Invisible pictures

In September 2016 the special collections library that preserves historical American illustration at Washington University in St. Louis, USA, was named after D. B. Dowd. A longtime professor in the university’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Dowd is a tireless advocate for the preservation and study of popular print culture and was instrumental in the establishment of this library in 2007. The D. B. Dowd Modern Graphic History Library (DMGHL) is a repository of printed and original illustration and of several prominent illustrators’ estates, including those of the legendary Al Parker and Robert Weaver. The DMGHL is also a study centre open to students, scholars and the public, and a leader in illustration studies and research. The Journal of Illustration is pleased to print verbatim Dowd’s speech given on the occasion of the naming. – ed.