Color illustration of baseball player Riggs Stephenson (wearing a blue hat with a capital letter "C" on it) on a green background with dark blue text on a yellow background below

Riggs Stephenson is a former major league baseball player who primarily played for the Chicago Cubs. Between 1921 and 1934 he played 14 seasons, 9 of which were with the Cubs. Stephenson is known for having a career batting average of .336. To this day his career batting average is tied for first in Cubs franchise history. He primarily played left field and was nicknamed "Old Hoss" for his reliable hitting. 

Black text and a red heart on a white background

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Illustration of Snoopy with is paw around Woodstock on a red background with green text and green mistletoe above; both characters are wearing green Santa hats

Inspired by classic comic strips such as Mickey Mouse and Popeye, American Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) brought to life the iconic characters Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Woodstock with his first Peanuts strip in October of 1950. By the 1960s, Peanuts branded merchandise was all the rage. Characters like Snoopy and Woodstock could be found on everything from buttons, as seen here, to sweatshirts and t-shirts.

Schulz’s Peanuts televised special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, came out in 1965, and this “Happy Holidays” button dated 1966, complete with green Santa hats and mistletoe, would’ve been a great piece of merchandise for the special. Schulz passed away in 2000, though his legacy remains to this day. Schulz received multiple Emmy Awards nominations for his animated Peanuts specials, such as A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1974), and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Black text on a hot pink background

Pickering Wharf, located in Salem, Massachusetts, is a popular tourist destination full of restaurants, retail stores, and a marina. The wharf was constructed between 1977-1979 as a recreation of an 18th-century shopping village and pays homage to Salem’s maritime history. So-called “ship rats” historically stowed away on cargo ships and boats around the world. English-born Puritan Roger Conant founded and colonized Salem. He arrived by boat in 1625 and undoubtedly brought rats on his ship.

Thus, the slogan on this pin: “Pickering Wharf Rat.” The visitors to the wharf, then, were honorary rats, a humorous way to remember the rats that stowed away on cargo ships and made homes at the seaports to which they arrived. The slogan "Pickering Wharf Rat" likely comes from a now-closed restaurant called Victoria's Station; on the menu were appetizers such as "Wharf Rat Ale Battered Artichoke Hearts." The restaurant sold much merchandise including pins, t-shirts, mugs, and ale glasses.

Black and white photograph of a mountain with winding roads leading to a sharp peak with red lettering around the rim  on an off-white background

Dodge’s Scenic Trips, Inc. was a sightseeing company that Operated in California. In 1915, the company offered “Dodge’s Trip De Luxe,” a multi-day sightseeing tour through many California landmarks. Among the advertised stops was the summit of Grossmont: “The World’s View Point.” 

Blue text above and below an illustration of an egg on a curved-arm pedestal sitting emerging from a bed of clouds 

The “Era of the Egg" refers to a period in the 1980s where eggs were widely considered a healthy and versatile breakfast option. The American Egg Board (AEB), built to promote egg consumption, had myriad slogans throughout the 1970s-1990s such as this one, as well as “The Incredible Edible Egg,” its first Chicago advertising campaign in 1973. The 1980s saw a growing wave of health conciousness and an awareness of the nutritional value of eggs, leading to increased consumption and incorporation of eggs into breakfast, lunch, and dinner routines.

The American Egg Board continues campaigning efforts to this day. In Chicago of 2024, a new campaign titled “Meant to Be Broken” aims to “shift perceptions of eggs as boring to a powerhouse food with relevance in the changing lives of consumers” (“Meant to be Broken” Campaign). The AEB has made small, “bite-sized” videos showing how to use eggs to fix breakfast, lunch, and dinner and will host national programs across TV, TikTok, and Youtube media.

According to the campaign: “After all, to make a great omelet, you have to first break a few eggs.”

Purple litho photo image of Patti Smith holding a dove in each hand with black text around the rim and purple text below the image

The Dr. Pepper Central Park Music Festival was first known as the Schaefer Music Festival, sponsored by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company. Festival tickets sold for $1 to $2.50 in 1968. In 1977, Dr. Pepper took over the music festival sponsorship, changing the festival name. After noise complaints, the festival moved from Central Park to Pier 84 in 1981. Reebok sponsored the festival starting in 1989, with the last event held the following year in 1990. 

The Patti Smith Group performed at the Dr. Pepper Central Park Music Festival in August, 1979. Other acts in the 1979 lineup included Joan Baez, Blondie, Journey, the Ramones, Talking Heads, and The Cars. Prior to the festival—in May, 1979—the Patti Smith Group released their third and final album, Wave. The album was described as “radio-friendly mainstream pop rock” and received mixed reviews after being less successful than their previous album, Easter. The rock radio station WPLJ 95.5 used the Wave album cover, an image of Patti Smith holding two doves photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe, to promote the band’s show at the Central Park festival. 

Blue and red text on a cream background; a blue stylized letter "A" is above the blue text and the word "first" is underlined in red

On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, becoming the first man to achieve the feat. He is credited as saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” as he stepped out of the Apollo 11 NASA lunar module and onto the moon’s crust.

Much promotional merchandise was manufactured and sold for the momentous event, including commemorative t-shirts, stamps, coins, and buttons. People gathered together to watch the landing, which was televised and celebrated. But for some Americans, simply watching and listening to the televised event was not enough; for these Americans, “Moon Parties” satisfied this itch, as did recording their thoughts and memories in letters and photographs.

Armstrong and his fellow astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, returned to Earth as heroes.

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Large black zig-zag with a white outline and red and white watch hands in the center; left and right sides are gray with short, thick horizontal black lines (three on the left and two on the right) and black text on the right-hand side 

Swatch is a Swiss watch and jewelry manufacturing company founded in 1983. Swatch owns 12 luxury brands and is considered the largest watch company in the world. This button’s design matches the Tonga GL100 Swatch Watch face. The Tonga GL100 was part of Swatch’s 1986 Spring Summer collection. Swatch no longer sells the Tonga GL100 model, leaving interested buyers to purchase this particular watch from second-hand retail sites. The watch is considered vintage and is sought after by people with extensive watch collections.