Herblock Art to Library of Congress

By: Dave Astor The Herb Block Foundation -- endowed with $50 million by the late cartooning giant -- is drawing up plans to spend the money and keep Herblock's memory alive.

Its first big move is donating more than 14,000 of Herblock's editorial cartoons to the Library of Congress.

"They were in his basement -- one burst pipe away from disaster," said foundation President Frank Swoboda.

The library will display a number of the Herblock cartoons in an exhibit that starts this Wednesday, March 12. Swoboda told E&P Online that there will eventually be a permanent Herblock room at the library, which will also loan out cartoons for shows in other venues.

The foundation also plans to dispense grant money, help with Herblock-related books, start a political cartooning prize (which might honor Web work, too), and give college scholarships to needy two- and four-year students in various subject areas.

Formal plans for at least some of these efforts are slated to be announced before the end of this year, according to Swoboda. In the meantime, the Washington-based foundation's four staffers and 17-member board are mulling over the details.

For instance, there is the matter of what groups might receive grants. "If you look at Herblock's cartoons, there are certain themes -- social justice, civil liberties, civil rights, and education," said Swoboda. So organizations in those areas would be prime grant candidates. But questions include whether to help established or struggling groups, give small sums to many groups or large sums to a few groups, etc.

Also under consideration is helping journalism organizations such as the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

Swoboda reported that about $20 million of Herblock's estate is available to the foundation at this point, with the rest to be released when the probate process is completed. Herblock died in October 2001, at age 91, after a multi-Pulitzer-Prize-winning career that began in 1929 with the Chicago Daily News. He joined The Washington Post in 1946, and his last national distributor was Creators Syndicate.

Swoboda noted that if the history of the 20th century was somehow lost, "you could probably reconstruct the major events by looking at Herblock's cartoons."

In his will, Herblock established the foundation and chose the people to run it. Three of the four staffers were Herblock's assistants -- one, foundation Executive Director Jean Rickard, worked with him for 40-plus years. The fourth, now-retired Post reporter and editor Swoboda, had a friendly relationship with the cartoonist.

"He was a wonderful man -- warm and funny," said Swoboda. "And he never lost his sense of outrage. He wouldn't holler, but you could see it in his cartoons."

The amount of money Herblock had shocked almost everybody. "He was kind of rumpled," said Swoboda. "You wouldn't think he had two nickels. He broke all the rules of investing, essentially having only one stock -- the Washington Post Co. -- and keeping it. When it split, it was like having a rabbit in a safety-deposit box."

Several past and present Post people (including Swoboda) are on the foundation board. Other members, such as Chicago Tribune/Tribune Media Services columnist Clarence Page, come from outside the Post.

Swoboda noted that the foundation, which will eventually have a Web site, intends to be a permanent entity that will be around for the 100th anniversary of Herblock's 1909 birth -- and beyond.