Legendary Cartoonist Al Jaffee Donates Artwork, Papers to Columbia University Libraries

From The New York Times:

Al Jaffee started out as a professional cartoonist in the early 1940s, and he has been at it ever since. Although best known for the three-panel fold-ins that Mad magazine has run since 1964…
…Mr. Jaffee, 92, has decided to donate many of them, along with other material from his personal archives, to the rare book and manuscript library at Columbia University. The first of several installments is expected to be delivered this month.
Karen Green, a Columbia librarian, approached Mr. Jaffee at last year’s New York Comic Con, a gathering place for popular-culture fans, and asked him if was interested in giving his papers to the university.
Ms. Green, Columbia’s librarian for ancient and medieval history, may seem an unlikely person to pursue Mr. Jaffee. But starting in early childhood, she led a secret life as a cartoon and comic book fan, which picked up momentum in junior high, when she began reading Archie comics to prepare for the social complications of high school.
Dismayed that Columbia had only four graphic novels, Ms. Green pushed the library in 2005 to acquire them in a systematic way. The library now has 4,000, and she took on the position of graphic-novels librarian

Read the Complete Article
Much More About the Acquisition in this Announcement from Columbia University Libraries (July 9, 2013)
See Also: Comics at Columbia
See Also: Interview: “Karen Green Tackles Comics New York” (GraphiNovelReporter.com)
See Also: Program (With Links to Video of Presentations): Comics New York: A Symposium
The symposium was organized by Columbia University Libraries and took place on March 24, 2012.

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Interviews, Journal Articles, Libraries, News, Profiles