Found on the internet, with some speculation about its origin. One theory is that it was Ernie Bushmiller’s cheat sheet, so he could be consistent in his expression of various emotions. Another person speculated that he could use this for some early version of cut-and-paste, in particular to save time with that hairdo. Perhaps it was in some guide for young cartoonists to help them learn to express emotions, and Nancy was just a familiar face to use.

The CoPilot AI engine covers most of these bases:

“Bushmiller developed this chart as a reference sheet cataloging facial expressions for Nancy, his iconic character known for her deadpan humor and minimalist design. Each numbered face corresponds to an emotion or reaction, helping Bushmiller (and later artists) maintain consistency in Nancy’s look while conveying a wide range of feelings.

The chart circulated among cartoonists and illustrators as an example of how to express emotion economically — a hallmark of Bushmiller’s style.

It likely dates from the mid‑20th century, when Bushmiller was refining Nancy’s visual language for syndication.”

Nancy has had several different authors:

Ernie Bushmiller (1938–1982)
Al Plastino (1982–1984)
Mark Lasky (1982–1983)
Jerry Scott (1983–1995)
Guy and Brad Gilchrist (1995–2018)
Olivia Jaimes (2018–2025)
Caroline Cash (2026–)

Larry Whittington began Fritzi Ritz in 1922 and turned the strip over to Bushmiller in 1925, but Nancy didn’t appear in that strip until 1933. The strip was renamed Nancy in 1938.

This brings up the controversial issue of when to let a comic strip die. At one end, we have Bill Waterson (Calvin and Hobbes), who ended the strip and avoided licensing. Just after we have Gary Larson, who ended The Far Side, but has mined his old material for licensing purposes and attempted to keep others from using it. This included asking CIDU to remove Far Side strips from our archives. We did this, but a glance across the internet shows many Far Side groups continually popping up like weeds in my lawn.

Then there are strips that have been transitioned to family members: Hagar the Horrible, for example, or Family circus, or Luann, now with Greg and Karen Evans listed as authors.

In the middle, I guess, are strips that are popular in reruns: Peanuts, and for that matter Classic Nancy, which recycles Ernie’s material.

At the far end of this spectrum are strips like Nancy, which shows several sets of authors over time, each with their own take on the characters (Fritzi is now bisexual) and with variation in drawing styles.

And on a very slightly related note, perhaps Dave Coverly should have her cycle through all 54 of them.