White background with black text and white and black checkered edge.

White Background with blue text and a red and white checkered edge.

Yellow background with an illustration of a blue, black, white, and yellow dog with blue text above and black text below.

The College of St. Scholastica opened in 1912 in Duluth, Minnesota, as an independent private college with only six students. Over 100 years later, with various locations across Minnesota, the school now boasts 4,000 students.

The St. Scholastica Athletics team name is the Saints. In 2022 the team branding was given an update, and the team mascot, “Storm,” a St. Bernard, was given a makeover. With his new look, Storm lost the cartoony image depicted on this button for one that shows more determination. “The new Storm communicates focus, grit and the underdog mentality,” according to the press release. 

Red background with large, white text and a number one bisected by the text.

Black text on white background with red and white checkered edge.

Aged white background with black illustration of a rooster, black text, and a red and aged white checkered edge.

White backgroudn with black text around the rim and an illustration of a large trailer truck in the center

Colorized photograph of a pond surrounded by lush greenery; a man with a long beard wearing a suit and fedora stands in the middle ground, looking toward the camera

Pink triangle over white text on black background.

Silence=Death is a symbol and slogan created in the 1980's by Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Socarrás to raise awareness about the AIDS epidemic. The phrase was meant to criticize both the public stigma surrounding the disease as well as the Reagan administration's lack of response. The pink triangle was a symbol used by Nazis in the 1930's and 1940's to identify homosexuals, but by flipping it upside down, the creators of Silence=Death helped to reclaim the symbol for their community. The visual iconography was chosen to make the movement as inclusive as possible. As a result, the group of creators choose not to use photographs, but rather a more general symbol of a pink triangle.  

Silence=Death—and the upside down pink triangle—became a hugely impactful symbol, and eventually was adopted by the organization AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). With its new symbol, ACT UP would go on to fight AIDS both in the U.S and around the world. As of 2024, ACT UP continues to advocate for the nearly 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS. 

Click here to see another version of this button held by the Museum

Black text on aged white background with red and aged white checkered edge.