Joy Oval

Category
Additional Images
Text on Button joy
Image Description

Orange text on a white background

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

Joy is a great feeling of happiness.

1960s era fonts were often used in slogans which promoted peace, love, and joy rather than war. The war between the USA and Vietnam went from Nov 1, 1955 to Apr 30, 1975.

The peace, love, and joy phrase was used by Hippies, short for hipsters, a subculture which began in the 1950s beatnik coffee house scene predominately in San Francisco. Hippies continue to exist today with new generations of liberal minded activists who believe in peace, love, and joy.

Catalog ID IB0603

Jazz and Get Fat

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button JAZZ AND GET FAT
Image Description

Black text on a white background with a red and white checkered outer edge

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
The Manufacturer
Additional Information

Comic Motto Buttons, as they became known sometime in the 1940s (previously known as Comic Celluloid Buttons), hailed from Johnson Smith & Co. catalogues and became popular in the early to mid-20th century. Recognized by their iconic checkered border and featuring salacious slogans and witty banter, the catalogue promised, “Get acquainted – wear these comic celluloid buttons. Slip one or two of these buttons on your lapel and then wait for the wisecracks to begin. The girls get lots of fun out of them. At parties, you break the ice right from the start. Just give one of these to your guest, and it gives the party a flying start.” 

Johnson Smith & Company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1914 as a mail-order novelty and gag gift supplier, settling in Racine, Wisconsin in 1926. Johnson Smith & Co. or Johnson Smith Company sold an array of toys including pinback buttons with suggestive slogans meant as ice breakers.

While there’s no evidence that 'jazz and get fat' was a widely used phrase in the early 20th century, there is a strong connection that exists between jazz culture and New Orleans. The Jazz Age, marked by speakeasies and rebellion, mirrored the celebratory excess of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where 'Fat Tuesday' symbolizes feasting before Lent.

Sources

Birnkrant, M. (n.d.). Small things: Remembering Johnson Smith & Company [blog post]. Mel Birnkrant.com. https://melbirnkrant.com/recollections/page49.html

Johnson Smith & Co. (1938). Johnson Smith & Company Catalog No. 148. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/johnson-smith-company-catalog-no.-148-1938

Johnson Smith & Co. (1951). Novelties Johnson Smith and co 1951 catalog. Internet Archive. https://ia803405.us.archive.org/5/items/novelties-johnson-smith-and-co-1951-catalog/Novelties%20Johnson%20%20Smith%20and%20Co%201951%20catalog_text.pdf

Johnson Smith Co. (2017). About Our Company. Johnson Smith Company. https://web.archive.org/web/20170929033510/http://www.johnsonsmith.com/aboutus/ 

Mob Museum. (n.d.). The rise of jazz and jukeboxes. Prohibition: And Interative History. https://prohibition.themobmuseum.org/the-history/how-prohibition-changed-american-culture/jazz-and-jukeboxes/

National Park Service. (1993). Jazz origins in New Orleans. National Historical Park Louisiana. https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyculture/history_early.htm

Ted Hake. (n.d.). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s funny saying button with rebus [auction listing]. TedHake.com. https://www.tedhake.com/JOHNSON_SMITH_FAMOUS_NOVELTY_SUPPLY_HOUSE_1930s_FUNNY_SAYING_BUTTON_WITH_REBUS_-ITEM804.aspx

Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019a). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s suggestive slogan button [Make it hot for me] [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168405871

Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019b). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s suggestive slogan button [I’m a red hot mama] [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168405896

Catalog ID IB0599

I've Got Green Roots

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button I'VE GOT GREEN ROOTS!
Image Description

Green text on an illustration of a person with orange hair wearing a green suit with mushrooms on the ground.

Back Paper / Back Info

$1.00
MADE IN U.S.A.
1980
HALLMARK CARD

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Year / Decade Made
Additional Information

St. Patrick's Day began as a religious holiday in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. A national holiday in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is also a celebration of Irish culture. This latter meaning is the primary focus of St. Patrick's Day celebrations throughout the Irish diaspora.

In the United States in particular, St. Patrick's Day is a celebration of Irish ancestry, or "Irish roots". A significant number of Americans claim Irish heritage. In 2013, for instance, 33 million US citizens, or ten percent of the population, claimed Irish ancestry. Boston, Massachusetts holds a large St. Patrick's Day parade every year to honor the Irish heritage of many of its citizens. Nearly a quarter of Massachusetts residents claim Irish ancestry.

Sources

Irish Americans. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Sense_of_heritage

St. Patrick's Day. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved July 21, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day

Catalog ID IB0602

I've Got a Crush On You

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button I've got a Crush on you
Image Description

Blue text on a peach background

Curl Text 5710 MADE IN U.S.A.
Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

“I’ve got a crush on you” is a phrase used to tell another person that you have romantic feelings for them. A crush is usually a short period of strong romantic feelings for a person that often goes unrequited. The phrase is also a title of a popular 1930s song performed by George Gershwin and written by Ira Gershwin.

Catalog ID IB0592

I Could Jazz All Night

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button I Could JAZZ ALL NIGHT
Image Description

Black text on a white background with a red and white checkered outer edge

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
The Manufacturer
Additional Information

Comic Celluloid Buttons (or Comic Motto Buttons, as they became known sometime in the 1940s) hailed from Johnson Smith & Co. catalogues and became popular in the early to mid-20th century. Recognized by their iconic checkered border and featuring salacious slogans and witty banter, the catalogue promised, “Get acquainted – wear these comic celluloid buttons. Slip one or two of these buttons on your lapel and then wait for the wisecracks to begin. The girls get lots of fun out of them. At parties, you break the ice right from the start. Just give one of these to your guest, and it gives the party a flying start.” 

