Black and white photograph of a loom.

The loom is a device used to facilitate the weaving of fabric, which works by holding the threads taut in place in order to interweave. Looms have been used worldwide for thousands of years: designs varied widely but nevertheless the basic function remained the same.

Two major breakthroughs occurred which helped propel the Industrial Revolution. The first was the invention of the flying shuttle by John Kay in 1733, which allowed the weaver to cover a wider fabric and at greater speeds. The second was the invention of the power loom by Edmund Cartwright in 1784, which mechanized the loom and allowed it to become fully automatic by the early 1800s.

Stylized illustration of red lips on a white background.

Lipstick, or red lips, became popular in the 20th century. The American women’s suffrage movement adopted red lipstick as a sign of protest. Prior to this movement, red lips were considered sexual amoral and during medieval times, having to do with the devil. Red lipstick became a common part of the modern American woman’s makeup regime. During World War II Hitler famously hated red lipstick so for an American Woman to wear red lipstick was also a protest against fascism.

A union bug is a marking on a product that signifies that the product was made by a labor union.

Illustrations of a leopard's face on a black background with a purple ring around the edge of the button.

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Illustration of woman wearing bikini with arms up holding hair standing in front of city street and a red classic car.  Text appears around edge of button in small blue circles and red and yellow diamonds.  White text also appears in a black rectangle across woman's chest.

Easy Aces, Inc. was a producer of “fun and innovative” kitchen tools, party goods, tech products, and personal accessories, including pin-back buttons. Though they now call themselves Fred and Friends, Easy Aces, Inc. continues to operate out of Cumberland, Rhode Island and solicit local artists for product designs. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the company sought out photographers, illustrators, and graphic designers to collaborate on pin-back buttons. One such artist who partnered with Easy Aces, Inc. was Bob Holmes, who developed a series of buttons under the “Nourishing Adventures” collection in 1980.

Illustration of a harlequin's head and shoulder in black and pink on a white background.

A Harlequin is a mute character in a traditional pantomime that traditionally has a masked face and a colorful diamond-patterned costume. The role of the Harlequin is a light-hearted astute servant with self-serving intentions. He is agile, quick, and has trickster tendencies. The name Harlequin is said to descend from old French "hellequin" meaning demon. The Harlequin character was popularized in Italian comedia dell'arte; a 16th-century theatrical form. However, the origins of the character itself is debated as some scholars have suggested the Harlequin did not start with the Italian Renaissance but perhaps with the Greeks in Greek comedy theater or in Central Africa where a character similar to the Harlequin is seen portrayed in the African arts. 

Closeup illustration of monkey's face on a neon green background.

Like humans, monkeys are part of the primate family. It is estimated that there are over two-hundred and sixty types of monkeys. Their lineage makes up both new world species (those with tails), such as Pygmy Marmosets, and the Squirrel Monkey that live in South & Central America; to old world species (those without tails) that are more commonly known, such as Chimpanzee’s and Orangutan’s, which have been around for millions of years and can be found in Africa & Asia. 

Black circles, short red lines and two wavy shapes against a half green, half yellow background with a small white triangle between the two halves.

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Illustration of Golden Gate Bridge with an unrolling red carpet.

This spectacular bridge was the vision of two men, Joseph B. Strauss and Leon S. Moisseiff, who designed it using an Art Deco theme. Its name hails from explorer John C. Frémont who dubbed the entrance to the San Francisco Bay in 1846; the strait of the Golden Gate, which connects the Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It spans 1.7 miles and took four years to build. Once completed it was opened to the public in 1937; considered the longest suspension bridge ever built in the U.S. That is until 1964 when New York’s Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was built. So, number two in the U.S. and number nine in the world, that’s not bad for “the bridge that couldn't be built.” Today, the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most popular tourist spots of the west coast.

A yellow triangle, pink triangle, red circle, two green "greater-than" arrows, a thin black line and a human photographed from below all on a background image of shimmering water.

The image on this buttons was created by April Greiman and Jayme Odgers.  April Greiman is a contemporary graphic design artist born in 1948.  She is considered one of the first designers to embrace computers and digital technology as a design tool.  Her style also includes layering type to make it look like it is floating in space, using geometric shapes, exaggerated letter spacing and eccentric colors.  Her style also took advantage of combining graphic elements with photography, which is how she came to work with photographer Jayme Odgers.  Together they designed posters for Cal Arts that would become templates for the California New Wave design style. 

Illustration of woman in a blue dress and white apron sitting down amidst various objects.

"Dreaming in the Attic" is a painting by Norman Rockwell from 1923. In 1982, it was re-issued as part of a series of twelve painted plates titled, "Rediscovered Women." The collection of plates was crafted by Knowles China.

Norman Rockwell is a an important American cultural icon. He was an author, painter, and illustrator during the twentieth century. He is known for his illustrations for the cover of The Saturday Evening Post magazine, as well as his works Rosie the Riveter, Willie Gillis, and Four Freedoms.