Use Restrictions

The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Political campaigns button collection, C0338, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Lynn Spencer in November 2019.

Processing Information

Processing and finding aid completed by Amanda Menjivar in March 2023.

Historical Information

Political buttons have been used in the United States since Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign in 1860. The mass produced election campaign buttons we know today were first created in 1896 for the presidential race between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. That very year a patent for a pin-back/celluloid front button design allowed for the mass production. Political buttons, whether to support a political candidate, cause, or party, are still used today.

Scope and Content

- Stevenson-Kefauver presidential campaign (1956)

- Kennedy-Johnson presidential campaign (1960)

- Nixon-Lodge presidential campaign (1960)

- Goldwater-Miller presidential campaign (1964)

- McGovern-Shriver presidential campaign (1972)

- Clinton-Gore presidential campaign (1992)

Arrangement

This is a single box collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other collections that contain political buttons, including the American Political Items Collectors collection and the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area records.

Harvard University, Stony Brook University, Vanderbilt University, University of South Carolina, and Yale University all hold political buttons collections.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Memorabilia
• Political campaigns -- United States
• Presidents -- Election
• Spencer, Lynn
• United States -- Politics and government