Dec. 27, 2021 (post)

Vol. LV, No. 3 of the Kewpiesta Kourier (all pages in color) now is posted online in the Member’s section under Kewpiesta Kourier: (Enesco Kewpie Checklist Now Available on Website (Members Section, Kewpieology) p. 2; The Dancing Kewpie Dolls p. 3; 62 Washington Square Leased, Kewpie Copyright Upheld, Kewpie Twins Shoes Often Advertised During 1921 Holiday Shopping Season, Retailer’s Christmas Offerings p. 4; Man Enters Mountain Retreat of Mother of Kewpies p. 5; Electric Kewpie Novelty Reading or Desk Lamp, “There’s a Doll Here for Every Little Girl’s Christmas” p. 6; 1915 The China Painters A B C: A Primer for Beginners, Egg No. 34 Recently Appears p. 7; All I want for Christmas… The Big Noise Kewpie Drum p. 8-9; Rose O’Neill Named “Captain of Industry,” “You Often Read About Her, Rose O’Neill” p. 9; Rose O’Neill’s Rebellious Nature: A Woman of Contradictions and Passion p. 10-12; Rose O’Neill’s Influence Seen in Fashion Trends p. 12-14; Rose’s Fashion Contrariness Plays Out Through Her Autobiography, Bobbed hair statement of individuality and freedom, p. 14)

Nov. 30, 2021 (post)

Enesco: A Checklist of The Enesco Rose O’Neill Kewpie Collection, 1991-1997 now available in Kewpieology Section of website. 

Oct. 28, 2021 (post) Volume LV, No. 2 of the Kewpiesta Kourier now is posted online in the Members section under Kewpista Kouriers: (Elephant No. 8 Emerges p. 2; Royal Society Linen Pillow Tops p. 4-7; Funny Ladies p. 9; September 1944 Playthings Advertisement Debuts Composition Kewpie Availability p. 10)

Aug. 27, 2021 (post) The Aug. 24, 2021, the DB Dowd Modern Graphic History Library virtual lecture by Shannon Sowell, More than the Kewpie: The Rose O’Neill Collection, now is posted online here. Additional information is available immediately below in the July 23 post.

July 23, 2021 (post) The DB Dowd Modern Graphic History Library will host a zoom presentation entitled More than the Kewpie: The Rose O’Neill Collection at 6:00 p.m. (Central Time) on Aug. 24, 2021. The following is the presentation’s description: Rose O’Neill was an American cartoonist who is most famous for creating the Kewpie doll—child-like, winged creatures named after Cupid, the Roman god of love. She was also a successful magazine and book illustrator, writer, sculptor, bohemian, and suffragette, and for a time was the highest-paid female illustrator in the world. O’Neill settled near Branson, Missouri, where she lived until her death in 1944. Join Curator Skye Lacerte for a visual tour of this trailblazer’s work.

July 6, 2021 (post)

Rose O’Neill and the Kewpie Comics Exhibition at the Springfield (MO) Art Museum, coming July 17 and running through Oct. 31, 2021. The exhibit features fifteen hand-colored proofs from the Sunday Kewpie comic series, written and illustrated by Rose O’Neill, as well as an additional three proofs from the more modern format Kewpie comic strip, published in the 1930s. An exhibit album is available at: View the Exhibition Photo Album.

July 2, 2021 (post)

The State Historical Society of Missouri features Rose O’Neill in its Historic Missourians chronicles. College of the Ozarks’ Lyons Memorial Library and the Society of Ozarkian Hillcrofters Collection features “a variety of materials. Of special interest are photos taken by Vance Randolph and Townsend Godsey, letters written by Rose O’Neill, and radio broadcasts from May Kennedy McCord.” The Ozarkian Collection’s numerous Rose O’Neill items, as well as all other items in the collection, are open to all users during the library’s normal operating hours.  

June 29, 2021 (post)

Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2021 by Trina Robbins (2013) features information on Rose O’Neill beginning on p. 10. Available online at books.google.com>books. 

June 27, 2021 (post)

Missouri State University digital collection, Mary Louise Wormer Correspondence Collection: Letter from Rose O’Neill to Mary Louise Clifton, Nov. 2, 1939, regarding folk art in the Ozarks: 

State Historical Society of Missouri digital collection: 1900-1903 O’Neill correspondence between members of the O’Neill family including Rose’s parents. Topics include her marriage, domestic life and the O’Neill family. 

Smithson American Art Museum Collection 1914 portrait of Kahlil Gibran by Rose O’Neill: pencil and watercolor wash on paper mounted on paperboard. 

June 6, 2021 (post)

The Joplin Globe website features a slideshow of Rose O’Neill exhibit the Springfield Art Museum 1918 Rose O’Neill exhibit.

The Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1846-1975) online digital collection features a number of original letters written by Rose O’Neill. The collection documents the life of the noted American public intellectual and author of The Yellow Wallpaper. The original collection is located at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.

May 11, 2021 (post)

Woman’s Varied Interests by Doris E. Fleischman, New York Tribune, April 14, 1915, made available online through the Library of Congress. *The online article is difficult to read so the text has been transcribed and attached: Woman’s Varied Interests 4 14 1915 by Doris Fleishman  (pdf)

April 17, 2021 (post)

The Smithsonian Archives of American Art Journal, Spring 2021, (available through Journal membership, or a $20 one-article fee) shows Rose scanning a Macbeth scrapbook of items for purchase at the 1915 Macbeth Suffrage Exhibit. An article about Rose also is featured. The Westport Library’s Suffrage Exhibit (fall/winter 2020) showcased the Macbeth exhibit because of the Connecticut artists, including Rose, that had participated. The library is receiving  an Award of Merit  from the Connecticut League of History Organizations on April 20, 2021, for the exhibit.   

April 13, 2021 (post) Kewpies Born in Missouri: Article from June 1913 Toys and Novelties Magazine.  Originator of World’s Newest Doll Writes of Her Life and Work for Readers of Toys and Novelties by Rose O’Neill.

March 17, 2021 (post)

The March 2021 Kewpiesta Kourier (Volume LV No 1) now is posted in the Members Only/Kewpiesta Kouriers section of the website. Articles include, “Eggs: Traditional Symbols of Health, Wealth, Luck, Purity, Rebirth, and Fertility p. 4-8, What do wax lips, Wowee Whistles, and Kewpies have in common? p. 9, What Elephant in the Room? p. 10-12”

March 15, 2021 (post) In honor of Women’s History Month, Amanda Burden of the Brandywine River Museum of Art is sharing the story of artist Rose O’Neill with a YouTube video available on the museum’s website. Staff Pick: Rose O’Neill

Feb. 22, 2021 (post) We are saddened to share that long-time IROCF member Darlene Woods, Kansas City, MO, passed away yesterday. Darlene is well known for her porcelain Kewpies and china. She annually was a smiling and familiar face at Kewpiesta. Darlene’s pieces often are seen on collector’s websites and resale websites. 

March 3, (post) Rose was on the March 3 Jeopardy program. Under the category of “Illustrators,” the answer was “In the early 1900s Rose O’Neill’s popular drawings of this winged god evolved into wildly popular Kewpie dolls.” the question was, “Who was cupid?” None of the three contestants was able to correctly respond.   

Feb. 19, 2021 (post)

We regret to share the IROCF Board has voted to cancel Kewpiesta 2021 due to ongoing COVID concerns. Additional information will be forthcoming in the upcoming Kewpiesta Kourier. We look forward to safely getting together in 2022. 

Feb. 15, 2021 (post)

Introducing Young Miss Kewpie Doll, Indianapolis the Home of Twinkle toes and Pinkies, as Developed by a Statuary Company on South Side, TOPICS Magazine, Indianapolis, Indiana, Sept. 29, 1920, written by Beatrice Sherman, books.google.com › books, TOPICS – Volumes 1-2, Page 9 1920. As the article is difficult to read in the scanned web version, it has been retyped in its entirety and attached here. 

Feb. 14, 2021 (post)

Sampling of Library of Congress online library offerings:

• Rose O’Neill, illustrator and originator of the “Kewpie” doll, posed in the photographer’s New York City Studio Käsebier, G., photographer. (ca. 1907) Rose O’Neill, illustrator and originator of the “Kewpie” doll, posed in the photographer’s New York City studio. , ca. 1907. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2006676258/.
• Representative Women; Being a Little Gallery of Pen Portraits Kansas City, Mo., The Crafters [c1913] Henrici, L. O. (1913)] Pages 110-119, Retrieves from Library of Congress online library (control number 15003633).
• The Kewpies and Dotty Darling O’Neill, R. C. (1912) The Kewpies and Dotty Darling. New York: George H. Doran company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/12025990/.
• The Young Idea: A Neighborhood Chronicle, Fillmore, P., O’Neill, R. C. & John Lane Company. Pbl. (1911) The Young Idea: A Neighborhood Chronicle. New York: John Lane Company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/11014753/.
• Kewpies – And in Foozleville they don’t believe in ghosts! O’Neill, R. C. (ca. 1935) Kewpies. And in Foozleville they don’t believe in ghosts! / O’Neill. , ca. 1935. Oct. 12. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2005680576/.
• Suffrage Kewpies O’Neill, R. C. (1915) Suffrage kewpies / O’Neill. , 1915. New York: Published by Puck Publishing Corporation, 295-309 Lafayette Street. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2011660535/.

February 3, 2021 (post)