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As curator of Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, Jenny Robb’s “coworkers” on any given day might include a beagle named Snoopy, an imaginary tiger named Hobbes, and a number of other pen and ink creations.
The institution, named after a famous designer from The Columbus Dispatch deceased in 1935, is home to hundreds of thousands of examples of comic book art, from newspaper strips to editorial cartoons to graphic novels. Regular exhibitions draw on the depth of the collection, notably The dog show: two centuries of canine cartoons (continues until October 31).
Originally from Cincinnati, Robb, 52, graduated from the University of Wittenberg in 1991 and received an MA in History and Museum Studies from Syracuse University in 1995. She joined Billy Ireland, then called Cartoon Research. Library, in 2005.
Also an associate professor at Ohio State, the Clintonville resident has a son, Alexander, 9, with her husband, cartoonist Steve Hamaker.
What was your interest in comics growing up?
We have Cincinnati investigator every morning at my house. I loved the newspaper comics. I read them all, from the ones I liked least to those I liked the most. I’ll save the best for last. I remember Peanuts and blonde hair and Family Circus.
I started to be more interested in history and politics in my teens and early twenties and then I really fell in love with Doonesbury. Cincinnati investigator I had Jim Borgman as an editorial cartoonist, so I discovered editorial cartoons.
My real passion for studying comics started in college when I was studying history and discovered cartoons as historical documents. It was then that I became particularly passionate about all the things that one could learn about an era or culture by studying popular culture, including satire and comics and cartoons. animated.
Did you think you could find a full time job studying comics?
I hoped that I could eventually combine my interest in exhibitions, curating and collecting with cartoons. I knew there weren’t a lot of places in the country where I could do this. I met [Billy Ireland founding curator] Lucy Caswell, and I was able to apprentice with her as part of my graduate experience.
I said, “This is what I want to do, this is the job I want.”
In your free time, do you try to get away from comics and cartoons?
I always read comics and cartoons for fun. My son [and I] read all Calvin and Hobbes comics together. I’ve read them all – put on an exhibition and reread them all – and I always laugh at gags and I’m so impressed with what [cartoonist Bill Watterson] was able to accomplish.
Does Reading Comics Help Develop Visual Literacy?
Recent research has shown that there are so many benefits for children who read comics and graphic novels. It helps with visual literacy, but it also helps with literacy, helping to improve vocabulary. It’s a way to introduce kids to all of the different elements of storytelling that they’re going to encounter in prose, things like characters and storytelling, point of view, conflict, and resolution. All of these aspects are part of comics and graphic novels.
What lesser-known books would you recommend to young readers?
I am a big fan of the work of Gene Luen Yang. [The graphic novel] “American Born Chinese†is his most famous, but he recently published a non-fiction book about his experience with his high school basketball team called “Dragon Hoops†which is truly phenomenal.
When presenting a family exhibit, such as The dog show, do families and children attend Billy Ireland?
Our museum is more of a traditional art gallery, but I think art is so accessible to people of all ages. That’s what makes it special.
For children who want to be an illustrator, there is so much to see, just the technique and the way the drawings are created for publication. There is a lot to learn there. But even just to come and see familiar characters that you know and love, it’s a lot of fun.
Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.
A shorter version of this Q&A appears in the Fall 2021 issue of Columbus Parent.
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