Keep Your Shirt On

Illustration of a 19th century man's shirt with black text above and below on a white background

"Keep Your Shirt On" is a phrase often used to mean stay calm. The origin is unknown, but it was likely formed at the time when people would take off their good shirts to get ready for a fist fight where they might get dirty or bloodied.

Small pinback buttons were often included in cigarette packs in the late 1800s and early 1900s. “Keep Your Shirt On” features a pen and ink drawing of a 19th century man’s dress shirt and was given as a complement or prize in High Admiral Cigarettes, a product of the National Cigarette and Tobacco Company. Admiral Cigarettes also included trading cards with their cigarettes.

Noted on the back on the High Admiral Cigarette pinback button is backing paper by the Whitehead and Hoag Company.  The Whitehead & Hoag company was formed in 1892 in Newark, New Jersey, as a partnership between printer Benjamin S. Whitehead and paper merchant Chester R. Hoag. It soon became the largest manufacturer of novelty advertising in the United States, eventually making over 5,000 different items. In the 1890s, it held three different button patents, and during the 1896 presidential election, campaign buttons swept the nation for the first time.