Commission on Federal Paperwork: Drawings by Carol

In the late 1970s, the United States Commission on Federal Paperwork studied the forms, reports, and records that the government required from citizens, businesses, and other governments.

The Commission published a set of reports and studies on education, energy, taxation, small business loans, and other government services, estimating the cost of federal paperwork to be more than $100 billion a year, about $500 per American citizen.

These sober government publications were illustrated with fantastical drawings of paper out of control, heaped on desks, overflowing filing cabinets, and generally besieging people, all signed “Carol”. This site collects Carol’s public-domain illustrations; individual pages link to the images in the context of the original reports.

I stumbled across these illustrations while searching for images of paper out of control, as part of my ongoing research into representations of overload.

I haven’t been able to identify who Carol is; if you know or have ideas for how to find out, please let me know: nick.seaver at tufts.edu.