Harper's Weekly cartoons of Thomas Nast, who was recruited in 1862 and worked with the "Weekly" for more than 20 years. Nast was a feared caricaturist, and is often called the father of American political cartooning. He was the first to use an elephant as the symbol of the Republican Party. He also drew the legendary character of Santa Claus; his version became strongly associated with the figure, who was popularized as part of Christmas customs in the late nineteenth century. "Harper's Weekly" was the most widely read journal in the United States throughout the period of the Civil War. So as
Editorial cartoonist the Association of American Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Thomas Nast Award from the Overseas Press Club, and the Herblock Prize. There are several North American books that have collected together the majority of cartoonists being published at the time. "Attack of the Political Cartoonists", written by J. P. Trostle, was published in 2004 and includes profiles of 150 mainstream American and Canadian cartoonists. "Attack" was an effort to update the 1962 tome "Today's Cartoon", by "New Orleans States-Item" cartoonist John Chase, which included most of the editorial cartoonists working in the U.S. at