Thomas Nast (/næst/;German:[nast]; September 26, 1840^[2] – December 7, 1902) was a German-born Americancaricaturist andeditorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".^[3]

Thomas Nast
Albumen silver print of Nast byNapoleon Sarony, taken inUnion Square,New York City
Born	(1840-09-26)September 26, 1840 Landau,Rhine Palatinate,Bavaria (present-dayRhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
Died	December 7, 1902(1902-12-07) (aged 62) Guayaquil,Guayas, Ecuador
Political party	Republican
Signature

He was a sharp critic of"Boss" Tweed and theTammany HallDemocratic Partypolitical machine. He created a modern version ofSanta Claus (based on the traditional German figures ofSaint Nicholas andWeihnachtsmann) and the political symbol of the elephant for theRepublican Party (GOP). Contrary to popular belief, Nast did not createUncle Sam (the male personification of the United States Federal Government),Columbia (the female personification of American values), or theDemocratic donkey,^[4] although he did popularize those symbols through his artwork. Nast was associated with the magazineHarper's Weekly from 1859 to 1860 and from 1862 until 1886. Nast's influence was so widespread thatTheodore Roosevelt once said, "Thomas Nast was our best teacher."

Nast was born in military barracks inLandau, Bavaria, Germany (now inRhineland-Palatinate), as his father was a trombonist in the Bavarian 9th regiment band.^[5] Nast was the last child of Appolonia (née Abriss) and Joseph Thomas Nast. He had an older sister Andie; two other siblings had died before he was born. His father held political convictions that put him at odds with the Bavarian government, so in 1846, Joseph Nast left Landau, enlisting first on a Frenchman-of-war and subsequently on an American ship.^[6] He sent his wife and children toNew York City, where they arrived in June 1846,^[7] and at the end of his enlistment in 1850, he joined them there.^[8]

Nast attended school in New York City from the age of six to 14. He did poorly at his lessons, but his passion for drawing was apparent from an early age. In 1854, at the age of 14, he was enrolled for about a year of study with Alfred Fredericks andTheodore Kaufmann, and then at the school of theNational Academy of Design.^[9][10] In 1856, he started working as a draftsman forFrank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.^[11] His drawings appeared for the first time inHarper's Weekly on March 19, 1859,^[12] when he illustrated a report exposing police corruption; Nast was 18 years old at that point.^[13]

In February 1860, he went to England for theNew York Illustrated News to depict one of the major sporting events of the era, theprize fight between the AmericanJohn C. Heenan and the EnglishThomas Sayers^[14] sponsored byGeorge Wilkes, publisher ofWilkes'Spirit of the Times. A few months later, as artist forThe Illustrated London News, he joinedGaribaldi in Italy. Nast's cartoons and articles about the Garibaldimilitary campaign tounify Italy captured the popular imagination in the U.S. In February 1861, he arrived back in New York. In September of that year, he married Sarah Edwards, whom he had met two years earlier.

He left theNew York Illustrated News to work again, briefly, forFrank Leslie's Illustrated News.^[15] In 1862, he became a staff illustrator forHarper's Weekly. In his first years withHarper's, Nast became known especially for compositions that appealed to the sentiment of the viewer. An example is "Christmas Eve" (1862), in which a wreath frames a scene of a soldier's praying wife and sleeping children at home; a second wreath frames the soldier seated by a campfire, gazing longingly at small pictures of his loved ones.^[16] One of his most celebrated cartoons wasCompromise with the South (1864), directed against those in the North who opposed the prosecution of theAmerican Civil War.^[17] He was known for drawing battlefields inborder andsouthern states. These attracted great attention, and Nast was referred to by PresidentAbraham Lincoln as "our best recruiting sergeant".^[18]

After the war, Nast strongly opposed the anti-Reconstruction policy of PresidentAndrew Johnson, whom he depicted in a series of trenchant cartoons that marked "Nast's great beginning in the field of caricature".^[19]

