This cartoon appears on page 268 of the 1935 Bomb yearbook. It depicts two students ice skating, drawn with loose, expressive lines and accompanied by a handwritten poem. The illustration reflects student humor and everyday leisure activities at Iowa State College during the mid-1930s.
This ice-skating cartoon from the 1935 Bomb yearbook offers a lighthearted yet meaningful glimpse into the social fabric of student life during the mid-1930s. Using a social history approach, this essay examines how an everyday moment, two students skating, reveals broader cultural values, community dynamics, and the role of humor within campus identity at Iowa State College.
The cartoon’s simplicity is central to its communicative power. With just a few expressive lines, the artist captures motion, personality, and mood. The looseness of the line work suggests spontaneity, giving the impression of a quick observational sketch drawn from lived student experiences. During the 1930s, a decade marked by economic uncertainty
and societal tension, such playful portrayals of ordinary life offered students a way to reaffirm community and optimism.
The animated gestures of the skaters hint at social interactions that extend beyond the page. The characters lean, wobble, and glide in ways that feel both humorous and familiar. This relatability reinforces the cartoon’s function as a shared cultural touchstone; students reading the yearbook would recognize themselves or their peers in these exaggerated poses. Humor, in this context, becomes a subtle tool for building solidarity among students.
The handwritten poem beneath the image acts as a bridge between text and illustration. Its informal tone mimics personal notes or inside jokes exchanged among friends, reinforcing the sense that the yearbook was not merely a documentary record but a communal artifact shaped by student voices. The pairing of casual poetry with a sketch reflects a participatory culture in which students actively co-create their own visual and narrative history.
Furthermore, the cartoon contributes to a broader understanding of how leisure activities shaped campus identity. Ice skating, accessible, seasonal, and social, was more than a pastime; it marked a rhythm of student life tied to Midwestern winters and traditions. By recording such activities visually, the yearbook preserved the emotional textures of student experience: play, awkwardness, companionship, and joy.
In this way, the cartoon serves as a cultural snapshot, demonstrating how everyday actions and shared humor expressed the collective spirit of Iowa State’s student community in the 1930s.
