Pa Pitt Explained

Pa Pitt, originally "Father Pitt", has been a personification of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since the 1890s. Numerous editorial cartoonists have depicted "Pa Pitt" over the years, notably Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Cy Hungerford.

A 1906 article by Raymond Gros lists seven cartoonists who had already drawn a 'Father Pitt', including Fred Johnston of the Leader whom Gros credits as creating 'Father Pitt' in 1897 to replace an earlier personification, 'Miss Pittsburgh'.[1] Historian J. Cutler Andrews credited a different Leader journalist, Arthur G. Burgoyne, with creating the character. Burgoyne himself claimed that "On November 5, 1895, Father Pitt was born. He was my offspring."[2]

References

  1. News: Gros . Raymond . The Index . 6 October 1906 . Father Pitt in Cartoons . The Index Company . Pittsburgh . Internet Archive, via The Pennsylvania Department, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh . 12 October 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120213191209/http://www.info-ren.org/projects/btul/Pennsylvania/papa1.html . 13 February 2012 .
  2. Book: Thomas, Clarke M.. Front-Page Pittsburgh: Two Hundred Years of the Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh. University of Pittsburgh Press. 2005. 0-8229-4248-8. 319.

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