Nast's cartoons frequently had numerous sidebars and panels with intricate subplots to the main cartoon. A Sunday feature could provide hours of entertainment and highlight social causes. After 1870, Nast favored simpler compositions featuring a strong central image.^[9] He based his likenesses on photographs.^[9]

In the early part of his career, Nast used a brush andink wash technique to draw tonal renderings onto the wood blocks that would be carved into printing blocks by staff engravers.^[20] The boldcross-hatching that characterized Nast's mature style resulted from a change in his method that began with a cartoon of June 26, 1869, which Nast drew onto the wood block using a pencil, so that the engraver was guided by Nast's linework. This change of style was influenced by the work of the English illustratorJohn Tenniel.^[21] A recurring theme in Nast's cartoons is anti-Catholicism.^[22][23] Nast was baptized a Catholic at the Saint Maria Catholic Church in Landau,^[24] and for a time received Catholic education in New York City.^[25]

When Nast converted to Protestantism remains unclear, but his conversion was likely formalized upon his marriage in 1861. (The family were practicing Episcopalians at St. Peter's in Morristown.) Nast considered the Catholic Church to be a threat to Americanvalues. According to his biographer, Fiona Deans Halloran, Nast was "intensely opposed to the encroachment of Catholic ideas into public education".^[26] When Tammany Hall proposed a new tax to support parochial Catholic schools, he was outraged.

His 1871 cartoonThe American River Ganges, depicts Catholic bishops, guided by Rome, as crocodiles moving in to attack American school children as Irish politicians prevent their escape. He portrayed public support for religious education as a threat to democratic government. The authoritarian papacy in Rome, ignorant Irish Americans, and corrupt politicians at Tammany Hall figured prominently in his work. Nast favored nonsectarian public education that mitigated differences of religion and ethnicity. However, in 1871 Nast andHarper's Weekly supported the Republican-dominated board of education in Long Island in requiring students to hear passages from theKing James Bible, and his educational cartoons sought to raise anti-Catholic and anti-Irish fervor among Republicans and independents.^[27]

Nast expressedanti-Irish sentiment by depicting them as violent drunks. He used Irish people as a symbol of mob violence, machine politics, and the exploitation of immigrants by political bosses.^[28] Nast's emphasis on Irish violence may have originated in scenes he witnessed in his youth. Nast was physically small and had experienced bullying as a child.^[29] In the neighborhood in which he grew up, acts of violence by the Irish against black Americans were commonplace.^[30]

In 1863, he witnessed theNew York City draft riots in which a mob composed mainly of Irish immigrants burned theColored Orphan Asylum to the ground. His experiences may explain his sympathy for black Americans and his "antipathy to what he perceived as the brutish, uncontrollable Irish thug".^[29] An 1876 Nast cartoon combined a caricature ofCharles Francis Adams Sr with anti-Irish sentiment and anti-Fenianship.^[31]

In general, his political cartoons supportedAmerican Indians andChinese Americans.^[32] He advocated theabolition of slavery, opposedracial segregation, and deplored the violence of theKu Klux Klan. In one of his more famous cartoons, the phrase "Worse than Slavery" is printed on acoat of arms depicting a despondent black family holding their dead child; in the background is alynching and a schoolhouse destroyed by arson. Two members of the Ku Klux Klan andWhite League,paramilitary insurgent groups in theReconstruction-era South, shake hands in their mutually destructive work against black Americans.^[33]

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  September 1868 Nast cartoon "This is a White Man's Government!"^[a]
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  The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things, a Nast cartoon depicting a drunken Irishman lighting a powder keg. Published inHarper's Weekly, September 2, 1871
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  1871 Nast cartoon: "Move on! Has the Native American no rights that the naturalized American is bound to respect?"^[b]
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  1879 Nast cartoon: " 'Every dog' (no distinction of color) 'has his day' "^[c]
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  Nast's cartoon "Third Term Panic".^[d]
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  "Colored Rule in a Reconstructed(?) State (The members call each other thieves, liars, rascals, and cowards)",Harper's Weekly, March 14, 1874.^[e]

