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A Gloss on the Term "Imp"

The Carleton Miscellany "Imp" About the trademark “chimney sweep” figure, later called “The Imp” by Carleton students

In the first issue of the Carleton Miscellany in Winter 1960, Reed Whittemore wrote that "The Carleton Miscellany will be modelled [sic] in part after the magazine Furioso, which stopped publication in 1953...  To affirm the connection, the old Furioso symbol (a sort of chimney sweep) has been planted here and there."  The Miscellany became known for this trademark image and for its distinctive combination of social commentary and literate whimsy.

Carolyn Soule, Administrative Assistant in English and Managing Editor of the Miscellany from Fall 1963-1980, writes:

"The chimney-sweep was adopted by Furioso and the Carleton Miscellany because it was meant to sweep out pretentiousness, pomposity, and cant. The chimney-sweep figure that served as the icon of Furioso and the Carleton Miscellany became an ‘imp’ when the English Department decided to sponsor a student-edited weekly newsletter that would be published every Friday during term time. It was named the Second Laird Miscellany to link it, in a sentimental way, it to the magazine which was no longer being published. The chimney-sweep icon came along with the name, and since, I assume, the students didn’t know its history, it became known as The Imp."

Carleton Miscellany Pages