Seibel, Frederick Otto, papers A Guide to the Frederick Otto Seibel papers, 1882-1968 M 23 A Collection in Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Collection number M 23

A Guide to the Frederick Otto Seibel papers, 1882-1968 M 23

A Collection in Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Collection number M 23

VCU James Branch Cabell Library

Special Collections and Archives 901 Park Avenue
Richmond, Virginia 23284
Business Number: (804) 828-1108
libjbcsca@vcu.edu
URL: https://www.library.vcu.edu/research-teaching/special-collections-and-archives/locations/#cabell

Special Collections and Archives staff

Repository

VCU James Branch Cabell Library

Identification

M 23

Title

Frederick Otto Seibel papers 1882-1968

Quantity

16.9 Linear Feet, (contains oversize material)

Creator

Seibel, Fred O. (Fred Otto), 1886-1969

Language

English .

Administrative Information

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Preferred Citation

Frederick Otto Seibel papers, Collection # M 23, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Frederick Otto Seibel was born in Durhamville, New York, on 8 October 1886 and died in Richmond, Virginia on 19 June 1968. Siebel spent his childhood drawing sketches of the Erie Canal. He was married with no children. After attending classes at the Art Students League in New York City for a short time. Seibel started his own commercial art business in the early years of the twentieth century. His first cartoon was printed in the Oneida Dispatch in 1908. He began his career as a cartoonist in 1916 for the Knickerbocker Press in Albany, New York. Seibel moved to Virginia in 1926 to become an editorial cartoonist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and worked there for over thirty years. He did several shows at the Metropolitan Museum Of New York, Art Institute of Chicago and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. A biography is contained in the Spring 1977 issue of the Virginia Cavalcade (included in Box 1). Fred O. Seibel died in 1968 after completing nearly 16,000 cartoons. His most famous cartoon was "Retreat from Moscow" (11-5-1936) depicting presidential candidate Alfred E. Smith as Napoleon after FDR's landslide victory in 1936.

Scope and Contents

The Seibel Collection is comprised of two major sections: letters which Seibel received relating to his newspaper cartoons (including correspondence from Harry Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Robert Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Harry F. Byrd, John L. Lewis, J. Edgar Hoover and numerous members of the federal and state government), and a complete set of his published cartoons from both the Knickerbocker Press and the Richmond Times-Dispatch . Other items in the collection include drawing notebooks and early art school sketches, seven oil paintings thought to have been painted by Seibel, folios containing copies of sketches by Charles Dana Gibson and Frederic Remington, as well as folios containing newspaper clippings of major world events in Seibel's lifetime. There are also thirty-four original cartoons, some of which were autographed by Seibel.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged alphabetically. The Special Collections and Archives Department has 34 original cartoons, some inscribed, Seibel's own clipping file, early drawings, oils and watercolors and some correspondence. The collection is divided into two groups: Seibel's oil paintings, folios, and oversized cartoons are stored separately; the newspaper copies of his cartoons and boxed in groups of fifty and are arranged, with few exceptions, chronologically. The cartoons were cut and numbered by Seibel in the order in which they were published, and that numerical order has been preserved.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Cartoonists -- Archives -- United States
Editorial cartoonists -- Archives -- Virginia -- Richmond

Significant Persons Associated With the Collection

Seibel, Fred O. (Fred Otto), 1886-1969

Container List

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 1

Biography: Virginia Cavalcade Spring,

1977

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 2

Yearbook: Oneida High School

1908

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 3

German Notebook

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 4

School Exercise Book

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 5

Notebook: Various Topics

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 6

Notebook

1912-1919

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 7

Notebook

1912-1921

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 8

Notebook of Quotations

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 9

Notes on Caricature and Cartooning

1915

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 10

Nags Head Materials

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 11

Commemorative Booklet of Assassination of McKinley

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 12

Miscellaneous Newspaper Clippings

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 13

Ephemera

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 14

Correspondence: Crow Letters

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 15

Correspondence: Byrd, Harry F., Sr.

1926-1949

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 16

Correspondence: Byrd, Harry F., Sr.

1950-1962

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 17

Correspondence: A

1922-1952

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 18

Correspondence: B

1916-1955

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 19

Correspondence: C

1924-1954

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 20

Correspondence: D

1921-1951

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 21

Correspondence: E

1917-1952

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 22

Correspondence: F

1910-1950

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 23

Correspondence: G

1904-1965

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 23a

Correspondence: Goldwater, Barry

1965

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 24

Correspondence: H

1919-1959

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 24a

Correspondence: Hoffa, James R.

1959

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 24b

Correspondence: Hoover, J. Edgar

1940

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 25

Correspondence: I

1938

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 26

Correspondence: J

1930-1956

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 27

Correspondence: K

1916-1961

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 27a

Correspondence: Kennedy, Robert F.

1961

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 28

Correspondence: L

1933-1949

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 29

Correspondence: M

1929-1956

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 30

Correspondence: N

1919-1952

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 31

Correspondence: O

1935-1940

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 32

Correspondence: P

1917-1958

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 33

Correspondence: R

1931-1967

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 33a

Correspondence: Roosevelt, Franklin D.

1930

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 34

Correspondence: S

1930-1959

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 35

Correspondence: T

1930-1967

Mixed Materials box: 1 box: 35a

Correspondence: Truman, Harry S.

1954

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 36

Correspondence: U

1932-1940

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 37

Correspondence: V

1931-1947

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 38

Correspondence: W

1916-1949

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 39

Correspondence: Y

1935-1937

Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 40

Correspondence: Z

1937-1938

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.1

Fred Seibel Nameplate for Desk

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.2

Two WRVA Phonographs: Recording of Seibel

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.3

Audio Tape of Interview with Seibel, undated

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.4

Articles with Mentions of Seibel's Name

1913

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.5

Graphic Advertisement for Seibel

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.6

Advertisements for Bustles, Cigarettes, Hammocks, Flour, Etc...

1890s

Mixed Materials Box-folder: 1a.7

Cartoonists Who Helped Win the War

1919

Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 1-32

Cartoons: Knickerbocker Press

1908-1919

Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 1-33

Cartoons: Knickerbocker Press

1919-1926

Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 1-24

Cartoons: Richmond Times Dispatch

1926-1929

Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 1-26