The 36-Pound Comic Scrapbook That Chronicles the Great Depression

“Dear friends of mine, Please write a line / In this little Wash Tubbs book of mine. / Help me Keep you in my Mind” So begins the inscription on the spine of a hulking tome that was once a source of idle amusement for clients at the Bungalow, a barbershop in Fredonia, Kansas. In 1928, the barber, I.A. Persinger, began compiling this collection of “Wash Tubbs” comics, a well-loved daily newspaper strip by artist Roy Crane, whose adventure graphics popularized the visual sound effects—Bam! Pow!—we know so well today….

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