La Grande collector discovers original art by Homer Davenport

Published 12:00 pm Friday, July 25, 2025

Four original drawings to be displayed at Silverton festival

Western Oregon historian Gus Frederick, a devoted fan of Homer Davenport, the legendary editorial cartoonist from Silverton, will never forget how he felt after reading an email from John Lamoreau, of La Grande, in October of 2024.

“I was shocked,” Frederick said.

And understandably so, for it’s not every day one is told that original 125-year-old illustrations by Davenport had been discovered. Lamoreau wrote that he had purchased four original drawings by Davenport, who died in 1912.

“I asked John, ‘How in the world did you get these? I didn’t think they existed,’” said Frederick, who lives in Silverton and is the editor of two reprints of books, first published more than a century ago, which are collections of Davenport’s illustrations.

The four original drawings Lamoreau purchased will be displayed at the 45th annual Homer Davenport Days festival Aug. 1-3 in Silverton, 15 miles northeast of Salem.

One of only two bidders

Lamoreau purchased the illustrations in September 2024 in an online auction in Philadelphia, which had just two bidders. Lamoreau said the auction house selling the drawings and the second bidder, apparently wasn’t aware that the drawings are Davenport originals. This kept the price down.

“It was a great value,” Lamoreau said of the illustrations, which were drawn about 1900.

A retired La Grande High School social studies teacher and co-author of several books about the Titanic, Lamoreau was certain the drawings were originals after examining them online before the auction.

“There was never any doubt in my mind,” Lamoreau said.

He can tell these are originals in part because of handwritten notations and doodling sketches on the back of them, all of which were clearly created by Davenport’s hand.

Davenport gained national fame after being hired by William Randolph Hearst, an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed one of the nation’s largest newspaper chains and media companies. Lamoreau said Hearst made Davenport, who worked for Hearst from 1891 to 1912, one of the highest paid editorial cartoonists in the United States, paying him an annual salary that reached $35,000.

“That was a tremendous amount of money at the time,” Lamoreau said.

Political influence

Davenport’s editorial cartoons had an enormous impact. So influential were his works that some historians credit them with tilting the results of the 1904 presidential election in favor of Theodore Roosevelt, Lamoreau said.

Roosevelt and Davenport had similar mindsets, for both supported the poor and opposed policies that favored the wealthy. This sentiment is expressed by Davenport in his best-known book, “The Dollar or the Man?” — a collection of drawings by Davenport about the growing influence of wealth and corporate power over human values.

It was published in 1900 and reprinted two years ago by Frederick, who wrote annotations for it. The reprinted book, like the original, has 54 illustrations, four of which are reproductions of the original drawings Lamoreau purchased.

The four drawings discovered by Lamoreau include one of Hearst and one of Davenport’s son, Homer Clyde Davenport.

Davenport, who grew up in Silverton, died at age 45 on May 2, 1912, after contracting pneumonia while meeting in New York City with survivors of the Titanic, which sank 17 days earlier in the Atlantic Ocean. Davenport was sent to draw illustrations of those who had lived through the tragedy and write stories about their harrowing experiences. Davenport was then working for the New York Journal.

Davenport, because of the circumstances of his death, is described as one of the final people to die as a result of the sinking of the Titanic.

“Some people say he was one of the Titanic’s last victims,” Lamoreau said.

More information on Davenport’s life will be presented at this weekend’s Homer Davenport Days festival. Activities and events at the festival include a parade, a car show, live music, a fun run, a brew fest and an editorial cartoon drawing contest.

For more about the festival, visit homerdavenport.com.