Red illustration of the character Sparkie surrounded by red text on a white background

The character seen here is a puppet named Sparkie, from the children's radio show Big Jon and Sparkie.  The radio show ran from 1950-1958 and centered around Sparkie, an "elf from the land of make-believe" who acts just like a real boy.

To be part of the Sparkie Club, a company had to sponsor the show. Many companies were part of a merchandising program where child fans of the show could mail in proof (for example, ten milk bottle caps or milk carton lids) to get a specifically branded Sparkie Club Button.

Lewis & Reilly’s is a shoe store that was opened in 1888 by Welsh Immigrant Jennie Lewis along with David Reilly and Mary Davies, who later left the company. In 1952, they opened a new branch in Scranton, Pennsylvania under the slogan “Always Busy”. Jennie was known as the region’s most successful businesswoman for being involved with the company’s daily business operations until she died in 1941. She was a director of the Young Women’s Christian Association (now YWCA), a social justice organization that has fought for women’s rights since 1850, as well as a member of the Quota Club, a faith-based organization that seeks to help struggling communities.

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Color illustration of a large penguin smoking a cigarette with its flippers around an an elephant and a donkey surrounded by white text on a green background 

In 1933 Kool brand cigarettes began using the mascot, “Willie the Penguin.” The popular penguin was used in advertising in newspapers and magazine, as well as goods for the home such as salt and pepper shakers and figurines.

Here Willie is shown between the party mascots of the Democratic and Republican parties. His position and the slogan is a call to people to not take the national election personally. The use of the phrase, “Keep Kool,” instead of the later phrase, “Smoke Kool,” dates the button to either the 1936, 1940, or 1944 elections.

Black and white illustration of the character Sparkie on a white background surrounded by black text

Sparkie was one of the titular characters featured on the popular 1950s children’s radio show, Big Jon and Sparkie. Both Big Jon and Sparkie known as, ”the little elf from the land of make-believe, who wants more than anything else in the world to be a real boy”, were both voiced by Jon Arthur. The show first aired in 1950 from WSAI, a Cincinnati radio station. The program aired daily and featured a two-hour special on Saturdays called “No School Today” on WSAI and the ABC network.

While the show never successfully made the transfer to television, it paved the way for children’s television shows such as The Howdy Doody Show and Captain Kangaroo. Big Jon and Sparkie incorporated teaching moments into the shows, which was seen as a radical concept at the time. This concept did not become more common until the airing of PBS programs such as Sesame Street and Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Big Jon and Sparkie moved to The Family Radio Network in 1962 and ran until 1982. Archived episodes can still be heard online.

Buttons featuring Sparkie were commonly produced during the latter half of the show's run. The Sparkie Club was a sponsorship and merchandising program related to the show. It involved companies paying for special promotions relating to the show so fans could mail in proof of purchase (for example, ten milk bottle caps or milk carton lids) to get a specifically branded Sparkie Club Button.

Off-white text on a red background on the rim surrounding an illustration of a dark blue paper cut-out style profile of Benjamin Franklin on an off-white background

The League of Curtis Salesmen was a male-only organization for high performing news magazine salesmen from the Curtis Publishing Company. The League had a ranking system based on the sales, and higher rankings provided benefits and rewards to the young salesmen including scholarships to cover school tuition costs. 

The Curtis Publishing Company was established in 1885 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They became one of the most successful news publishers, eventually acquiring Benjamin Franklin's newspaper company, the Saturday Evening Post (formerly the Pennsylvania Gazette). By the 1940s, Curtis Publishing expanded production to boost revenue and began publishing comic books; despite this diversification, the decline in sales continued. Due to the net loss, the company had to cease operations in 1969. Its legacy continues through licensing, loaning, and selling its artwork archive, magazine covers, and various artists' work including Norman Rockwell. 

Black text on an off-white and light blue speckled background. The text is above and below an illustration of a bald man in a green suit with his hand and hands raised, a cigar hanging out of his mouth

Rube Goldberg (1883-1970) was an American cartoonist and inventor who is best known for his cartoon depictions of impossibly complicated machines to accomplish simple mundane tasks. Goldberg is the only person ever to be listed in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as an adjective.

While working as a cartoonist for the New York Evening Mail in 1912, Goldberg came up with the “I’m the Guy” character. The popularity of the "I'm the guy..." slogans caught the eye of tobacco marketers who marketed the buttons in the 1910s as an incentive to buy some of their cigarettes. The versatile Goldberg even wrote a song with the phrase!

Black text on a white background above an illustration of an two flags, a shamrock, and a harp atop a glowing yellow background

“Erin Go Bragh” is a phrase often heard on St. Patrick’s Day. In the original Irish, “Éirinn go Brách” is roughly translated to mean “Ireland Forever.” The phrase was coined as a rallying cry during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, a revolt of the Irish against British rule. Although they were unable to obtain their independence at that time, the phrase was picked up by the Irish people as a sign of their allegiance to Ireland. The phrase found its way to the United States through its use by a unit of Irish-American volunteers fighting for Mexico in the Mexican-American War in the 1840s. Today the phrase is used by Irish-Americans to celebrate their heritage.

Black illustration of a horse in motion with black text on an off-white background

James B. McLaughlin and John McLaughlin were horse importers operating from 1890 to 1913. They founded the McLaughlin Brothers Livery and specialized in Percheron coach horses. One early business card had their location listed as Columbus, Ohio and their specialty as both Percheron and French coach horses. 

Illustration of a man shooting a basketball with black text on an orange background 

The University of Washington in Seattle was established in 1861. Before 1922 the university experimented with a number of different school mascots including Vikings, Indians, and the Sundogger. In 1922, after calls for a different mascot, the Associated Students of the University of Washington formed a committee to select a new mascot. They landed on the Husky as the school’s official mascot and it has remained the mascot to this day. 

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“Pennies from heaven” is a phrase from a song by singer Bing Crosby, as well as a 1936 film by the same title that Crosby starred in. The song, which remained on popular music charts for over ten weeks, has lyrics speaking metaphorically of how hardships will pass and riches will return to life as a matter of course. The phrase and the notion has remained colloquially in American culture, and used for perhaps humorous purposes such as discouraging the idea of beneficence appearing from the sky and encouraging a work ethic instead.