Whitney Darrow Jr. was born 8/22/1909 in Princeton, New Jersey, and died 8/10/1999 in Burlington, Vermont. His career as a cartoonist and illustrator began at New Yorker in 1933, and ended there nearly 50 years later. He grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut and graduated from Princeton University in 1931. He then attended classes at the Art Students League in New York, and shortly thereafter began selling his cartoons to publications such as Judge and Life. He sold his first cartoon to the New Yorker in 1933, and became one of the most popular contributors to that magazine, sometimes having as many as 50 cartoons a year published by them. He also published 5 cartoon collections of his own, and illustrated numerous books. Many critics found his work to be skillful, and believed he helped to popularize cartoons.
Biographical sources: Something About the Author: vol. 13, 115 Obituaries in-- Chicago Tribune, 8/11/99, sec. 1 p.17 Los Angeles Times, 8/13/99, p.A30 New York Times, 8/12/99, p.C21 Washington Post, 8/16/99, p.B7
From the guide to the Whitney Darrow Jr. Papers, 1969, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])
