Color illustrated portrait of George Washington in the center surrounded by two US flags on the bottom and laurel on the top. Above the laurel is black text on a white background; below the flags is a banner with black text on a light brown background. A faded red, white, and blue ribbon is attached to the button and a brass badge with black text reading "OFFICIAL" is attached to the top of the ribbon. 

Slightly colorized photograph of a naked woman giving a salute on an off-white background with banners of bold text on a striped background strategically place to cover her chest and pelvic region; the image as a whole is evocative of art nouveau graphic design.

This is one of a series of six buttons designed by Peter Max to promote the 1969 movie Paint Your Wagon. The film is a western musical starring Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg. It was adapted from a Broadway show with the same title and cost $20 million to make, which was a large budget for film production at the time. The movie received negative reviews, and the costs were never recouped.

Peter Max is a graphic artist know for his use of psychedelic shapes and bold color palettes.

Click here to view another button from the series

Illustration of a yellow dog with a dark blue nose and bright red tongue above yellow text on a dark blue background

Ken-L Ration was the first canned dog food in the United States, started by the Chappel brothers in 1922. They proudly advertised it as horse meat, which was cheap and widely available at the time. Fido, the yellow dog, was a popular mascot. Many are still familiar with their popular jingle, “My dog’s better than your dog!”

Neon yellow background with black text above a black smiley 

The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.

The word written above the face, “Kalimera,” means “good morning” in the Greek language.

Green outer band with yellow text and a yellow center with green text and a thin yellow line around the outer rim

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Blue text on a white background with a red border around the rim

In 1935, this was the title song for the Betty Boop cartoon, “No! No! A Thousand Times No!!” The song, written by Al Sherman, Al Lewis, and Abner Silver became a popular hit.

In the cartoon, Betty and her boyfriend are acting in a melodrama on the stage. The song is her response when the villain crashes the story, ties up Freddy, and attempts to woo her with diamonds and pearls. Freddy escapes his bonds and is eventually victorious in rescuing the damsel in distress. The song is sung in the cartoon by Mae Questel, who later generations may remember as Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989).

Black and white photograph of Willie Mae Reid on a white background with black text

Willie Mae Reid is an American feminist, activist, author, and socialist political candidate. Upset with American politics and the the approach the U.S. government took towards domestic and foreign issues, Reid chose to become active in politics. Issues which frustrated Reid included the Boston desegregation busing crisis of the 1970s, and CIA interference with democracy in Chile, Congo, and Cuba. Reid first threw her hat in the political ring in 1975 when she ran for mayor of Chicago. Although she lost that election to Richard J. Daley, the defeat did not hinder her desire to remain active in politics. Reid ran as a vice presidential candidate under the Socialist Workers Party in 1976 along with presidential candidate Peter Camejo, and again in 1992 with James “Mac” Warren. Aside from participating in politics, Reid was also active in the Civil Rights movement, and authored multiple books about feminism and racism. 

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.