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Finding Aid

Kurt Erichsen Papers

MSS-293

Size: .5 Lin. Ft.

Provenance: Kurt Erichsen

Access:Open

Collection Summary: Collection consists of comics, a card and prints created by artist Kurt Erichsen.

Subject(s):Gender and Sexuality; Music, Art, Drama, and Theater

Related Collections:   People can view more of his work at www.kurterichsen.com

Processing Note:

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Katrina Beckloff

Biographical Sketch

                   Kurt Erichsen is originally from Coos Bay Oregon and graduated from Oregon State University with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1977. In 1978 he graduated with a MS in Sanitation Engineering from Michigan State University. After college, Kurt moved to the state of Ohio and settled in the Toledo area in 1979. Erichsen has worked in engineering in the Toledo area, holding the position of vice president of environmental planning for the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments and was the recipient of the 2009 John Bosley Award. Erichsen is also a freelance cartoonist, and writer/artist for multiple comic strips and other art.

                   Kurt Erichsen is the writer/ artist for the “Murphy’s Manor” comic strip as well as other stories and many fanzine art pieces. Most of his professional cartooning has been for the Gay Press, including stories/ illustrations for Gay Comix, Meatmen, Instinct Magazine and Fairy Flicks. Kurt Erichsen’s most memorable and lengthy work is the “Murphy’s Manor” series in which he developed numerous characters from the city of Black Swamp, Ohio. Most of these characters live under the same roof and have differing interests ranging from politics to theater. The stories about Murfy date back to 1982 and are noted for their gay themes/ protagonist.

                   In addition to the Murphy’s Manor and other comics, Erichsen has created artwork for the School & Community Magazine, Instinct Magazine’s personal finance and health sections, and two proposed Children’s books. Erichsen has numerous science fiction, fan art and cartoon based pieces which he has done for print shops, art shows, fanzines and apas since the late 1960s. Yearly he also creates a current topic Christmas/ Holiday card which he sends to friends, colleagues and clients.

                   Kurt Erichsen has received two awards from Gay & Lesbian Press Association, the Outstanding Achievement in Illustration for the years 1985 and 1986. Also for his science fiction based work Erichsen received the Rotsler Award for cartooning given by SCIFI Inc. on October 2002.

Scope and Content Note

The Kurt Erichsen Papers are divided by content into two series.

Series one, Murphy’s Manor, consists of yearly volumes of comic strips created by Kurt Erichsen. There are multiple volumes spanning the years 1982-1994. The collection does not contain every volume of the series, therefore the folders have been labeled by year instead of volume number. The final folder of this series contains three booklets outside the previous volume and each of which span multiple years. Two of these books are “The Complete Murphy” volumes one and two which are selections from the comic strip “Murphy’s Manor”. The final book within this folder is “Stories of Murf, Tales from Murphy’s Manor Volume 1” published in 1999.

The second series is titled Other Drawings.  The two folders of this series contain a Christmas card and a book of prints created by Kurt Erichsen. The card is from 2012 and contains cartoon depictions of Gandalf and Sméagol from The Lord of the Rings Series. The book of prints is titled “The Science Fictions/ Fantasy and Fanzine Art of Kurt Erichsen”, printed in 1998. This book is a collection of prints of varying types created by Kurt Erichsen.

 Folder List