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Bill Gallo cartoons

 Collection
Identifier: BA MSS 126

Scope and Contents

A collection of cartoons created by Bill Gallo between 1956 and 2010, primarily when he was with the New York Daily News. The cartoons depict players, executives, record-setting events, and teams. Specific cartoon series include "Gallo's Humor," "NY Daily News Caricature," "New Apple in the Big Apple Orchard, and "Baseball's Memorable Moments." In addition to the cartoons, there are also color posters and a photograph of Gallo, himself.

Dates

  • 1956-2010

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions but viewing materials does require an appointment. Please contact the Giamatti Research Center, research@baseballhall.org, 607-547-0330.

Conditions Governing Use

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum provides use copies of materials to facilitate private study, scholarship, and research. The Museum welcomes you to use materials in our collections that are in the public domain and to make fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law and with proper citation. Permission to publish materials must be obtained from: Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, 25 Main St., Cooperstown, NY 13326 Phone: 607.547.0330 E-mail: research@baseballhall.org

Biographical / Historical

Bill Gallo (1922-2011) was an award-winning American sports cartoonist.

Born December 28, 1922 in New York City and raised in Astoria, Queens, William "Bill" Gallo grew up wanting to work for a newspaper. His father, an immigrant from the Basque region of Spain, worked at the the Spanish-language paper La Prensa. Gallo acquired his art education through Columbia University and what is now the School of Visual Arts through the GI Bill.

In 1941, he joined the staff of the New York Daily News and worked as a reporter, caption writer and staff artist. He left in 1942 to serve with the United States Marine Corps but returned in 1945 after a tour of duty that included Iwo Jima. In 1954 his first cartoon was published in the Daily News and he became the paper's sports cartoonist in 1960, after the death of cartoonist Leo O'Melia. Not only did Gallo depict many figures in the sports world, he has also met and befriended many prominent athletes including Muhammad Ali and baseball's Joe Dimaggio.

Gallo has been an active member of the National Cartoonists Society. He served two terms as NCS president and won many of their awards including best sports cartoonist (1968-1970, 1972-1973, 1983-1985, 1987-1988), the Silver T-Square Award (1978), and the Elzie Segar Award (1976). In 1998 NCS recognized him with the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. Gallo's work has also won several Page One Awards from the New York Newspaper Guild. Gallo has been a member of the New York Boxing Writers (serving as president), the Baseball Writers Association, Professional Football Writers, Turf Writers and The New York Press Association. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

An estimated 15,000 cartoons by Gallo have appeared in the Daily News and in 2000, Gallo published Drawing a Crowd: Bill Gallo's Greatest Sports Moments. As of 2009, Gallo was still writing a weekly sports column for the Daily News.

Gallo died in May 2011 of complications of pneumonia.

Extent

24.29 Linear feet (in 17 flat boxes)

10.14 Cubic Feet

Abstract

A large collection of cartoons related to baseball players, executive, record setting events, and Baseball Hall of Famers created by Bill Gallo. These are dated between 1956-2010, with many not dated.

Arrangement

This collection is physically arranged in order of donation. For ease of use, the finding aid has been organized into five series: Series I. General cartoons; Series II. Baseball's Memorable Moments; Series III. Gallo's Humor; Series IV. New Apple in the Big Apple Orchard; and Series V. NY Daily News Caricature. Each series is arranged alphabetically by title.

Physical Location

Manuscript Archives, Aisle 24, Range a, Shelves 2-4 MSS Photos Minor Collections, Box 2, Aisle 7

Other Finding Aids

Item-level records for some cartoons are available in the Museum's Digital Collections at https://collection.baseballhall.org/groups/gallo-cartoons/.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift (B-1959-00035, B-1965-00300, B-1966-00175, B-1966-00176, B-1967-00035, B-1968-00200, B-197400130, B-1978-00249, BL-1978-03439, B-1980-00055, B-1984-00193, B-1956-00254, B-1961-00103, B-1965-00301, B-1967-00036, B-1968-00010, B-1975-00042, B-1975-00051, B-1975-00565, B-1976-00363, B-1976-00364, B-1979-00026, B-1983-00037, B-1983-00038, B-1996-00257, BL-2018-00454, BL-2019-00084, BL-2020-00052)

Accruals

Any future donations of Gallo's cartoons will be considered accruals to this collection.

Related Materials

Syracuse University Special Collections Research Center, Bill Gallo Papers

Separated Materials

MSS Photos Minor Collections, Box 2 - Bill Gallo photo, undated

Processing Information

Cartoons were place in acid-free sleeves as needed, and archival flat boxes.

Creator

Title
Guide to the Bill Gallo cartoons BA MSS 126
Status
Completed
Author
Claudette Scrafford, Manuscript Archivist
Date
October 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Repository Details

Part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Archives Repository

Contact:
25 Main St.
Cooperstown NEW YORK 13326 USA