Abstract design of blue and light blue irregular crisscrossed lines over a background of blue, red, pink, green, white and orange parallel lines.

This is a hand painted button by an unknown artist found in a closet in Wicker Park, Chicago. 

Painted image incorporating embossed multi-colored rectangular pieces on a gray background.

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Star-shaped geometric design of orange diamonds and blue pentagons on a white background.

Bernard Kirschenbaum (1924-2016) was a student of Cornell University’s Architecture program and later a graduate from the Chicago Institute of Design. During his time in Chicago, he attended a lecture by architect Buckminster Fuller, the revolutionary mind behind the geodesic dome. After years of personal research sparked by that lecture, Kirschenbaum built the first residential geodesic dome in 1958 in Connecticut for a fellow artist and his future wife.

Kirschenbaum continued with art. The first of many art shows was a collaboration with Boston artist Tamara Melcher. Kirschenbaum designed a poster with a blue and orange geodesic pattern for this collaborative art show which was on exhibit at the Park Place Gallery in New York from December 1966 to January 1967.

Comic illustration of rotund, smiling, purple character walking with one resting on stomach while licking their lips.

Mr Greedy comes from a series of children's book titled "Mr. Men" and "Little Miss" by Roger Hargreaves, a British author and illustrator. Mr. Greedy appears in his own story where he learns a valuable lesson about the consequences of being too greedy.  The Mr. Men series that Mr. Greedy is part of began in 1971. As of 2015, there were 85 Mr. Men and Little Miss characters that have been created by Roger Hargreaves and his son (following Roger's passing in 1988). The books have become very popular, selling over 100 million copies worldwide.

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.