William Allen Rogers (1854–1931) was an American political cartoonist born in

Springfield, Ohio Springfield is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Clark County. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio and is situated on the Mad River, Buck Creek, and Beaver Creek, approximately west of Columbus and northe ...

Biography

He studied at the

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is a Private university, private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1865 in Worcester, WPI was one of the United States' first engineering and technology universities and now has 14 ac ...

and

Wittenberg College Wittenberg University is a private liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio. It has 1,326 full-time students representing 33 states and 9 foreign countries. Wittenberg University is associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. ...

, but never graduated. Rogers taught himself to draw and began submitting political cartoons to Midwestern newspapers in his teens. At the age of fourteen, his first cartoons appeared in a

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County, Ohio, Greene County. The 2020 United S ...

-based newspaper, to which Rogers' mother had earlier submitted a selection of his sketches. The start of Rogers' career as an illustrator came in 1873 when he was hired by the '' Daily Graphic'' in New York. He was nineteen years old at the time. Rogers' job at the ''Daily Graphic'' was to help out with the news sketches and at times draw cartoons. In 1877, he was hired by ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'' to draw the magazine's political cartoons after the departure of

Thomas Nast Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon". He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...

. The cartoons were dramatic adjuncts that illustrated the magazine's editorials. Walt Reed, author of ''The Illustrator in America: 1860-2000'', writes that while Rogers cartoons "never quite approached Nast's in power, his ideas were strongly presented and his drawings somewhat more skillful." Rogers remained at ''Harper's Weekly'' for twenty-five years, and lived in

St. George, Staten Island St. George is a neighborhood on the northeastern tip of Staten Island in New York City, along the waterfront where the Kill Van Kull enters Upper New York Bay. It is the most densely developed neighborhood on Staten Island, and the location of th ...

. After leaving ''Harper's Weekly'', Rogers was hired by the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

'', where he drew cartoons daily for a total of twenty years. He occasionally worked for ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...

'' too, and submitted cartoons and illustrations for '' Puck'', '' The Century Magazine'', and ''

St. Nicholas Magazine ''St. Nicholas Magazine'' was a popular monthly American children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905. Dodge published work by th ...

''. Rogers retired as a cartoonist in 1926 while working for the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

''. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1931.

Gallery

File:William Allen Rogers - Only the Navy Can Stop This (WWI U.S. Navy recruitment poster).jpg, World War I

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

recruitment poster using one of Rogers's cartoons for the ''New York Herald''. File:GreatSealPress1878.jpg, George Bartle, who was the

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

caretaker from 1852–99, for the March 1878 Harper’s Magazine File:Great White Fleet return2.jpg, "Return of the

Great White Fleet The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the group of United States Navy battleships which completed a journey around the globe from December 16, 1907 to February 22, 1909 by order of President Theodore Roosevelt. Its mission was ...

". The cartoon appeared in the ''

'' on February 22, 1909 Image:Tr-bigstick-cartoon.JPG, 1904 cartoon recreates the Big Stick Diplomacy of Theodore Roosevelt as an episode in ''

Gulliver's Travels ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

References

External links

* *
Drawing from Life
at

Smithsonian Libraries Smithsonian Libraries and Archives is an institutional archives and library system comprising 21 branch libraries serving the various Smithsonian Institution museums and research centers. The Libraries and Archives serve Smithsonian Institutio ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, William Allen 1854 births 1931 deaths American editorial cartoonists People from Springfield, Ohio Artists from Ohio People from St. George, Staten Island