The collection contains one hundred twenty-four (124) original artworks by St. Louis Republic and St. Louis Star editorial cartoonist Archibald B. Chapin (1875-1962). Chapin was an illustrator and cartoonist who covered such topics as domestic economics, politics and government, and the world wars. He was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio on June 22, 1875. Around the age of four, Chapin’s parents moved to the Kansas City area, where he remained until he moved to St. Louis in 1913. Chapin lived in Kirkwood, Missouri during his time in the St. Louis area. In May 1920, he moved to Pennsylvania. His final move was to New York in 1942. He passed away on October 19, 1962.
Chapin desired to study art upon graduation from high school, but his inability to afford formal training caused him to drive a fish wagon long enough to save enough car fare to New York where he stayed from 1899 to 1900.
Chapin returned to Kansas City in 1900 and secured his first newspaper job on the Kansas City Times. Near the end of 1901, he moved to a cartooning job at the Kansas City Star. By 1908, Chapin was teaching art at The Fine Arts Institute of Kansas City (Missouri). He instructed students in newspaper illustration.
He stayed at the Kansas City Star until he took a job at the St. Louis Republic in 1913 where he became a “front-page cartoonist.” Chapin produced the weekly strip, Home, Sweet Home from about September 17, 1917 to around March 11, 1919 for the Republic. Chapin moved to the St. Louis Star after the Republic folded in December 1919 and was sold to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He stayed at the St. Louis Star until April 11, 1920 when he took a cartoonist position at the Country Gentleman, a Philadelphia magazine. During his time at the St. Louis Star he was best known for his series Breaking into the Big League.
Chapin moved to Philadelphia in April 1920 since his job at the Country Gentleman started on May 1. He then moved to the Philadelphia Morning Ledger in 1921 or 1922 and stayed until 1942. He produced the following comics during his time at the Ledger: Uncle Dudley (1922), Chapin’s Daily Comic Strip (1922; replaced Uncle Dudley) and A.B. Chapin Cartoons (1925–1927). His longest running work was Superstitious Sue, which he illustrated from the mid-1920s to the early-1930s for the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.
In 1942, Chapin moved to Schenectady, New York to draw a weekly cartoon for the National Weekly News Service. He stayed there until he retired in August 1962, a few months before his death.