Tom Little scrapbook, ca. 1967-ca. 1972.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: The Tom Little Scrapbook, ca. 1967-ca. 1972, represents a sampling of published articles about the Pulitzer Prize winning editorial cartoonist who illustrated for the "Nashville Tennessean" newspaper. Includes several newsclippings of political cartoons.

Cite as: Tom Little Scrapbook, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code)

Helen Hayes;,Gift;,RT-208.

Tom Little (1898-1972) was born in Snatch (Peytonsville), a small community in Williamson County, Tennessee. The Pulitizer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville and joined the staff of the Tennessean newspaper prior to a brief period in New York when he worked at the Herald Tribune creating a comic strip. He returned to Nashville and resumed employment with his former newspaper and worked as a city editor. Circa 1934, Little and Tom Sims co-created the comic strip "Sunflower Street" that became a widely popular feature. His career as a political cartoonist commenced and Little became famous as one of the nation's top political cartoonists. In 1957, his cartoon "Wonder Why My Parents Didn't Give Me Salk Shots?" won the Pulitzer Prize. It launched the newspaper's campaign in support of the Salk vaccine program, as the cartoon was distributed nationally. His cartoon works created during his career at the Tennessean were widely known throughout America, reprinted in numerous magazines, encylopedias, and newspapers, as well as in foreign countries. The cartoonist's work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, the New-York Herald Tribune, and other papers and periodicals. In 1947, Little received the National Headliners' Club top honor award medal in a select group of twenty-one journalists at Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1948, Little was selected by the National Press Club as the "man who in 1947 drew, in our opinion, the most consistently outstanding editorial cartoons." In 1951, the political cartoonist received a National Safety Council award from Gov. Gordon Browning, for creating an outstanding safety cartoon for the Nashville Tennessean newspaper. In 1953, Little won the Freedom Foundation citation and the Christopher medal. Throughout his career, Little was awarded several National Safety council awards. He was known and admired by several U.S. Presidents. One of the great favorites of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, during his fourth-term campaign, was a cartoon "My Little Dog Fala is Furious," showing the President's pet Scottie chasing the GOP elephant. Tom Little worked for the Tennessean newspaper for fifty-four years. His wife, Lillian, taught and administered school in Davidson County, Tennessee.

In English

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