We Are Moving

Red and blue text with red and blue illustrations of a building and anthropomorphized tools on a white background

Benjamin Harris Co. Inc. was a button manufacturing company that originated in Queens, New York, and later moved to Long Island City. In 1971, Benjamin Harris Co. was mentioned in a New York Times article about an increasing trend in smiley face buttons. Benjamin Harris Co. made roughly $5 million in smiley face button sales during the 1970s. Smiley face buttons were gifts in dentist offices and served as peace symbols in psychedelic shops. People wore smiley face buttons to remind themselves to smile, make other people feel good, or simply because everyone else was wearing them. A 2023 auction sold a rare Benjamin Harris Co. promotional button for the 1960 United States presidential election for $623. Within the last two decades, there was only one other sale of the 1960 election button, making it a “rare and interesting piece of American campaign history.”