Ravens

William Jennings Bryan sits at a desk on which are papers labeled “Free Silver Speeches.” With a sorrowful look, he stares up at a raven perched on a bust of Pallas Athena. The raven wears a medallion labeled “Free Silver.” Caption: “On this home by horror haunted — tell me truly, I implore! — Is there — is there balm in Gilead? tell me, tell me, I implore! Quoth the Raven, ‘Nevermore!'”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Drawn and printed too early to have foreseen the actual outcome of the 1900 presidential election — which generally was considered a forgone conclusion against William Jennings Bryan — cartoonist Keppler drew a cartoon that would be safe in any eventuality. His albatross, so to speak, was the raven in this twist on Poe’s famous poem. For all of Bryan’s other attributes, qualities, and deficiencies, his stubborn adherence to inflationary bimetallism — “16 to 1” coinage of silver-to-gold ratio — widely was seen as fatal to his advancement on the national stage. 

Theodore Roosevelt writes to Professor Kofoid of the University of California, Berkeley, regarding articles and pamphlets written by Henry Chester Tracy, Abbott Handerson Thayer, J. A. Allen, and Edward William Nelson on the topic of birds, plumage, and biological research.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-02-02

A raven labeled as “Commoner / W. J. Bryan” stands on top of a donkey head with the label of “democracy.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Robert Carter was a talented political cartoonist who drew for papers in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston over the course of his career. The political perspectives he represented in his drawings varied. During President Roosevelt’s second term, Carter worked for William Randolph Hearst and often received up to half a page of newspaper to fill with his detailed cartoons. Hearst also featured Carter’s work in the opening pages of his “City Life” and “American Magazine” Sunday sections. Several years later, Winsor McCay’s art would fill these spots.

A sheep labeled “The Law” stands over a lamb labeled “Consumer” that has collapsed in the snow and is either dead or dying. A large cluster of ravens labeled “Tariff Graft, Food Trusts, [and] Special Privilege” have gathered, waiting to scavenge on the carrion.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-02-16

President Taft sits at a desk, working late, frightened, his hair standing on end, as a raven labeled “Teddy,” with the face of Theodore Roosevelt, perches on a bust opposite and cries “Nevermore.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1912-01-24