Despite Nast's championing of minorities, Morton Keller writes that later in his career "racist stereotypy of blacks began to appear: comparable to those of the Irish—though in contrast with the presumably more highly civilized Chinese."^[35]

During Nast's era,William Shakespeare's plays were an inherent part of the school curriculum. He introduced into American cartoons the practice of modernizing scenes from Shakespeare for a political purpose, referencing 23 of his 37 plays in more than 100 cartoons—sometimes with just a recognizable line or two, but generally with pictorial content.^[36]

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  Nast referenced 23 of Shakespeare's 37 plays in more than 100 cartoons—sometimes with just a recognizable line or two, but generally with pictorial content.^[f]
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  Nast quoted from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, comparing Ulysses S. Grant to Caesar.^[g]
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  Nast ridiculed SenatorLyman Trumbull (IL), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, via Shakespeare'sMacbeth. Published in Harper's Weekly, March 23, 1872 (p. 232)^[36]
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  Nast detested Carl Schurz and attacked him about 60 times during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency.^[h]
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  Carl Schurz's long legs were his primary exaggerated feature for the caricaturist, Nast.^[i]
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  Nast dramatized Ulysses S. Grant as a victorious knight stamping out corruption and fraud.^[j]
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  Nast's target in this cartoon wasJames Gordon Bennett, Jr., the wealthy, conceited, autocratic editor of the Herald.^[k]

Nast also brought his approach to bear on the usually prosaic almanac business, publishing an annualNast's Illustrated Almanac from 1871 to 1875.^[37]The Green Bag republished all five of Nast's almanacs in the 2011 edition of itsAlmanac & Reader.^[38]

Nast's drawings were instrumental in the downfall ofBoss Tweed, the powerfulTammany Hall leader.^[39] As commissioner of public works for New York City, Tweed led a ring that by 1870 had gained total control of the city's government, and controlled "a working majority in the State Legislature".^[40] Tweed and his associates—Peter Barr Sweeny (park commissioner),Richard B. Connolly (controller of public expenditures), and MayorA. Oakey Hall—defrauded the city of many millions of dollars by grossly inflating expenses paid to contractors connected to the Ring.^[41] Nast, whose cartoons attacking Tammany corruption had appeared occasionally since 1867, intensified his focus on the four principal players in 1870 and especially in 1871.^[42]

Tweed so feared Nast's campaign that he sent an emissary to offer the artist a bribe of $100,000, which was represented as a gift from a group of wealthy benefactors to enable Nast to study art in Europe.^[43] Feigning interest, Nast negotiated for more before finally refusing an offer of $500,000 with the words, "Well, I don't think I'll do it. I made up my mind not long ago to put some of those fellows behind the bars".^[44] Nast pressed his attack in the pages ofHarper's, and the Ring was removed from power in the election of November 7, 1871.^[45] Tweed was arrested in 1873 and convicted of fraud. When Tweed attempted to escape justice in December 1875 by fleeing toCuba and from there toSpain, officials inVigo were able to identify the fugitive by using one of Nast's cartoons.^[46]

Nast was the first journalist who did not own his newspaper to play a major role in shaping public opinion. His cartoons were influential in deciding five presidential elections:Abraham Lincoln (1864);Ulysses S. Grant (1868 and 1872);Rutherford B. Hayes (1876)—all Republicans—and DemocratGrover Cleveland (1884). His biting cartoons ridiculed the losers:George B. McClellan (1864);Horatio Seymour (1868);Horace Greeley (1872);Samuel J. Tilden (1876); andJames G. Blaine (1884). Nast effectively sat out the 1880 election because he distrusted RepublicanJames A. Garfield (who won) and admired DemocratWinfield Scott Hancock, a Civil War hero and Nast's personal friend.

