Political Buttons and Stickers collection

Collection

Identifier: MG 660

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection contains political buttons primarily from Presidential and Congressional elections. Buttons from Presidential elections includes Republican, Democrat, and Third-Party candidates. The Congressional elections include those in Idaho and California. Additional materials includes political bumper stickers, and records surronding the buttons.

Dates

Creation: 1896-2000

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Biographical / Historical

The buttons were transferred to Special Collections by Markie McBrayer, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Idaho from their office. Details on how they came to have them are still under investigation but it appears that the collection belonged or was handled by John Koster.

The first mass production of metal buttons or pins was for the 1896 campaign of William McKinley as he ran against William J. Bryan for President of the United States. Due to expense, these buttons were often small and made of celluliod with text and images on them. As years and production prices have change, buttons have become larger and more extravagant for candidates of all levels.

Extent

5 Cubic Feet (5 banker boxes.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Political buttons, pins, and bumper stickers from various Presidential and Congressional elections. Including buttons for Idaho and California elections.

Arrangement

Buttons were originally sorted by which year and then which party they were from. Due to handling and failing of storage containers, the buttons were scattered throughout their original boxes.

Series 1: During processing, Special Collections staff did their best to organize the buttons based upon which year and by candidate on the button. A majority of the buttons were placed in chronological order on pieces of foam, though some were missed or were unable to be dated. Buttons that were not dated, were placed on a piece of foam together. A majority of the buttons related to Idaho elections were all placed on a single piece of foam in alphabetical, though some are within the chronological order sheets. All duplciate buttons were kept in their original housing and not placed onto foam.

Series 2: This series is comprised of 18 bumper stickers.

Series 3: This series has various paper records surronding the buttons and stickers.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Materials were transferred to Special Collections by Markie McBrayer, Assistant Professor of Political Science in January 2025.

Existence and Location of Copies

Duplicate pins and stickers can be found in Box 5 in the appropriately labelled containers.

General

HANDLING NOTE: Buttons have been placed on foam. Please note that the foam is very brittle and minimal handling is recommended. Buttons should only be removed from foam by staff and upon request. Handling must be done by Special Collections Staff. A digital collection of these buttons is in the works and will be coming later in 2025.

Processing Information

Collection was processed by Kelley Moulton in January and February 2025. Buttons were removed from their individual plastic bags after being sorted by year and candidate to the best of staff ability. After being removed from their bags, buttons were stuck on to pieces of foam, except for the duplicate buttons. Once all buttons were added to foam, an overhead photo was taken of each piece of foam. These overhead images were then printed and all buttons were numbered on these pictures and each image was labelled with which box and sheet of foam they corresponded with. During numbering, some numbers were repeated on accident and the letters "a" and "b" were used to show the buttons as being different. The foam sheets were then laid flat in bankers boxes.

After all of the buttons were handled, the bumper sticker and other paper materials were sorted and seperated into appropriate folders. Duplicate bumper stickers were seperated from the main bumper sticker folder. When the buttons were removed from their bags, over 800 bags included pictures of the front of the buttons and on the back inlcuded information such as price changes for the button, political party, election year, and candidate name. Additional names and years were added during processing.