Dugan, Irvin, 1892-1982

Irvin Dugan was born in Guyandotte, West Virginia on February 8, 1892, the son of James and Lizzie W. Dugan. After receiving his early training in Huntington public schools, he studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the New School of Design in Boston. During World War I he worked as a draftsman for the Navy in Portsmouth, Virginia, where he married Anna Berry in 1919. He returned to Huntington to work for an engraving firm, and in 1927 joined the Huntington Publishing Company as staff artist. His work was displayed at the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco; his work is also part of the permanent collections at the Princeton University Library, the Huntington Library at San Marino, California, and the Albert T. Reid Cartoon Collection at the University of Kansas Journalism Historical Center. Several cartoons were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. While in Huntington, he was active in the Highlawn Methodist Church, the Royal Arch Masons, the Knights Templar, and the Shriners. Upon his retirement from the Huntington Publishing Company in 1957, he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked for nine years as a retoucher for the Phoenix Gazette. Dugan died in Phoenix on March 17, 1982.