Black text over a white/tan background. 

The C. M. Paula Company, sometimes shortened to just Paula, was founded in 1958 by Charles McCollough. The Cincinnati-based company got its start in greeting cards, but branched off into stationery and novelty gifts, including pin-back buttons. 

In 2005 the company transitioned from consumer goods to a privately held holding company. Mr. McCullough passed away in 2017, after having spent 60 years of his life building his business up from its humble beginnings out of the trunk of his car.

Illustration of a crash dummy with nuts and bolts flying out, over a jagged orange and yellow pattern mimicking a collision or an explosion. The background is blue, and there is curved white text at the top. 

Mantua Metal Products was an American toy manufacturer founded in 1926 that specialized in model trains and train kits. From 1942 to 1945, the company assisted in measuring and mapping equipment for the United States Army and Navy during World War II. During the 1960s, Mantua Metal Products changed its name to TYCO Industries. Tyco purchased the rights to start a line of toys for the Sesame Street characters in 1992 and developed the famous Tickle Me Elmo toy. Mattel acquired Tyco Toys in 1997 and made it one of their brands. 

In 1991, Tyco partnered with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to create toys based on their public service announcements demonstrating the importance of seatbelt safety with crash test dummies. The Incredible Crash Dummies were released from 1991 to 1994, though the NHTSA departed from the partnership sometime before a slight rebrand in 1992. Tyco Toys continued to promote seatbelt safety even after the partnership ended. The crash test dummy action figures had impact buttons on their torsos that, when pressed, would spring their limbs from their bodies. Throughout 1993, the Incredible Crash Dummies were featured in a half-hour TV special, a video game created for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and comic books containing puzzles. The crash test dummy pets, Hubcat and Bumper, were controversial due to the fact they simulated running over cats and dogs. Incredible Crash Dummies playsets included a crash test center and a student driver crash car. The grey crash test dummy seen on this button is Spare Tire, one of the core characters of the series. Pressing Spare Tire's impact button caused his eyes, ears, and tongue to bug-out of his head. 

Blue and red text on a white background.

Mikva Challenge is a non-profit organization founded in 1997 by Chicago politician Abner Mikva with his wife, Zoe. The goal of Mikva Challenge is to inspire young Chicago students to become involved in civic engagement and participate in the electoral process. As of 2023, the organization has grown to serve over 100,000 students across the United States. 

Pink text in a paintbrush style font, over a black background. White specks are splattered on and around the text. 

Rod Stewart is a British singer-songwriter whose career has spanned over six decades. He is best known for hits such as "Ooh La La" with the group Faces and his solo smashes "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Maggie May." This pink text is taken from the album cover of Stewart's acclaimed 1988 effort, Out of Order. As of 2023, Stewart ranks 49th on Rolling Stone's list of the top 200 vocalists of all time. 

Red text over a yellow background. 

Richard Buell Ogilvie was the 35th Governor of Illinois and served from 1969 to 1973. Ogilvie, a Republican, made a name for himself in the 1960s as the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois. While sheriff, he was also elected as the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Ogilvie narrowly defeated his opponent in the 1968 gubernatorial election: incumbent Democrat Samuel H. Shapiro, whose campaign capitalized on Ogilvie's association with former Chicago police officer Richard Cain, the chief investigator and aide to Ogilvie while he was Cook County Sheriff. Concurrently, Cain was also on the payroll of a notorious Chicago mafia boss and served as an "inside man" to the mob. In 1968, Cain was convicted of misprision of felony, aiding and abetting criminals, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, and in 1969 he pled guilty to perjury. Cain was released from prison in 1971 and was shot and killed in 1973—presumably by members of the Chicago mob—while eating at a diner on Chicago's West Side.

The Non-Partisan Committee for Governor Sam Shapiro took out full-page ads in November, 1968 that detailed Ogilvie's relationship with Cain and speculated that this association meant that he couldn't be trusted as Governor; the ads included the phrase seen on this button, "Why did Ogilvie hire Cain?"

Blue text over a white background. Above the text is a Canadian maple leaf. 

It’s not clear where the phrase “take off, eh” came from, but it is widely accepted that the phrase was popularized by the Canadian characters Bob and Doug McKenzie from the Second City Television (SCTV) comedy sketch show. Played by Rick Moranis and Doug McKenzie, Bob and Doug were the main characters in the SCTV sketch “Great White North,” a parody where two stereotypical Canadian brothers talked about all things Canadian. 

"Take off, eh” has several meanings, but in the context of the “Great White North,” the phrase is used as a pejorative similar to a phrase like “get lost” or “shut up.” While the use of the word “eh” is considered to be uniquely Canadian, the origin of the word can be traced back to the Middle English words “ey,” “ei” and “a.”

Photograph of a troll doll wearing a green shirt, over a blue background. Its hair is coming out of the top of the button. 

In the late 1950s, the struggling Danish sculptor Thomas Dam struck gold with the invention of his signature troll. The oddly adorable dolls became an international sensation, becoming one of the top-selling toys of the 1960s. They remain a staple of pop culture, as seen in recent films like 2016's Trolls.

Hair was an integral part of Dam's original design. The toys were initially marketed as "Good Luck Trolls," and rubbing their colorful hair was purported to release their luck. This button allowed the wearer to carry the likeness and luckiness of the troll everywhere they went.

Illustration of Mickey Mouse's face over a white inner background, and a red rim. Black text is at the top and bottom. 

Before the Mickey Mouse Club show, there was the Mickey Mouse Club, an actual club for young fans of all things Disney. The club held its inaugural meeting in the Elsinore Theatre in Salem, Oregon on December 21, 1929 and attracted over 1000 young people. By the 1930s, the club had over 1 million members. 

The Mickey Mouse Club show debuted on ABC in 1955 and featured a regular cast of teenagers who performed skits and musical numbers. These performers were known as Mouseketeers, and they became instant celebrities, as would their successors in the numerous revivals of the show. Mickey Mouse Club had several iterations, relaunching in 1977, 1989, and 1994, with the most recent revival kick-starting the careers of global superstars like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Ryan Gosling. 

While the first run of the Mickey Mouse Club ended in 1959, the original logo for the show is still in wide use, appearing regularly in Disney branded products.  

Black text except for "WLS" which is red, over a white/tan background. 

WLS is a classic radio station that has broadcasted throughout the Chicagoland area for over 90 years.  Over the years, the station went through many periods of rebranding. One of the most notable was in the 1980s when it was renamed "The Rock of Chicago." Many claim that WLS was instrumental in popularizing many bands that are now considered rock classics, including Styx, Rush, and REO Speedwagon.

Red text over a yellow background with irregular brown patches and spots. 

The source of this quote is hotly debated. Some insist that it was coined by the Scottish whiskey distiller Lord Thomas Dewar, while others state that it was of American origin and first recorded in the late 1920s in The Louisville Times. The expression was also frequently used by the American experimental musician Frank Zappa.