This blog is an archive of their legacy — their newspaper strips, magazine cartoons, original artwork, and the stories behind the work. It exists to ensure that George and Virginia Smith's creative vision continues to speak, teach, inspire, and connect across generations.
Explore the ArchiveWhat made the Smiths' work distinctive was its willingness to go places polite conversation avoided. The strip tackled gun control, military spending, environmental poisoning, women's equality, and cultural hypocrisy decades before these topics became mainstream. And it did so with a warmth and humanity that never felt preachy. George also had a prolific career as a magazine gag cartoonist, selling hundreds of cartoons to publications including The Saturday Evening Post, American Legion Magazine, PIC Magazine, and others — at a time when breaking into those markets was brutally competitive. "The Smith Family" comic strip.
In 1950, George ranked 14th nationally in cartoon sales.— competing against legendary names like Mort Walker, Hank Ketcham, and the Berenstain’s. Their work appeared in The Boston Globe, The Columbian, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Austin American-Statesman, The Prattville Progress, and dozens of other newspapers nationwide.
George's cartoons appear in PIC Magazine, True, Medical Economics, and American Legion Magazine.
"The Smith Family" launches. George ranks 14th nationally in cartoon sales.
Strip appears in Philadelphia Inquirer, Oakland Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and dozens more.
The strip finds a new home in Vancouver, Washington's The Columbian newspaper.
After 44 years, "The Smith Family" concludes its historic run.
The Smith Family Comic Archive Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to digitizing and preserving this 44-year comic strip collection for future generations.