Mort Walker’s International Museum of Cartoon Art has had a long (more than 30 year) history of diaspora: from its first home in Greenwich CT, to a castle in Rye, NY, to a new home of Florida, to a proposed home in the Empire State Building that never came through, to a warehouse in Stamford, it’s had a cursed life, it seems. We spoke about it with Walker about a year ago, and he mentioned that he was negotiating with Ohio State for a permanent home, and happily, that is just what has happened:
Mort Walker’s International Museum of Cartoon Art (IMCA) will be moving its estimated 200,000 piece collection to the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library creating the largest collection of original cartoon art in the world.
IMCA’s collection consists original drawings from all genres of cartoon art (comic strips, comic books, animation, editorial, advertising, sport, caricature, greeting cards, graphic novels, and illustrations), display figures, toys and collectibles, and works on film and tape, CDs, and DVDs.
[snip]
Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator of the Cartoon Research Library, said that efforts are already underway to increase its space necessary to receive the additional art.
This is awesome news and another reason to shout O-H! I-O!
I remember back in the mid-80s when I convinced my dad to take me to the IMOCA for a signing by John Byrne and Terry Austin just right after the Superman relaunch and I was 12 or 13.
Unfortunately, both John Byrne and the IMOCA were big letdowns.
The full press release distributed in conjunction with the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library (including a great photo of Mort) is available at http://www.comicrelated.com/press/080515003.html
Cheers!
I was at the Grand Opening in Boca Raton some 12-13 years ago. Great building but, I dunno, it just seemed the comic book art on display was blah. Coulda been, shoulda been so much more. The gift shop was a letdown as well. Hoping for better at OSU.
It never should have moved out the “castle”. That was the perfect building. I guess he couldn’t resist being courted by Boca with a new huge home and lots of hype. Never made much sense to more to an outdoor mall in Florida (maybe near Orlando would have worked better with lots of families visiting all year.) This is a decent outcome, but not accessible for many of us. At least someone will take care of the collection.
I’m rather surprised by this. The folks in Museum Chartering here in New York were a little put out with Mort when he moved the museum to Florida without bothering to notify them. I heard it described as the “National Museum on the Lam.” When the IMCA petitioned to dissolve last year, it looked like the Chartering folks would fight to keep the artwork in NY State. I guess they worked out some kind of compromise. If they didn’t, this announcement might be a bit premature.