In addition to his talent, creativity and the repetitive impact of his cartoons, Nast benefited from his lack of meaningful competition beforePuck arrived in 1877, and from the financial strength, editorial consistency and reach ofHarper's Weekly. America's leading illustrated newspaper's circulation was about 120,000 during the Civil War, 200,000 during subsequent presidential elections, and almost 300,000 during the height of the Tweed campaign. With passalong readership, Nast's audience reached 500,000 to more than a million viewers.^[47]

The single most important and influential cartoon that Nast ever drew appeared inHarper's Weekly on August 24, 1864 (post-dated September 3) as theDemocratic National Committee was assembling in Chicago to nominate McClellan (whom Lincoln had fired as his top Union general two years earlier) for president.Compromise with the South—Dedicated to the Chicago Convention captured the very crux of the existential emotional and political stake at issue in the forthcoming election.

Nast's scathing caricature featured an arrogant, exultantJefferson Davis shaking hands with a crippled Union soldier who—with his head bowed and his only leg shackled to a ball and chain—humbly accepted it. Columbia, representing the Union and modeled by Nast's wife Sallie, wept at the gravestone marked "In Memory of Our Union Heroes Who Fell in a Useless War." As Davis's boot stomped on a Union grave and broke the sword of Northern Power, the cat-o'-nine-tails in his left hand was ready to flog his vanquished enemies. A Black family in chains despaired behind Davis. The Union flag, upside down in distress, recited its successes, including emancipation, on its stripes; the Confederate flag detailed a list of atrocities.

On October 16—almost eight weeks after Nast's cartoon appeared—theRichmond Enquirer published some more extreme demands which were not in the Democratic platform. Lincoln's reelection managers took Nast's cartoon, added "The Rebel Terms of Peace," and made more than a million copies as campaign posters. In combination with GeneralWilliam T. Sherman's capture of Atlanta on September 1 and GeneralPhil Sheridan's victory in the Shenandoah Valley on October 19, "A Traitor's Peace" probably was the single most effective visual campaign advertisement in any American presidential election before or since.^[48]

Nast played an important role during thepresidential election in 1868, and Ulysses S. Grant attributed his victory to "the sword of Sheridan and the pencil of Thomas Nast."^[49] In the 1872 presidential campaign, Nast's ridicule ofHorace Greeley's candidacy was especially merciless.^[50] After Grant's victory in 1872,Mark Twain wrote the artist a letter saying: "Nast, you more than any other man have won a prodigious victory for Grant—I mean, rather, for Civilization and Progress."^[51] Nast became a close friend of President Grant and the two families shared regular dinners until Grant's death in 1885.

Nast and his wife moved toMorristown, New Jersey in 1872^[52] and there they raised a family that eventually numbered five children.^[53] In 1873, Nast toured the United States as a lecturer and a sketch-artist.^[54] His activity on the lecture circuit made him wealthy.^[55] Nast was for many years a staunch Republican.^[56] Nast opposedinflation of thecurrency, notably with his famous rag-baby cartoons, and he played an important part in securingRutherford B. Hayes' ultimate victory in thepresidential election in 1876.^[57] Hayes later remarked that Nast was "the most powerful, single-handed aid [he] had",^[58] but Nast quickly became disillusioned with President Hayes, whose lenient policy towards the South in removing federal troops he opposed.^[59]

The death of theWeekly's publisher,Fletcher Harper, in 1877 resulted in a changed relationship between Nast and his editorGeorge William Curtis. His cartoons appeared less frequently, and he was not given free rein to criticize Hayes or his policies.^[60] Beginning in the late 1860s, Nast and Curtis had frequently differed on political matters and particularly on the role of cartoons in political discourse.^[61] Curtis believed that the powerful weapon of caricature should be reserved for "the Ku-Klux Democracy" of the opposition party, and did not approve of Nast's cartoons assailing Republicans such asCarl Schurz andCharles Sumner who opposed policies of the Grant administration.^[62] Nast said of Curtis: "When he attacks a man with his pen it seems as if he were apologizing for the act. I try to hit the enemy between the eyes and knock him down."^[35] Fletcher Harper consistently supported Nast in his disputes with Curtis.^[61] After his death, his nephews, Joseph W. Harper Jr. and John Henry Harper, assumed control of the magazine and were more sympathetic to Curtis's arguments for rejecting cartoons that contradicted his editorial positions.^[63]

