America’s Darling: J. N. “Ding” Darling
Press Releases – Events – News - Production Video Clips
Production Photos – Archival Treasures - Contemporary Artists
Archival Treasures
Look what we’ve discovered!
Art Works
A sample of Darling’s early art works from his childhood as well as adulthood.
An undated Christmas cartoon of Mary Darling.
From Christopher “Kip” Koss: “Jay ‘Ding’ Darling (‘Bah Bah,’ as I used to call him) drew this for me in 1940, when I was about five years old. It represents one of the advantages of having a grandfather with wonderful drawing skills and a great sense of humor.”
Documents
Darling Article: This article (c.1903) from a trade magazine describes Darling in his early days as a cartoonist at the Sioux City Journal. (Courtesy private collection)
Letter to Darling from Francis Gallup, Art Director, The American Cartoonist Magazine. (Courtesy private collection)
Read about a plot to kidnap Darling in this 1934 Des Moines Register article
View a 1929 article from Better Homes and Gardens: “J. N. Darling in His Garden: His Humanness and Love for Children Help to Make Him a Great Cartoonist”
Photos
1898 – Junior in Beloit College in his own handwriting. (Courtesy University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections)
Darling and a Curtiss Oriole Aircraft (Courtesy University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections)
Archival photos of the Fish House as it appeared in Darling’s time
An undated photo of Darling’s father, Rev. Marcellus Darling. (Courtesy Sioux City Public Museum)
Audio Clips
In this excerpt from a 1952 letter to William Hard of Readers’ Digest, Darling discusses the devastating effects of soil erosion on American agricultural land.
(Courtesy University of Iowa Libraries Special Collections)
In this 1955 audio clip, Darling explains how he created his most often reproduced cartoon, “The Long, Long, Trail,” upon hearing of the death of Theodore Roosevelt.
Cartoons (Courtesy University of Iowa Special Collections)
A sample of Darling’s early cartoons from the Sioux City Journal.
Darling’s 1903 and 1927 Christmas cartoons.
A sample of Darling’s cartoons from the 1920s.
