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From the exhibition

Lady Bountiful Helps the Hat Stores

· March 29, 1903

Lady Bountiful Helps the Hat Stores
This Sunday comic strip follows a wealthy woman and her group of children through a hat-shopping expedition. Across six panels, the narrative unfolds through speech balloons and sequential action: the woman enters a millinery shop, children crowd the storefront, hats are selected and tried, and the group departs laden with purchases. The strip exemplifies early newspaper comics' visual vocabulary—distinct panel borders, expressive line work, and dialogue integral to plot. Recurring character types and domestic scenarios like this were staples of the Sunday funnies, which served as laboratories for the medium's developing grammar before comic books emerged as a distinct format.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain