> http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=8188489 - downloadable checklist
> of images and objects in the show
> 
> 
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> April 20, 2006
> Contact: Courtney MacGregor, 202-782-2671,
> [log in to unmask]
>   Steven Solomon, 202-782-2672, [log in to unmask]
> 
> "CARTOONISTS TAKE UP SMOKING"
> 
> WASHINGTON - A free gallery talk at the National Museum of Health and
> Medicine about the recently opened "Cartoonists Take Up Smoking," an
> exhibition of original newspaper editorial cartoons on a single theme,
> is being presented by Alan Blum, M.D., one of the nation's foremost
> authorities on the history of the tobacco industry and the battle over
> smoking.
> 
> Scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 30, Blum, a professor of family
> medicine at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., will
> retrace the 40-year battle over the use and promotion of cigarettes
> since the publication of the landmark Surgeon General's report on
> smoking and health in 1964. Blum will also discuss complacency on the
> part of organized medicine, politicians, and the mass media in ending
> the tobacco pandemic.
> 
> The exhibit is curated from material at the University of Alabama
> Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society, which Blum founded and
> directs. It holds one of the largest sociocultural archives on
> tobacco, including more than 300 original editorial cartoon artworks
> on smoking-related themes.
> 
> The exhibit features 55 original cartoons by more than 50 nationally
> known American editorial cartoonists and is supplemented by
> smoking-related items, from the original newspaper headlines that
> inspired the cartoons to advertisements promoting the health benefits
> of lighting up. Also displayed are several artifacts, as well as two
> preserved lungs -- one showing the ill effects of smoking and the
> other a healthy lung -- from the museum's anatomical collection.
> 
> Blum, a graduate of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta,
> was awarded the Surgeon General's Medallion in 1988 by Dr. C. Everett
> Koop. He has been invited to speak on tobacco-related issues by
> medical and public health organizations in all 50 states and at
> numerous international conferences. As the former editor of the
> Medical Journal of Australia and the N.Y. State Journal of Medicine,
> he also published the first-ever theme issues on smoking by any
> medical journal in the world, in 1983 and 1985 respectively.
> 
> "The wide-ranging controversies surrounding tobacco are captured in
> the cartoons, from the misguided quest for a safe cigarette to the
> targeting of tobacco advertising to women and minority groups," Blum
> said. "Cartoons on smoking have had an impact at both the local and
> national levels. Editorial cartoons practically laughed Joe Camel out
> of town and helped pass countless clean indoor air laws." 
> 
> In their artist's statement, several of the cartoonists relate that
> their family members have suffered from smoking-related illnesses. For
> example, David Fitzsimmons of The Arizona Star, said "My mother and
> father died within a month of each other because of their inability to
> overcome their addiction to cigarettes. I understand, firsthand, the
> impact of tobacco on the lives of people."
> 
> For half a century, the cartoonist most unapologetically opposed to
> smoking and the tobacco industry was The Washington Post's Herblock
> (Herb Block), several of whose cartoons are reproduced in the show. 
> 
> Not all cartoonists have depicted tobacco as an evil weed. Indeed,
> several could be described as anti-anti-smoking, in part based on
> their belief in the freedom to choose. Clay Bennett of the Christian
> Science Monitor wonders if there also should be laws against nagging
> and finger-wagging. The New York Post's Sean Delonas foresees the
> advent of a smoke police force roaming sidewalks and parks.
> 
> The exhibition debuted at the Ann Tower Gallery in Lexington, Ky. in
> conjunction with the annual convention of the Association of American
> Editorial Cartoonists. It also was displayed in Seattle, Tuscaloosa,
> and Birmingham, Ala. Its display in Washington, D.C. is the conclusion
> of its traveling schedule.
> 
> "We are happy to be hosting 'Cartoonists Take Up Smoking,' said
> Adrianne Noe, Ph.D., the museum's director. "The assembled
> cartoonists' work rivals any scalpel we have on display for their
> sharpness. They span the humorous to the deadly serious and will allow
> visitors to relive a public medical and political debate about a
> health issue that continues to grasp us all. It's particularly fitting
> to host this wonderful collection at the nation's medical museum,
> where it will be seen amid other exhibits that inspire learning about
> medicine and health, including the real lungs of a person who smoked."
> 
> The exhibit, which was produced with the cooperation of the
> Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, will be on display at
> the museum during the week of the World Conference on Tobacco or
> Health, July 10-15, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington,
> D.C. 
> 
> Lori Jacobi, M.A., archivist at the University of Alabama Center for
> the Study of Tobacco and Society, provided additional support with the
> design, organization, and coordination of the exhibition. Eric
> Solberg, M.S., of Houston, Texas, past director of Doctors Ought to
> Care, served as Blum's principal adviser since the exhibition's
> inception a decade ago.
> 
> The exhibit installation was designed by museum exhibits manager,
> Steve Hill, with assistance from anatomical collection curator Lenore
> Barbian, Ph.D., exhibits specialist, Bill Discher, registrar Michelle
> Fontenot, collections manager Elizabeth Lockett, public affairs
> specialist Courtney MacGregor, and public affairs officer Steven
> Solomon. 
> 
> The Herblock Foundation gave a special unrestricted gift to the Center
> for the Study of Tobacco and Society, which is helping to cover
> various expenses and to produce a facsimile exhibition for display in
> other cities.
> 
> The exhibit is running through September 2006. It will be on display
> at the museum, which is open every day except Dec. 25 from 10 a.m. to
> 5:30 p.m. The museum is located at Walter Reed Army Medical Center,
> 6900 Georgia Ave. and Elder Street, NW, Washington, D.C. For more
> information call (202) 782 2200 or visit www.nmhm.washingtondc.museum.
> Admission and parking are free.
> 
> ###
> 

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