Baltimore-born James Carroll Mansfield (1896-1957) was an artist from childhood. By the time he served with the 7th Infantry in World War I, he was ready to illustrate a history of that regiment. After the war, he worked for the Baltimore Sun Times as a free-land artist, then moved to New York City to concentrate on advertising art.
In 1924 he syndicated a series of history-based comic strips, black-and-white daily strips and added full-color Sunday strips in 1926. Those strips, called “High Lights of History,” continued to run until 1942 – the “longest running nonfiction strip ever published,” according to his biographer. “High Lights of History” was syndicated in newspapers all over the United States.
A small handful of Mansfield’s strips concerned Mormon history. This pair, from late 1925, were the first:
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Joseph Smith and the Mormons
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Exodus of the Mormons
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I find it remarkably even-handed. The illustrations are great.
Yeah, I think it’s pretty great to appear in a national, totally non-Mormon feature with such even-handedness, at that era. Thanks for noting it, Matt.
I’m enjoying seeing how this illustrator imagined Joseph Smith. I guess by 1925, stern and bearded was the established stereotype for a Mormon prophet, but the depiction is also reminiscent of Lincoln, which is flattering in a way.