Ray, S. J. Papers

Kansas City Star Editorial Cartoonist, 1931-1963

The papers of S. J. Ray consist of political cartoons by Ray and other political cartoonists of the time, as well as newspaper clippings about political cartoonists. S. J. Ray’s political cartoons depict many national events such as the New Deal, World War II, all Presidential elections between 1936 and 1956, the Korean War, and the Cold War. Ray’s cartoons also depict many Kansas City-area issues and subjects such as Kansas and Missouri politics and economics, Tom Pendergast, and the Future Farmers of America.

Size: 2.4 linear feet (about 4800 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The Truman Library has received no donation of copyright for this collection. The copyright presumably belongs to publishers of this material or the heirs of S. J. Ray.
Processed by: Janice Davis and Sarah H. Peters (2005) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

S. J. Ray’s political cartoons depict many national events, as well as many Kansas City-area events. National topics include all presidential elections between 1936 and 1956, the economy, foreign trade, rising pork prices, the New Deal, the NRA, World War II, post-war housing shortages, the role of women during and after World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and Middle East policies. Kansas City-area topics include economics and politics in Kansas and Missouri, Tom Pendergast, the Future Farmers of America, the American Royal, the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, and the Kansas City Philharmonic.

Other materials at the Truman Library archives relating to S. J. Ray and his political cartoons include a collection of cartoons in the Vertical File, and a selection of political cartoons available on the Truman Library web site. The Truman Library museum collection also contains a series, “Original Political Cartoons, 1934-2003,” which contains several original S. J. Ray cartoons.