Yellow rim with black letters surrounding a black circle with a red outline illustrated to look like a cartoon sun. In the center of the black circle is a yellow illustration of a cartoon water droplet with a smiling face, hands, and feet standing next to yellow text.

Air Kontrol Filter Manufacturing Inc was a company founded in 1972 in Mississippi that had branches in multiple locations, including Tennessee. While air filtration had a number of iterations throughout history, high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration was made possible during World War II, and the first air filter was patented in 1961. Two years later, German inventors Klaus and Manfred Hammes created an air filter intended for domestic use. The use of air filters was one recommendation in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023 as a preventative measure to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the center are vertically aligned circular photographs of Michael and Kitty Dukakis: his surrounded by an illustration of a billowing American flag and her by a heart-shaped American flag. Gold banners with black text on a light blue background are above and below the flags. The image composite has a black and white checkerboard border with dark blue around the rim. 

 Michael Dukakis was the governor of Massachusetts from 1975-1979 and again from 1983-1991. He began his political career in local government before moving on to serving eight years in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Dukakis ran in the presidential election of 1988 against George H.W. Bush. Bush's campaign team decided to combat his reputation as a lackluster candidate amongst his party by using a negative ad strategy to paint Governor Dukakis as soft on crime, and the ads struck a chord nationally, handing Bush the Presidency with a win of 54%. 

Katherine "Kitty" Dukakis is an advocate and humanitarian who was the first lady of Massachusetts during her husband, Michael Dukakis's, terms. She became a public supporter of electroshock therapy, openly addressing its benefits in her own lived experiences with depression and alcoholism following her husband's failed presidential campaign. Kitty Dukakis was appointed to President Jimmy Carter's commission on the Holocaust, bolstering the creation of the first Holocaust Museum in the United States. She also has done humanitarian work supporting refugees. 

Black text on a gold background

In 1968, the rock band The Turtles released an album called “The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands”. This concept album consisted of the band pretending to be a series of different groups playing in various styles. One made up band called “Fats Mallard and the Bluegrass Fireball” presented a bluegrass rock track called “Chicken Little was Right”. The song begins with: “Did ya hear what happened to the world today? Somebody came an′ they took it away” leading to environment consciousness undertones throughout the song which was common theme during the 1960’s. 

Pink text on a white background

Ted Kennedy, younger brother of John F. and Robert Kennedy, announced his campaign for the United States presidency in 1980. In a heated race for the Democratic Party’s nomination against Jimmy Carter, an accident in which he had been involved ten years earlier received renewed attention.

In 1969 Kennedy accounted that he had driven his car off a bridge in the dark on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. His passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, remained trapped inside underwater. Kennedy tried to free her but stated that he was unable to find her in the dark water. During the investigation, conflicting reports, unanswered questions, and rumors of a coverup led to a scandal that would haunt him for the rest of his career.
 

Red text on a white background

In the 1970s, poet and editor Paul Feroe was employed by a small press distributer called Bookslinger, which was located in St. Paul, MN. While donning this button in a 1979 interview, Feroe explained the importance of supporting local poets, noting that large, commercial publishers only publish books that will sell at least 4,000 copies. Because of this, 86% of poetry was published by small presses in the 1970s. The small presses, Feroe explained, were more concerned with getting poems printed and out into the world than making money. Because of this, there was no money for advertising and marketing. Feroe made it his mission to get poetry out of academic settings and into the community by setting up displays, and organizing poetry readings in libraries. In a 2022 article, a small, independent publisher stated that large publishers still do not invest much on poetry and that most poetry is self-published. 

Red and red-outlined text on a yellow background with the characteristic McDonald's logo at the bottom 

A reference to a real-life condition of a heart attack, a Big Mac Attack is a pseudo-disease that describes the sudden urge to eat a Big Mac from McDonald’s. The only advice to cure the ailment was to immediately go to McDonald’s and get a Big Mac. Starting in 1976, McDonald’s put out advertisements asking if anyone was suffering from a “Big Mac Attack”. As a part of this campaign, the company sponsored popular sports teams, hosted a creative writing contest with a prize of free Big Macs, and even gave away a car.

Did you know that the Big Mac had two other names? The famous burger was first named “The Aristocrat” to advertise the burger as elegant, then “The Blue Ribbon Burger” to show off its “award-winning” taste. Both names didn’t click with customers. Finally, at a meeting with the company’s advertising department, Esther Glicken, a secretary at the time, recommended the name “Big Mac”. Everyone laughed at her suggestion, but ultimately the name stuck. For McDonald’s 30th anniversary, Esther Glicken was given a plaque officially identifying her as the person who named the sandwich.

Green text on a white background

Invented in the 1980s, any library user that has passed through a library’s doors only to have an alarm go off may have encountered the Teeny Beeper. A device installed at entry points scans for the Teeny Beeper: a square, 2 inch tag that can be adhered to any part of a book, is versatile enough to be written and typed on without being damaged, and will become desensitized when checked out. Designed as a loss prevention tool for libraries, the sensor that read the radio frequencies from the Teeny Beeper could be installed in floor mats as well as standing screens. Many libraries today still employ some form of scanning device to ensure library materials that exit the building have been appropriately checked out. 

Lenticular button with alternating black and white photographs of McGovern and Eagleton on a white background with black text. 

After George McGovern won the Democratic nomination for president in 1972, nearly every single high-profile Democrat McGovern approached to be his running mate declined, including Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Hubert Humphrey, Edmund Muskie, and Birch Baye. After refusing McGovern's offer to run on the ticket, Senator Gaylord Nelson suggested Tom Eagleton as his running mate. With little thought, nor any background check, McGovern chose Eagleton.

This led to a campaign shrouded in controversy. There were rumors that Eagleton supported multiple issues that were controversial at the time like abortion and the legalization of marijuana. It had also been revealed that Eagleton had a history of mental health issues which Richard Nixon, the leading Republican candidate, used in a smear campaign. McGovern dropped Eagleton from his campaign and replaced him with Sargent Shriver but his reputation was already severely damaged at that point. This is seen as one of the many reasons why Nixon won in 1972.

Button is bisected diagonally with red text on a white background forming blue rhombus shapes on either side behind white text; red and white stripes align diagonally with the red text. 

America's Bicentennial in 1976 was a time of optimism for the country after the tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s. After the grand celebration in Washington, D. C., President Gerald Ford said: “Rarely in the history of the world had so many people turned out so spontaneously to express the love they felt for their country. Not a single incident marred our festival. The nation’s wounds had healed. We had regained our pride and rediscovered our faith, and in doing so, we had laid the foundation for a future that had to be filled with hope."

Color illustration portrait of William Howard Taft above an illustrated eagle holding a United States flag shield; blue text surrounds the illustration. 

Wesleyan College was founded in 1831 in Middletown, Connecticut by citizens of Middletown and Methodist leaders. One of Wesleyan’s beloved traditions is that of the Douglas Cannon. Originally used for ceremonial purposes, it was “stolen” in 1957 by students and returned the following year. Since then it has made many disappearances, many years long in some cases, before being spotted in photographs and personal appearances.

The 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft served from 1909-1913. In September 1909, at the tail end of a 14,000 mile tour, President Taft took time to attend the inauguration of William Shanklin as president of Wesleyan University. The ceremonies of the day took place on the university grounds, but it’s noted in the Meriden Morning Record that, “the town completed its own celebration…with a display of fireworks. The crowds were large, but there were no accidents to mar the arrangements.”