Between 1877 and 1884, Nast's work appeared only sporadically inHarper's, which began publishing the milder political cartoons ofWilliam Allen Rogers. Although his sphere of influence was diminishing, from this period date dozens of his pro-Chinese immigration drawings, often implicating the Irish as instigators. Nast blamed U.S. SenatorJames G. Blaine (R-Maine) for his support of the Chinese Exclusion Act and depicted Blaine with the same zeal used against Tweed. Nast was one of the few editorial artists who took up for the cause of the Chinese in America.^[64]

During the presidential election of 1880, Nast felt that he could not support the Republican candidate,James A. Garfield, because of Garfield's involvement in theCrédit Mobilier scandal; and did not wish to attack the Democratic candidate,Winfield Scott Hancock, his personal friend and a Union general whose integrity commanded respect. As a result, "Nast's commentary on the 1880 campaign lacked passion", according to Halloran.^[65] He submitted no cartoons toHarper's between the end of March 1883 and March 1, 1884, partly because of illness.^[66]

In 1884, Curtis and Nast agreed that they could not support the Republican candidateJames G. Blaine, a proponent of high tariffs and thespoils system whom they perceived as personally corrupt.^[67] Instead, they becameMugwumps by supporting the Democratic candidate,Grover Cleveland, whose platform ofcivil service reform appealed to them. Nast's cartoons helped Cleveland become the first Democrat to be elected president since 1856. In the words of the artist's grandson, Thomas Nast St Hill, "it was generally conceded that Nast's support won Cleveland the small margin by which he was elected. In this his last national political campaign, Nast had, in fact, 'made a president'."^[68]

Nast's tenure atHarper's Weekly ended with his Christmas illustration of December 1886. It was said by the journalistHenry Watterson that "in quittingHarper's Weekly, Nast lost his forum: in losing him,Harper's Weekly lost its political importance."^[69] Fiona Deans Halloran says "the former is true to a certain extent, the latter unlikely."^[70]

Nast lost most of his fortune in 1884 after investing in a banking and brokerage firm operated by the swindlerFerdinand Ward. In need of income, Nast returned to the lecture circuit in 1884 and 1887.^[71] Although these tours were successful, they were less remunerative than the lecture series of 1873.^[72]

In 1890, Nast publishedThomas Nast's Christmas Drawings for the Human Race.^[9] He contributed cartoons in various publications, notably theIllustrated American, but was unable to regain his earlier popularity. His mode of cartooning had come to be seen as outdated, and a more relaxed style exemplified by the work ofJoseph Keppler was in vogue.^[76] Health problems, which included pain in his hands which had troubled him since the 1870s, affected his ability to work.

In 1892, he took control of a failing magazine, theNew York Gazette, and renamed itNast's Weekly. Now returned to the Republican fold, Nast used theWeekly as a vehicle for his cartoons supportingBenjamin Harrison for president. The magazine had little impact and ceased publication seven months after it began, shortly after Harrison's defeat.^[77]

The failure ofNast's Weekly left Nast with few financial resources. He received a few commissions for oil paintings and drew book illustrations. In 1902, he applied for a job in the State Department, hoping to secure a consular position in western Europe.^[78] Although no such position was available, PresidentTheodore Roosevelt was an admirer of the artist and offered him an appointment as the United States' Consul General toGuayaquil,Ecuador inSouth America.^[78] Nast accepted the position and traveled to Ecuador on July 1, 1902.^[78] During a subsequentyellow fever outbreak, Nast remained on the job, helping numerous diplomatic missions and businesses escape the contagion. He contracted the disease and died on December 7 of that year.^[9] His body was returned to the United States, where he was interred in theWoodlawn Cemetery inThe Bronx,New York City.

