Illustration of a child in a blue and white striped shirt with one eye closed and one hand held up on a red background with a speech bubble and black text.

This was a "Buddy Button" from Norcross Greeting Card company. The Norcross greeting card company was established in the 1920s by Arthur D. Norcross. The company had its own design employees, but they also hired free-lance designers such as Mildred Urban who created the 'Red Sails and Sunset' design. Along with their popular designs, Norcross is also noted as the first commercial card company to produce Valentine's Day cards.

The museum has one other of the Buddy Buttons here.

White illustration of a refrigerator compressor on a blue background

General Electric (GE) was incorporated in 1892, when they acquired Edison General Electric Company and The Thomson-Houston Company. Thomas Edison created the Edison General Electric Company to combine his businesses and to market his incandescent lamp. 

In 1927, GE debuted the "Monitor Top" refrigerator. The device was affectionately called the "Monitor Top" by the public because it resembled a turret on the Civil War gunship, the Monitor. The "Monitor Top" was designed by Chief Engineer Christian Steenstrup. Its unconventional design with it being made out of steel and being placed on top of the refrigerator was popular with consumers. GE is now known to have business in finance, infrastructure, health care, and several other fields.

Illustration of a red flag with a white rectangle with a red cross on it and blue text on a white background

The flag of Tonga was adopted in 1875 and the constitution of 1875 states the Tongan flag should never be altered. The flag consists of a red base with a red cross on a white square in the upper left corner. The red cross represents Christianity and the white of the flag represents purity. The red of the flag represents the blood Jesus shed at his crucifixion reminding the people of Tonga that they owe their salvation to him.

Illustration of a red, blue and gold striped flag on a white background

The flag of Armenia was created after World War I. There are conflicting views on the meaning of the colors, but the most recognized meaning is that red represents the blood of Armenia soldiers, blue represents the sky, and orange represents fertile soil and farmers. Another theory is that red represents the energy of the sun, blue represents the sky, and orange represents wheat.

Illustration of a person their with hands on the sides of their head on a white background

"Stoned Agin!" is a six panel comic created in 1971 by Robert Crumb, an American writer and cartoonist whose work primarily satirizes contemporary American culture. Crumb was integral to the underground comix movement, which typically includes self published comics that are often satirical and feature taboo content. He further assisted the movement by creating and contributing to the publication "Zap Comix," which ran from 1968 to 2014. On par with the underground comix movement, his work often features explicit themes, such as drug use, sexuality, and violence. In 1991, he was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame. In 2011, a "Stoned Agin!" flip book was created, breaking the six panels down further into several images to create the illusion of the comic being animated. 

Illustration of a character with a very long nose and polka dot pants with a empty thought cloud overhead on a background of white and striped rays on a white background

Oat Willie is an Underground comix character that was created by Gilbert Shelton. Oat Willie was initially named “Overly Thoughtful” or “O.T.”. He came to be called “Oat Willie” because his feet would permanently be stuck in a barrel of oats. Accepting this fact, he added wheels for mobility and continued a crusade of social and environmental consciousness.

Illustration of a cartoon cat's head on a white background

Korky is a black male cat from the Korky the Cat comic strip. The comic follows Korky’s adventures as a cat who behaves like a human with his three nephews Nip, Rip and Lip. The comic was created by James Crighton and first appeared in The Dandy, a British children’s comic in 1937. After several different artists took over Korky the Cat, Korky was retired in 2005. Korky was then relaunched in 2010 with Phil Corbett as his new artist.

Black and white peace sign illustration

The peace sign was originally created in 1958 by Gerald Holtom for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Inspired partly by semaphore flag signals for "N" and "D" (Nuclear Disarmament), Holtom sketched the symbol several times in preparation for the upcoming protests. Afterward the symbol was adopted by the American Student Peace Union in the 1960s, it grew to become the iconic symbol that we know today. Holtom passed away in 1985, and his collection of sketches was donated to the Commonweal Collection at the University of Bradford.

Red text on a yellow background

On November 15, 1969 over 500,000 protestors convened on Washington D.C. to protest the Vietnam War. Marches up and down Pennsylvania Avenue took place throughout the protest, which lasted about three days, from Thursday, November 13th to Saturday the 15th. Protestors made anti-war chants, sung songs of peace, and held signs with the names of deceased U.S. troops or destroyed Vietnamese villages. While unsuccessful in ending the war, the march demonstrated the strong organizational power of the anti-war activists. 

Blue text on a white background

On October 22, 1963, a massive boycott took place within Chicago Public Schools to protest against segregation policies. More than 200,000 thousand students did not attend school that day, and tens of thousands of citizens participated in a march to the Chicago Board of Education office. The day became known as Freedom Day. Brown v. Board of Education, which prohibited segregation in schools, passed in 1954, but segregation was not legislated in Chicago until the 1980s.