford Berryman and his son James Berryman.
Clifford was respected by the public and even by the subjects of his cartoons. He did not use caricatures to illustrate his subjects, but sought to draw their likenesses as accurately as possible, which his subjects appreciated. A native of Versailles, he moved to Washington, D.C., at the age of 17 to pursue becoming a draftsman in the U.S. Patent Office where he worked for five years. In 1891, he became the understudy to the Washington Post’s political cartoonist George Y. Coffin. After Coffin’s death in 1896, Berryman became the full-time political cartoonist for the paper until 1907 when he was hired by the Washington Post’s competitor, the Washington Star. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his cartoon titled “Where is the Boat Going.” He drew political cartoons for the Washington Star until his death in 1949.
James followed in his father’s footsteps. He worked first as a reporter for the New Mexico State Tribune before returning to Washington to become the full-time cartoonist at the Washington Star. In 1933, he left the Washington Star and continued to draw political cartoons. Like his father, Berryman won a Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for his cartoon “All Set for a Super-Secret Session in Washington.”
For more information, contact Special Collections at 859.257.8611.
