Name/Title
ManuscriptEntry/Object ID
2016.2.99aaDescription
What we now know as a campaign button didn't come about until 1896 with the patent by the now famous Whitehead and Hoag Company. The device was made of 4 pieces sandwiched together -- a piece of metal on which was placed a printed image with a slogan or photo of 1896 candidate for President William McKinley or his Democratic opponent, William Jennings Bryan. On top of that printed image was a thin piece of see through celluliod and all of this was placed together by a machine with a small metal pin attached on the reverse. The 1896 discovery of campaign buttons was so popular that now, some 106 years later, buttons from McKinley -Bryan race are still fairly common and can be bought for as little as $10, although most buttons are much more than that.Collection
BlaneyAcquisition
Accession
2016.2.0Source or Donor
Eileen B. BlaneyAcquisition Method
Gift