Claim: William Wallace Denslow was born in Philadelphia and spent some time at the National Academy of Design (an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City), and the 1880's he traveled about the United States as an artist and newspaper reporter.
Evidence: Born in Philadelphia, Denslow spent brief periods at the National Academy of Design and the Cooper Union in New York, but was largely self-educated and self-trained. The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fine arts in America through instruction and exhibition." In the 1880s, he traveled about the United States as an artist and newspaper reporter; he came to Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and chose to stay.