Johnson Smith & Company began in Chicago, Illinois in 1914 as a mail-order novelty and gag gift supplier, settling in Racine, Wisconsin in 1926. Johnson Smith & Co. or Johnson Smith Company sold an array of toys including pinback buttons with suggestive slogans meant as ice breakers.

"Jazz" originated as slang in the United States in the early 1900s, meaning liveliness and energy; it later became associated with the energetic and exciting musical genre around the 1910s. Some sources suggest that a sexual connotation may have developed, likely suggesting a desire to continue experiencing the excitement, energy, and perhaps the more illicit pleasures associated with the Jazz Age and its music.

Sources

Birnkrant, M. (n.d.). Small things: Remembering Johnson Smith & Company [blog post]. Mel Birnkrant.com. https://melbirnkrant.com/recollections/page49.html

Cambridge University. (n.d.). Can’t take something. In Cambridge English Dictionary. Retrieved July 29, 2025, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/can-t-take

Johnson Smith & Co. (1929). Johnson Smith &. Co, Catalogue. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/1929johnsonsmith0000tony/page/308/mode/2up

Johnson Smith & Co. (1938). Johnson Smith & Company Catalog No. 148. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/johnson-smith-company-catalog-no.-148-1938

Johnson Smith Co. (2017). About Our Company. Johnson Smith Company. https://web.archive.org/web/20170929033510/http://www.johnsonsmith.com/aboutus/ 

Ted Hake. (n.d.). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s funny saying button with rebus [auction listing]. TedHake.com. https://www.tedhake.com/JOHNSON_SMITH_FAMOUS_NOVELTY_SUPPLY_HOUSE_1930s_FUNNY_SAYING_BUTTON_WITH_REBUS_-ITEM804.aspx

Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019a). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s suggestive slogan button [Make it hot for me] [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168405871

Ted Hake Vintage Buttons & More. (2019b). Johnson Smith famous novelty supply house 1930s suggestive slogan button [I’m a red hot mama] [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/141168405896

Catalog ID IB0600

How Dry I Am

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button HOW DRY I AM
Image Description

Red text on a white background with an outer blue and white checkered edge

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Additional Information

"How Dry I Am" is an old drinking song that laments Prohibition, or the "dry" movement of the early twentieth century. Little is known of the song's origins, except that it takes its tune from an even older hymn, "O Happy Day". Early reports record the refrain as follows:

How dry I am! How dry I am!
Nobody knows how dry I am.

In 1919, Irving Berlin recorded a song entitled "The Near Future", which borrowed from and popularized the refrain. By the 1930s, the song was making regular appearances in popular media, especially cartoons, to indicate drunkenness.

Some prohibitionists embraced "How Dry I Am" as an anthem of the movement's success. This has led to some confusion among collectors over the intended meaning of pinback buttons that bear the phrase. Some claim that the buttons advocated for Prohibition while others describe the items as "humorous" or "cheeky".

Sources

A dry and wet discussion. (1920, August). Current Opinion, 69(2), 228-230. Retrieved from https://books.google.com

Morris, J. (2010, August 5). Prohibition songs and baseball's summer classic. The Mercury News. Retrieved from https://www.mercurynews.com

The Near Future. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved August 1, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Near_Future

Catalog ID IB0597

A New Vision for America Jimmy Carter

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button A NEW VISION FOR AMERICA JIMMY CARTER
Image Description

Black text on a white background and a black and white photograph of Jimmy Carter

Back Paper / Back Info

Vari-VUE by PICTORIAL PRODUCTIONS INC. MT. VERNON N.Y. U.S.A PAT. NO. 2,815,310
union bug

Back Style
The Shape
The Size
The Manufacturer
Additional Information

Jimmy Carter was one of the lesser known Democratic candidates in the 1976 presidential elections. Although he had already served as a Georgia Senator and the Governor of Georgia, his name recognition during the campaign was only two percent. Carter's religious background and experience as a peanut farmer appealed to the conservative and rural voters in Georgia. Average Americans recovering from the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate also preferred a Washington outsider like Carter, a fresh face to mainstream politics. To everyone’s surprise, Carter won the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. He proceeded to win the presidential election against the Republican candidate Gerald R. Ford and served as the 39th President of the United States. He reran for presidency in the 1980 election but lost the race to his Republican opponent Ronald Reagan.

Catalog ID PO0964

Humphrey Muskie Flag

Category
Additional Images
Sub Categories
Text on Button HUMPHREY MUSKIE
Image Description

White text over a blue background with two white stars over red and white striped and two ovals with photographs.

Curl Text EMRESS SPLTY CO, NYC. 10010 FJ1068
Back Style
The Shape
The Size
Year / Decade Made
The Manufacturer
Additional Information

Hubert Humphrey and Edmund Muskie ran in the 1968 presidential election. Humphrey had previously served as Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson and was encouraged to run when Johnson announced he would not seek reelection. Humphrey won the official nomination from the Democratic party and ran on a liberal platform that focused on civil rights and nuclear disarmament, although neither issues were popular at the time. They were ultimately defeated by Republicans Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew, who won 301 to 191 in the electoral college. 

Catalog ID PO0962