Hey Kids, Comics! Childhood Comic Book Cultures in Vermont 1950-1995
Recently, Associate Director and Archivist (and resident comic nerd) Andy Kolovos has been exploring childhood engagement with comic books in Vermont through the memories of cartoonists in their 40s to 70s, who actively purchased comic books here from the 1950s to the early 1990s. Andy presented a short paper about this recent project at this year’s American Folklore Society conference. With the Non-Fiction Comics Festival coming up this weekend, we decided to share Andy’s paper where he (and the people he interviewed) talk about how comics served as a launching pad for their childhood art-making.
Drawing Turner Family Stories: An Interview with Francis Bordeleau
Turner Family Stories is a recent publication from VFC that brings together cartoonists and oral history to share the family stories and personal experiences of Daisy Turner of Grafton, Vermont with new audiences. Contributing cartoonist Francis Bordeleau’s comic, “I am Vindicated” retells a story of heartbreak and betrayal that culminated in Daisy bringing Boinay to court for breach of promise--and winning.
Drawing Turner Family Stories: An Interview with Ezra Veitch
Turner Family Stories is a forthcoming publication from VFC that brings together cartoonists and oral history to share the family stories and personal experiences of Daisy Turner of Grafton, Vermont with new audiences. Contributing cartoonist Ezra Veitch was raised in Grafton, Vermont, and was familiar with Daisy Turner from childhood. Ezra shared how he incorporated this rare vantage point to create a framing narrative that linked together the six chapters of Turner Family Stories.
The Most Costly Journey
El viaje más caro is an ethnographic cartooning and graphic medicine project that uses collaborative storytelling as a tool to mitigate loneliness, isolation, and despair among Latin American migrant farm workers on Vermont dairy farms. This May, the project released The Most Costly Journey, a 252 page collection of these comics for an English speaking audience.
Drawing Turner Family Stories: An Interview with Lillie Harris
Turner Family Stories is a forthcoming publication from VFC that brings together cartoonists and oral history to share the family stories and personal experiences of Daisy Turner of Grafton, Vermont with new audiences. Contributing cartoonist Lillie Harris reflected on their experience working with oral history transcripts as a basis for the story’s text, what it was like to create a comic with historical accuracy as a primary consideration, and capturing the essence of Daisy Turner’s character.
Announcing Turner Family Stories
Turner Family Stories is a forthcoming graphic history collection featuring comics adapted from oral history recordings with Daisy Turner of Grafton, VT held in the VFC archive. VFC founding director Jane Beck and Associate Director and Archivist Andy Kolovos worked with a group of New England cartoonists to illustrate a selection of stories from the epic saga of the Turner family.
Traditional Arts Apprenticeshp Program Comics
As a part of our Vermont Cartooning and Culture Project, cartoonist Iona Fox visited with three participants in the Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program and created a series comics about them.
Culture Through Comics: Lucy Wright
A short comic produced by Lucy Wright based on her fieldwork experiences studying traditional dance in the UK. Lucy created it as a part the Culture Through Comics workshop we coordinated at the Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Buffalo, NY.
Culture Through Comics: Erin Kathleen Bahl
A short comic produced by Erin Kathleen Bahl from an interview in the VFC Archive with Katharine DuClos of Braintree, VT. Erin created it as a part the Culture Through Comics workshop we coordinated at the Annual Meeting of the American Folklore Society in Buffalo, NY.