Presidential Campaign, Protest, and Cause Button Collecting

Along with my collection of about 4,500 protest and cause buttons, I have a comparable collection of presidential campaign buttons. As any button collector knows, the first celluloid presidential campaign button appeared in the 1896 election between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. Obviously, there are collections out there that completely dwarf mine in both these categories. But it is the love of political history, and how it is depicted via this specific medium of graphics and color that have driven me to collect over the past three decades. In this regard, I have sought a collection that is a good representative overview of the issues, the people, and the events within the genre and eras in which I am interested.

The very first cause button I can remember actually "picking up", was a "Lifeline for Biafra" button in front of the Student Union at the University of Maryland, College Park. I pinned it onto the arrow quiver in my dorm room. Later, I was able to supplement this with earlier buttons, primarily pertaining to Vietnam and Civil Rights, from my brothers who lived in New York City near Columbia University. By the early 1970s, I had also begun to collect local, state, and in particular, presidential campaign buttons.

However, it is the protest and cause button collection that is most special to me. I remember sitting on the Quad at College Park and someone handing me a button on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970. Prior to that year, I had a swell summer job in 1967 and 1968 waiting on tables at the West End Café near Columbia and actively sought buttons throughout the city. These "adventures" helped form the early foundation for my collection. During the 1978 ERA March in Washington, I actually enjoyed meeting, talking to, and having my picture taken with Gloria Steinem. One of the first dates with my future wife was when we went to Washington in 1979 under the pretext of visiting the Smithsonian, and she turned around and saw me running to march with a San Francisco gay rights group with swell buttons. These are special memories, not just of a generation, but my own personal era.

In closing, I would strongly encourage any collector to join the American Political Items Collectors (APIC). This is a national non-profit organization with over 3000 members whose interest lies in the collection and research of political items. Information on pricing, displaying, fakes, shows, auctions, other collectors, dealers, and historical research pertaining to "your" items are all available through membership within the APIC. Dues are minimal. I was a member of the APIC many years ago (#4,095). One of my regrets is that I let my membership lapse for over two decades. Even though I continued to collect, my interest began to focus on local and regional history that resulted in the publication of over 26 books and videotapes on the history of western Maryland and nearby West Virginia. It was also during the 1970s that I belonged to the now defunct Association for the Preservation of Political Americana (APPA #260), and as such wrote several articles in 1976 and 1977 for their publication, "The Standard", on Vietnam era and Women’s Movement buttons. I have since rejoined the APIC, and am enjoying this rebirth into the hobby immensely, and with the publication of the, "Buttons of the Cause" poster, feel that I am once again creatively contributing to the documentation of our nation’s political and public policy history.