Black text on a white background.

“What the hell is Pixel 80?” was a headline used by the Pixel Division of Instrumentation Laboratory Inc. to advertise their newest computer model, the Pixel 80. The Pixel 80 was an improvement over their previous model, the Pixel 100. The Pixel 80 featured the latest version of UNIX™  System III with Berkeley enhancements, upgraded to 16 terminals, 6Mb RAM, and housed 420Mb of 5.25 inch Winchester storage in the same box with the same power supply. Advertisements for the Pixel 80 were featured in Computerworld Magazine in July 1983. 

Red text on a cream-colored background.

The slogan “Let’s Love One Another” echoes 1 John 4:7 in the New Testament, which begins, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God.” This button was produced by Randolfe Hayden “Randy” Wicker for the Homosexual League of New York in the early 1960s. Wicker, an outspoken gay rights activist, journalist, and writer, was among the first in the United States to publicly campaign for homosexual visibility and acceptance. In 1962, he became one of the earliest openly gay people to appear on East Coast radio and television programs, and in 1963 he organized a picket at the Whitehall Street Induction Center protesting the U.S. military’s exclusion of gay men.

Using a Bible line like “Let’s love one another” allowed Wicker and other early LGBTQ organizers to do several related things at once: appeal to a broadly Christian public by invoking familiar moral language; reframe homosexuals not as social deviants but as people appealing to the same ethical standards as their neighbors; and push back against religiously grounded condemnations by asserting that Christian teachings about love could support tolerance. That strategy—occasional engagement with religious language and direct outreach to clergy and religious communities—appears repeatedly in histories of the gay rights movement, which combined visibility, appeals to civil-rights language, and outreach to sympathetic religious leaders and congregations.

The Randy Wicker papers (including correspondence, clippings, and organizational material) are held in manuscript collections and document his work with the Homosexual League of New York and later groups; researchers can consult those files for more on distribution and intended audiences for ephemera like this button.

Red and black text on a white background.

Pizza Hut is a global chain serving pizza and Italian-American dishes. It was established in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The logo and brick-and-mortar locations are recognizable by their red-roof design. It offers a range of pizzas, as well as pastas, wings, salads, and desserts. There are thousands of restaurants worldwide, making pizza a significant part of American restaurant culture. Although Pizza Hut’s food is popular, its advertising campaigns have been criticized for being controversial and insensitive. 

Hunger strike sit-ins were a powerful protest tactic in the 1960s and 1970s, often used by civil rights, anti-war, labor, feminist, and Indigenous movements. However, Pizza Hut’s “Protest Hunger” campaigns refer to several separate events. One of the most recent was the 2017 Pizza Hut ad incident, where the Israeli branch of Pizza Hut mocked a Palestinian hunger strike and faced widespread boycotts. It also encompasses general examples of using pizza to provide food for protesters, such as with Ian's Pizza during a 2011 protest in Madison, Wisconsin, as well as in fundraising and community support efforts for hunger relief. 

Illustration of a hand holding black text over a neon pink background

Association Films, Inc. was a New York–based distributor of educational films active from the 1940s through 1981. The company specialized in supplying schools, libraries, and community groups with instructional films on topics such as home economics, health, and civic education. At the time, home economics was promoted nationally as both a career path and a means of strengthening families and communities through nutrition, budgeting, and consumer education. The bold design suggests a late 1960s or early 1970s production, aligning with Association Films’ peak years of educational outreach.

Illustration of an orange beer stein with black text over a blue background.

The slogan “Beer drinkers make better lovers” is based on the common idea that alcohol can improve sexual performance. While drinking can lower inhibitions and boost confidence, it usually has the opposite effect on physical responsiveness. This belief is still popular, even though alcohol typically makes arousal and performance more difficult.

This phrase also reflects how American media tends to present alcohol as something that benefits romance and attraction. Advertisements frequently show drinking in romantic settings, which helps spread the idea that alcohol leads to better relationships or experiences. Buttons and other novelty items with this type of slogan use humor to play on those ideas about alcohol and desire.

A man in a bowler hat and black suit with a cane looks at a computer sitting on a round table in front of a white background with black text. 

Please contact us if you have more information.

Illustration of a yellow sun on a white background with blue and red text. 

The biographer John A. Farrell wrote of Ted Kennedy’s (1932-2009) presidential campaign in a 2022 Time’s article, noting that Kennedy’s quest for redemption has similarities to Joseph Conrad’s titular character in Lord Jim (1900): “’I shall be faithful,’ he said…letting his eyes wander upon the waters, whose blueness had changed to a gloomy purple under the fires of sunset.”

Sun and sunset remain a theme to Kennedy’s presidential run. In 1980, Kennedy challenged then-incumbent President Jimmy Carter for the Democratic nomination. The self-proclaimed “cause of his life” was universally accessible health care, and he balanced his wealth and fame with philanthropy well. Still, Kennedy had pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident; in 1969, he drove his car off a bridge, resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, his female passenger. The incident and its aftermath hindered his chances of becoming president and, in 1980, Kennedy lost the presidential campaign to Carter.

Thus is the sad irony of this button. Kennedy was nicknamed “the Lion of the Senate,” which brings to mind the sun, as the constellation Leo—“the lion”—is associated with the sun. Kennedy used sunrise symbolism in his campaign materials, and yet, the presidential campaign, in many ways, hastened the “sunset” of his higher political aspirations.

Photograph of a woman on a white background with a blue rim and white letters. 

Following his time as governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton launched a successful presidential campaign in 1992. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, was more politically involved than was typical of the spouse of a presidential candidate, earning her a great deal of admirers—and also scrutiny. Her popularity and influence was enough that she alone became a draw for, resulting in buttons like this one.

This same slogan was recycled for Clinton's 1996 reelection campaign, seen here

A tall golden robot and a small blue robot in front of an abstract white space background with blue and pink planets with blue and black text. 

Star Tours is a theme park ride at DIsney MGM Studios based on the Star Wars films. The ride originally opened in 1989, but was given considerable renovation in 2011 following Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm and the Star Wars franchise. Another renovation was done in 2024 to add content from Disney's various Star Wars television shows. 

A photo of a polar bear raising its paw with beige text in front of a brown background. 

The Fund for Animals was an American organization dedicated to protecting animals from cruelty and neglect. Founded in 1967, they primarily focused on the treatment of shelter and rescued animals. The organization frequently partnered with The Humane Society of the United States, and in 2021 the two organizations fully merged.