This collection is located on site.
The Edwina Dumm papers feature the original artworks for comic strip "Cap Stubbs and Tippie", single-panel comic, "Alec the Great" , as well as other illustrated works by Edwina, known for her dog and animal centric strips. Materials in the collection include original artwork for "Cap Stubbs and Tippie" and "Alec the Great" as well as their syndicate copies and clippings; an autograph Christmas card with hand-colored original art, photographs, ephemera, books, music sheets, and scripts collaborated with others and illustrated and inscribed by Edwina. The collection highlights Edwina's love for animals through her artistic illustrations and works.
Series I: General, 1972-1978, undated
Series contains photographs of Edwina and her dog Sinbad, and Christmas cards featuring her artworks on cats and dogs as well as other biographical material, mostly undated, and from 1972 to 1978.
Series II: Cap Stubbs and Tippie, 1930s-1966
Series consists of Edwina's comic strip, Cap Stubbs and Tippie's original art, photocopies of Sunday Pages, daily comic clippings, and reprints, dating from the 1930s to 1966. The strip debuted in 1918 in the Ohio newspaper, The Columbus Monitor. Edwina left Columbus in the fall of 1917 and moved to New York. Cap Stubbs and Tippie was syndicated by the George Matthew Adams Service until it went out of business in 1965, the strip continued in The Washington Star Syndicate until 1966, when Edwina decided to retire. The entire run of the strip lasted 48 years from August 21, 1918, to September 3, 1966. The strip tells the many adventures of Joseph "Cap" Stubbs and his dog, Tippie, along with their relation to Cap's friends and family, especially with Cap's Gran'ma Sara Bailey.
Subseries II.1: Original Art includes the original art of Cap Stubbs and Tippie, dating from the 1930s to 1966. The medium of the original art is mostly ink, pencil, blue pencil on comic strip sized bristol paper and in some cases, with watercolor. Some of which Tippie was cut out and pasted back on the strips.
Subseries II.2: Tippie Sunday Pages include nearly 100 pieces of photocopies and duplicates of the Tippie Sunday Pages, dating from 1930s to 1966, with some pages missing. The Adams service partnered with King Features Syndicate to produce a Tippie Sunday page on November 25, 1934.
Subseries II.3: Daily Clippings and Reprints consists of daily clippings and reprints of Cap Stubbs and Tippie, bulk date from 1924 to 1959. The daily clippings and comic strips run from Monday to Saturday, with some undated or gaps.
Series III: Alec the Great, 1933-1940, 1942-1943, 1945, 1958
Series consists of daily single panel strips featuring a shaggy little dog, Alec the Great (1931-1969), dating from 1933-1958. Alec the Great was drawn by Edwina, the verses were composed by Edwina's brother, Robert Dumm (Robert Dennis Dumm, signed as R.D. or R.D.D.). Alec was the cousin of Tippie from Cap Stubbs and Tippie, and a "daily companion of millions". Alec was modeled after Lillie Jane the 11, one of Edwina's dear companions. The daily panels showcased Alec the Great, giving friendly and wise advice to those in need of comfort for times of sorrow and caution for times of celebration. The panels were published by George Matthew Adams Inc. and ran daily from Mondays thru Saturdays, except on Sundays. The syndicated daily panels included in this series are dated from 1933 to 1958, with gaps and some issues missing from certain date ranges. Also included in the series is a drawing of Alec on a framed card and the book, Alec the Great, published in 1933.
Series contains publications with illustrations by Edwina, dating from 1928 to 1936. The books emphasize the connection and publishing collaboration between Edwina and other animal and dog lovers of her time.
Series V: Helen Thomas collaborations, 1944-1950
Series consists of an unpublished photocopy script of Tippie's Circus Fantasy by Edwina and her friend and roommate, Helen Thomas, as well music scores and sheets illustrated by Edwina and composed by Helen, dating from 1944 to 1950.
Collection is in 5 series.
Rbml Advance Appointment
This collection is located on site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Edwina Dumm papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Comic Art Collection, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Edwina Dumm Collection, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. https://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b3336964~S7
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Purchased by Curator Karen L. Green, Fall 2016 and 2018. Accession 2016-2017-M112 and 2018-2019-M011.
Edwina Dumm Exhibition. The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. https://cartoons.osu.edu/digital_exhibits/edwinadumm/index.html
Edwina Dumm Collection. The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. https://library.ohio-state.edu/record=b3336964~S7
Caswell, Lucy. "Edwina Dumm: Pioneer Woman Editorial Cartoonist, 1915-1917." Journalism History Spring 1988, Vol. 15, No. 1.
"Dumm, Edwina (21 July 1893-28 April 1990)." American National Biography Online http://www.anb.org/articles/17/17-01675.html?a=1&f=dumm%2C%20edwina&ia=-at&ib=-bib&d=10&ss=0&q=1
"Edwina Dumm, Cartoonist, 96." New York Times. May 2, 1990, C23.
Marschall, Rich and Bill Janocha. "Edwina at 93: Kids and Dogs and an America That We Have Lost,: Nemo: The Classics Comics Library 25 (April 1987), 5-32.
Robbins, Trina. The Great Women Cartoonists. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, New York, 2001.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Inventoried by a student worker under the supervision of Karen L. Green, 2023. Processed and finding aid created by Yingwen Huang, 2024.
Materials purchased in 2018 are the bulk of the materials in the collection. Items previously included in the Comic Art Collection were purchased in 2016 and added to this collection during processing. Tippie Sunday page photocopies were identified by date and rearranged chronologically during processing.
Frances Edwina Dumm (also known as Edwina or Edwina Dumm) was born in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, on July 21, 1893. She was the daughter of Frank Edwin Dumm and Anna Gilmore Dennis Dumm, and the sibling of Roberta Dennis Dumm and Robert Dennis Dumm. After graduating from high school, she worked as a stenographer at the Columbus Board of Education while enrolled in a cartooning correspondence course with the Landon Cartoon Correspondence School.
In 1916, Edwina was the first woman to work full-time as an editorial cartoonist for The Columbus (Ohio) Monitor in America, focusing on drawing political cartoons. She left for New York when the Monitor ceased in 1917 and she authored Cap Stubbs and Tippie, syndicated by the George Matthew Adams Service in 1921. Her ideas for Cap Stubbs and Tippie are from her own childhood memories and the grandma is modeled after her two grandmothers. Her other works included Sinbad and Alec the Great (single-panel strip including four-line verses by her brother, Robert Dennis Dumm). Edwina was inspired by Robert L. Dickey and George Bridgman, who led to her interest in knowing animal anatomy. She modeled Sinbad after and the early Tippie after Buster Brown's Tige and was inspired by David Low for the stories.
As an animal lover, Edwina was a devout vegetarian. She also illustrated books with other writers who are also animal lovers, as well as sheet music in collaboration with her talented musician roommate, Helen Thomas. In 1966, Edwina retired from her comic strip. Edwina was also the first woman to receive the prestigious Gold Key Award from the National Cartoonist's Hall of Fame in 1978.
Edwina died at her home in Manhattan on April 28, 1990, at the age of 96. She was buried along with her family at the Upper Sandusky's Oak Hill Cemetery.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.