The collection contains forty-four (44) original artworks by Pulitzer prize winning comic strip and editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin.William Henry "Bill" Mauldin (1921-2003) served in World War II and volunteered to work for the 45th Infantry Division’s newspaper drawing cartoons about regular soldiers facing the dangers and tribulations of war, known as “Willie and Joe.” The cartoon originally was published for the G.I.s serving in Europe. This all changed in 1944, when Mauldin began working for Stars and Stripes which published his cartoons back home in the States as well as for the soldiers in Europe. From February 1944 to the end of the war, Mauldin was producing six cartoons a week. His cartoons became quick favorites among the G.I.s serving in Europe as well as all the folks back home in the States. Mauldin won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. The first was in 1945 and the other in 1959 while at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He won the National Cartoonist Society Award for Editorial Cartooning in the same year (1959) and then received their Reuben Award in 1961. Mauldin abandoned cartooning for a while after the war and did not return until 1958 when he took a position at the Post as a cartoonist. He remained at the post for four years until June 22, 1962 when he moved to the Chicago Sun-Times. Here he created his most recognizable post-war piece which ran in the Sun-Times on November 13, 1963. It was of the Abraham Lincoln Statue at the Lincoln Memorial grieving with his head in his hands for the assignation of President John F. Kennedy. Mauldin remained with the Sun-Times until his retirement in 1991. During his non-cartooning period, Maudlin worked as a film actor, writer, and illustrator. He also ran for Congress in New York in 1956.
