Ink drawings and pencil sketches, on paper and on board, of editorial cartoons and illustrations by McCutcheon. The editorial cartoons for the Chicago Tribune make up the bulk of this series, but there are also editorial cartoons he drew for the Chicago Record. Subjects for the editorial cartoons vary widely, from local issues (Mayors Harrison, Thompson, etc.; Judges and other local officials; weather; Organized crime; and Congresses such as the Eucharistic Congress, 1926) to national issues (Presidents Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, etc.; Presidential campaigns; The economy; William Jennings Bryan; John D. Rockefeller; and World War I Registration) to international issues (the Russo-Japanese War; Czar Nicholas II and Communism; Kaiser Wilhelm; the Panama Canal; World War I; the post-World War I arms race (1921); League of Nations; Reduction of the Navy; Japan’s invasion of China; Resistance to joining World War II; and subsequent support of the American troops during World War II). McCutcheon was interested in other topics as well, including many cartoons on charity (both charity balls and helping the poor), on New Year’s Resolutions, and on voting.

The series also includes illustrations he did for stories that ran in the Record and the Tribune newspapers, magazines like Cosmopolitan, Hearst’s International, and Liberty, among others. The illustrations may have been used for stories written by McCutcheon himself, or for other writers like George Ade, Peter Benchley, or Vachel Lindsay. There are also miscellaneous original illustrations McCutcheon did for various projects, such as advertisements, greeting cards, portraits of people (mostly quick sketches and doodles), and sketches made while traveling. The series ends with a group of sketchbooks, mostly filled while traveling abroad, but the first two relate to Chicago people and places.

See also Series 3 (Works – Writings) and Series 13 (Scrapbooks) for original drawings scattered therein.