The Emperor Norton Trust

TO HONOR THE LIFE + ADVANCE THE LEGACY OF JOSHUA ABRAHAM NORTON

RESEARCH • EDUCATION • ADVOCACY

SPSA No. 1

SPSA No. 1: Illustration by Lois Hansom. Design and layout by Mark Hogan.

SPSA No. 1: Illustration by Lois Hansom. Design and layout by Mark Hogan.

This is the first of our Sartorial Public Service Announcements (SPSAs), a numbered series of wearable art  projects — in the spirit of a proclamation, a declaration or a decree — to support and promote The Emperor's Bridge Campaign (now known as The Emperor Norton Trust).

SPSA No. 1 begins life as a limited-edition t-shirt — and initially is being funded by a Kickstarter that ended in September 2015. *

The design of SPSA No. 1 is based on a rarely seen 1939 illustration of Emperor Norton by Lois Hanscom (1915-95). 

Hanscom's whimsical drawing of the Emperor was one of many of her "cartoons" that appeared in a tourist guidebook, Let's Have Fun in San Francisco: A Handbook to the City, that was published that year.

The book — written by Edith Shelton and Elizabeth Field — included contributions from William Saroyan, Beniamino Bufano, Antonio Sotomayor and Herb Caen.

As you can see from the image of Hanscom's original illustration, below, we've funked the Emperor out a bit.
 

SOLD OUT

 



* Engraver's Circle

Special thanks to the following supporters, who each contributed $100 to fund SPSA No. 1:

Greg Carden
Hazel Dakers
Chris Huning
Judi Leff
Jane Winhall-Rice

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