Cartoonist Natalie Brown Gets No Respect
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In its online edition of the Indiana Prairie Farmer section Farm Progress ran a story by Tom J. Bechman about a cartoon that ran in earlier issues of the Prairie Farmer magazine:
Thumb through issues of Indiana Prairie Farmer from the late 1970s and 1980s and you will find Bug Scout, a cartoon featuring a stereotypical entomologist. The goofy character and his message were popular with readers.
The story notes who created the idea and who the character was based on.
“Pretty soon, we got the idea for a cartoon character,” [Tom] Turpin recalls. “Another student was a good artist. John [Mumford] was her model for Bug Scout.”
But in the, let’s say, 400 word article the cartoonist is never identified, singled out only as “artist” and “her.”
It’s not like Turpin didn’t know who the artist was – from his 2007 Outreach in Entomology item:
In 1978 Tom Turpin created The “Bug Scout” cartoon, which was drawn by Natalie Brown. The cartoon featured an entomologist in pith helmet and short pants sporting a collecting net. The cartoon ran for several years as a regular feature in Prairie Farmer magazine and was used to teach readers about pest management concepts.
All I can find about cartoonist Natalie Brown, who very well may have switched professions and may have married and changed her name, comes from Mission Entomology : a History of the Department of Entomology at Purdue University, 1884-1991 (via Google Books):
BUG SCOUT Cartoon Inspired by the success of cartoons in other educational areas, Turpin conceived the idea of a cartoon that would increase pest management awareness . Under his guidance, Natalie Brown, an entomology student and gifted artist, developed the cartoon featuring “Bug Scout,” a pest management specialist. Natalie used John Mumford, also a student in the department at the time as the model for this character. The cartoon was introduced in conjunction with a short column called ” Pest Management Tips ” in Indiana Prairie Farmer in July 1978. The cartoon met with great success and became a regular feature in the magazine.
Anyway Natalie got her name here, if not in the Indiana Prairie Farmer article.
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