The Hidden Works of Jay N. “Ding” Darling

By Kerri on January 21, 2014 in Blog

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Museum in West Branch, Iowa will open a new temporary exhibit, The Hidden Works of Jay N. “Ding” Darling on January 25, 2014.

Jay N. “Ding” Darling was a leading political cartoonist in the 1900s and an important figure in the early conservation movement. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice (1924 and 1943) and reached America through more than 100 of the nation's leading newspapers while he was employed at The Des Moines Register and Sioux City Journal. His cartoons covered important events in the 20th century, including the Great Depression, prohibition and the labor movement. Throughout his life Darling was also a supporter of the conservation efforts that led to the creation of the national wildlife refuge system and other local and nationwide conservation projects and regulations.

The hidden works on display will include personal and family objects, cartoons, sketches, and the newly uncovered original printing plates from The Des Moines Register. This exhibit has been dedicated to Kip Koss, Darling's only grandson and oldest living relative, who recently passed away.

The exhibit also includes a recently discovered sketch that has been in a private collection for decades.  The unfinished study was discovered in 2012 by filmmaker Samuel Koltinsky as he conducted research for a documentary on Darling. The work is thought to be one of the finest representations of Darling’s pioneering studies of ducks in flight.  The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association (www.HooverAssociation.org) is being allowed to be the first to sell a limited edition of 300 numbered prints of this sketch.

Hours and location of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library & Museum.