Nast's depictions of iconic characters, such asSanta Claus^[79] and Uncle Sam, are widely credited as forming the basis of popular depictions used today. Additional contributions by Nast include:

• Republican Party elephant^[80]
• Democratic Party donkey (although the donkey was associated with the Democrats as early as 1837, Nast popularized the representation^[81])
• Tammany Hall tiger, a symbol ofBoss Tweed'spolitical machine
• Uncle Sam, a lanky avuncular personification of the United States (first drawn in the 1830s; Nast andJohn Tenniel added thegoatee)
• John Confucius, a variation ofJohn Chinaman, a traditional caricature of a Chinese immigrant
• The Fight at Dame Europa's School, 1871
• Peace in Union, a 9 ft (2.7 m) by 12 ft (3.7 m) oil painting which depicts the surrender of GeneralRobert E. Lee to GeneralUlysses S. Grant atAppomattox Courthouse in April 1865. The painting was a commission fromHerman Kohlsaat in 1894. Upon its completion in 1895 it was presented as a gift to the citizens ofGalena, Illinois.

In December 2011, a proposal to include Nast in theNew Jersey Hall of Fame in 2012 caused controversy.The Wall Street Journal reported that because of his stereotypical cartoons of the Irish, a number of objections were raised about Nast's work. For example, "The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things" portrays an Irishman as being sub-human, drunk, and violent.^[82]

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  Nast'sSanta Claus on the cover of the January 3, 1863, issue ofHarper's Weekly
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  Thomas Nast (presumably sarcastically) drew himself asking for forgiveness from Senators for his critical sketches, writing "nobody may say a word against them for they are sacred".

TheThomas Nast Award^[83] has been presented each year since 1968 by theOverseas Press Club^[84] to an editorial cartoonist for the "best cartoons on international affairs." Past winners includeSigne Wilkinson,Kevin (KAL) Kallaugher,Mike Peters,Clay Bennett,Mike Luckovich,Tom Toles,Herbert Block,Tony Auth,Jeff MacNelly,Dick Locher,Jim Morin,Warren King,Tom Darcy,Don Wright andPatrick Chappatte.^[83][84]

In December 2018, The OPC Board of Governors decided to remove Nast's name from the award noting that Nast "exhibited an ugly bias against immigrants, the Irish and Catholics". OPC President Pancho Bernasconi stated "Once we became aware of how some groups and ethnicities were portrayed in a manner that is not consistent with how journalists work and view their role today, we voted to remove his name from the award."^[85]

TheThomas Nast Prize for editorial cartooning has been awarded by theThomas Nast Foundation (located in Nast's birthplace ofLandau,Germany) since 1978 when it was first given toJeff MacNelly.^[86] The prize is awarded periodically to one German cartoonist and one North American cartoonist. Winners receive 1,300 Euros, a trip to Landau, and the Thomas Nast medal. The American advisory committee includes Nast's descendant Thomas Nast III ofFort Worth, Texas.^[86] Other winners of the Thomas Nast Prize includeJim Borgman,Paul Szep,Pat Oliphant,David Levine,Jim Morin, andTony Auth.^[87]

The word "nasty" iserroneously thought to derive from Nast's name, due to the cynical tone of many of his cartoons.^[88] In reality, the word's origins are unclear, but it is ancient, with written evidence that dates to the 1400s. Chiefetymological theories prominently include derivation fromOld Norse,Old French and/or some relation to aDutch term.^[89]

