Nappanee has been home to a total of six nationally-known cartoonists over the years: the most in any city in the United States.

The Nappanee Center will celebrate this honor by hosting an in-depth exploration of its native artists in an exhibit titled “The Nappanee Six, from Feb. 1, through April 30. Biographies, publications, cartoons and more will profile Merrill Bloser, Francis “Mike” Parks, Henry Maust, Bill Holman, Fred Neher and Max Gwin.  An interactive “Draw Your Own Cartoon” station will allow visitors to take home a funny of their own from the Cartoon Capital.

From the antics of fat-cat Garfield to the “foo”-lishness of Bill Holman’s “Smokey Stover,” the many creations of Hoosier cartoonists, are highlighted in the Indiana Historical Society’s traveling exhibition,  Indiana Cartoons and Cartoonists, which will augment “The Nappanee Six” at the Center from March 8, through April 16.

Thanks to their work on the comic and editorial pages, Indiana artists have entertained and informed (with syndication) millions of newspaper readers across the country. The exhibit explores the amusing goings-on of characters from comic strips like “Chic” Jackson’s “Roger Bean,” which featured the lives of a typical Hoosier family, to the editorial musings of Pulitzer Prize-winning artist John T. McCutcheon, who was a fierce opponent of America’s entry into World War II.

Drawn from the collections of the Indiana Historical Society, Indiana State Library, and other institutions throughout the state, the exhibition also examines the life and work of such Indiana cartoonists as “the dean of America’s editorial cartoonists,” Evansville’s Karl Kae Knecht; artists from the Crawfordsville area known as the Sugar Crick School of Art; “the first black political cartoonist,” Henry Jackson Lewis, who worked for the Indianapolis Freeman; Abe Martin creator Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard; and Richmond’s Gaar Williams, who earned a designation as the “James Whitcomb Riley of the pencil.”

America trailed behind Europe in using picture-stories in newspapers, periodicals and books during the 19th century. In the 1860s, however, humor magazines like Puck and Life began using drawings.Political cartoons came of age in the 1870s, popularized by Thomas Nast’s work in exposing the corrupt Tammany political ring in New York City.

By the end of the 19th century, the age-old practice of telling stories with pictures underwent a revolution as Sunday “funnies” were born.  In 1894, Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World successfully used color to print “Down Hogan’s Alley,” generally credited as the first published American comic strip. Richard F. Outcault’s strip featured a young, urban rascal with no hair, large eyes and who wore a bright yellow nightshirt, which led to him being named “The Yellow Kid.” As the 20th century began, comic strips became permanent fixtures in American newspapers.

The Nappanee Center is located at 302 W. Market St. in downtown Nappanee. For more information, call Martha at 574-773-7812.