• Adler, John, and Draper Hill.Doomed by Cartoon: How Cartoonist Thomas Nast and the New York Times Brought Down Boss Tweed and His Ring of Thieves (Morgan James Publishing, 2008)online.
• Adler, John.America's Most Influential Journalist and Premier Political Cartoonist: The Life, Times and Legacy of Thomas Nast (Harp Week Press, 2022).
• Barrett, Ross. "On Forgetting: Thomas Nast, the Middle Class, and the Visual Culture of the Draft Riots."Prospects. 29 (2005): 25-55.online
• Boime, Albert. "Thomas Nast and French Art,"American Art Journal. 4#1 (1972), pp. 43–65in JSTOR
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911)."Nast, Thomas" .Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 251.
• Dewey, Donald.The Art of Ill Will: The Story of American Political Cartoons. (NYU Press, 2007).ISBN 0814719856online
• Dorsch, Timothy, "Deeper Impressions of Thomas Nast and Joseph Keppler: Analyzing the Role of Political Cartoons in the Development and Perceptions of Late Nineteenth Century Group Images" (Thesis, U Central Florida, 2020).online
• Halloran, Fiona Deans (2012).Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.ISBN 9780807835876. Scholarly biographyonline
• Hoff, Syd (1978).Boss Tweed and the man who drew him. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan.ISBN 9780698307063.LCCN 78005622.OCLC 1148013228.OL 4718805M.
• Keller, Morton (1968).The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast. New York: Oxford University Press.LCCN 68-19762.
  • Orr, Brooke Speer. "Crusading Cartoonist: Thomas Nast,Reviews in American History (2014) 42#2 pp 292–95; review of Halloran (2012)
• Huntzicker, William E. "Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, and the Election of 1876." inAfter the War (Routledge, 2017). 53-68.online
• Jarman, Baird. "The Graphic Art of Thomas Nast: Politics and Propriety in Postbellum Publishing."American Periodicals 20.2 (2010): 156-189.online
• Pascal, John. "Mark Twain and Thomas Nast: The Friendship and Correspondence of the Writer and the Cartoonist." Mark Twain Journal 59.1 (2021): 11-30.online
• Pflueger, Lynda.Thomas Nast: political cartoonist (2000), for middle schoolsonline
• Vinson, John Chalmers.Thomas Nast: political cartoonist (University of Georgia Press, 2014).
• Wilde, Lukas RA, and Shane Denson. "Historicizing and Theorizing Pre-Narrative Figures—Who is Uncle Sam?."Narrative 30.2 (2022): 152-168.online
• Worth, Richard.Thomas Nast : honesty in the pursuit of corruption (1998)online. for secondary schools

• Nast, T., & St. Hill, T. N. (1974).Thomas Nast: Cartoons and Illustrations. (New York: Dover Publications)ISBN 0-486-23067-8online
• Paine Albert Bigelow (1904).Th. Nast: His Period And His Pictures. New York: The MacMillan Company. Retrieved2009-07-10.ISBN 0-87861-079-0online

• Official website
• Thomas Nast collection at Princeton University Library; 600 of Nast's original drawings and published wood engravings
• Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State U.
• National History Day Project about Thomas Nast
• Elections 1860–1912 as covered byHarper's Weekly; news, editorials, cartoons (many by Nast)
  • Nast cartoons from Ohio State University
• More work by Thomas Nast
• Nast cartoons focused on Chinese Exclusion. "Illustrating Chinese Exclusion"
• Thomas Nast Civil War Pictures
• Thomas Nast Caricatures of the Civil War, Reconstruction, Santa Claus, Napoleon, Catholicism, Boss Tweed, Tammany Hall and more.
• "Nast, Thomas" .Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900.
• Beach, Chandler B., ed. (1914)."Nast, Thomas" .The New Student's Reference Work . Chicago: F. E. Compton and Co.
• The Thomas Nast Collection--Morristown & Morris Township Public Library, NJ
• Thomas Nast on History Buff.
• "Emancipation", a work by Thomas Nast from 1865 via theWorld Digital Library
• Thomas Nast takes down Tammany: A cartoonist's crusade against a political boss from theMuseum of the City of New York Collections blog
• The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum: Thomas Nast
• Works by Thomas Nast atProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Thomas Nast at theInternet Archive
• THE GRAND CARICATURAMA, collection atMacculloch Hall Historical Museum