A white background with red and blue text, and an image of the back of a person's head.

This button was for the Tom Murray clothing store in Chicago, which sold shirts, pants, jackets, hats, dresses, and other items. The "Meet me face to face" slogan encouraged potential customers to visit his shop in person. Murray was known as a successful advertiser whose campaigns were often imitated by competing shops, and who sometimes wrote ads in newspapers and clothing trade journals. He sold good-quality clothing at slightly lower prices than his competitors and was once known as "Ten-Dollar Tom." Murray's shop was in business from 1898-1915, when he closed it and started selling clothes by mail order.

One of Murray's most notable stunts was hiring a woman to paint his shop's outdoor sign in 1906. Since women were not allowed in such a job at that time, Alice DeBarry's sign-painting drew crowds and even caused traffic jams. Police made her stop painting and took her to the station. Murray posted DeBarry's bond and then employed her as a cashier in his shop.

White text outlined with black on a green background. Black text on illustration of a pioneer landscape with a tepee, wagon, and a man and woman in the foreground.  Two white milk jugs on left and right edge of button.

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Illustration of a a greyish truck with a person in blue riding in the back on a yellow ground with a person in the foreground and something brownish in the background

“There’s no place like home” is an idiom meaning that one prefers their own home, town, or city over any other place on earth. It is widely associated with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, but in fact the expression became popular over one hundred years prior to this. It appears in the last lines of the song ‘Home, Sweet Home,’ written in 1823 by John Payne and Sir Henry Bishop for the opera Clari. Sung at the end of the first act, the song was met with thunderous applause during its first performance at London’s Covent Garden, and from then on became popular in the English-speaking world. 

The Stegmaier name and logo are emblazoned on a white background with a silver border; the lettering is red, white, and silver.

The Baer & Stegmaier Brewery was opened in 1857 on South Canal Street in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  The brewery was founded by Charles Stegmaier and his father-in-law, George Baer. In 1863, it was renamed the C. Stegmaier & Son brewery and then finally became Stegmaier Brewing Company in 1897. From 1910 to 1913 Stegmaier Beer won eight gold medals from European beer expositions including those in Brussels, Paris, and Rome. In the early days of the brewery Charles Stegmaier would personally deliver each barrel of beer with a wagon drawn by a goat. In 1974, the Stegmaier label was sold to Lion, Inc. of Wilkes-Barre.

Yellow text on a blue circle on a white background. A brown Alaskan totem pole with a yellow star, blue flag with stars and a mountain in the middle of the blue circle. 

The Alaska Purchase Centennial was held in 1967 to commemorate the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The United States purchased Alaska on March 30th, 1867 for $7.2 million. The highlight of the celebration was the Alaska 67 Exposition, held from May 27th to September 10th of 1967, at Alaskaland, what is now Pioneer Park, in Fairbanks, Alaska. The main tourist attractions at Alaskaland showed historical Alaska exhibits that included a mining valley where visitors could pan for gold as well as models of Eskimo and Indian villages. Major events were also held in Juneau, Sitka, Anchorage, Kodiak, Nenana, and Skagway. Alaska’s state motto “North to the Future" was adopted in 1967 for the centennial.

Illustration of a pink frosted cake in the shape of an M with blue writing on the top and one blue lit candle. The cake sits on a white plate with blue circular edging. There is also a cut-out of the cake in the shape of an M that shows pink and beige layers.

This button was issued for the first anniversary of MTV in 1982. MTV stands for Music Television and is a cable channel that premiered on August 1, 1981. In its first several years, MTV primarily played music videos hosted by "VJs" or video jockeys. The first video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star."

Over the years MTV shifted toward more original programming primarily aimed at teenagers. By 2008, an average of just three hours of music videos were shown per day. MTV has aired video shows such as Total Request Live, the animated series Beavis and Butt-head and Daria, and concert shows MTV Unplugged and MTV First. One of MTV's most popular shows is the Video Music Awards, or VMAs.

Black text on a yellow semi circle background with a blue semi circle with two blue cars racing on a race track with a checkered flag. 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) was constructed in 1909, and was the first automobile racetrack to be called a speedway. The IMS was the brainchild of Carl Graham Fisher, an Indiana native and auto parts and highway entrepreneur. Fisher envisioned the speedway after attending an automobile race in France, and based his design, at least in part, on England's Brooklands Motor Circuit. Fisher determined that Indianapolis would be a logical location for the speedway, primarily due to the city's proximity to the many car manufacturers based in Indiana. The first official event at the IMS was a helium balloon race in June, 1909; motorcycle and automobile races followed soon after. Currently, the IMS plays host to several major race events each year, including the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400.

Black text on a white background. The image displays a black rocket with a white heart that has wings. 

Love and Rockets was a band that was very popular in the 1980s. Members included Daniel Ash on guitar and lead vocals, David J on bass guitar and vocals, and Kevin Haskins on drums. Kevin and David J are brothers, and they met Daniel in kindergarten. They started a band as teenagers in their hometown of Northampton, England. For a few short years from the late 1970s to 1983, they formed a band called Bauhaus. After 1983, they became Love and Rockets, and debuted their first album in Great Britain in 1985, though it did not arrive in the US until after the release of their second album, “Express”, which reached 72 on the US charts. It wasn’t until their fourth self-titled album in 1989 that the band achieved success, when their single “So Alive” hit number three on the Billboard’s singles charts and the video played frequently on MTV. They released seven albums before breaking up in 1999 and reformed briefly in 2007 for a few live shows, before splitting again in 2009.

Black and white photograph of a dog on a white background with blue text and blue banner with white text

Bo is the pet dog of the Obama family. He is a neutered, male Portuguese Water Dog, and joined the first family in 2008. Bo was a gift to the Obama family from Senator Kennedy and was chosen largely because his breed is hypoallergenic. This button was used to add an emotional appeal to Obama's 2012 campaign for reelection. The presence of a dog in the White House helped to make Obama seem relatable and helped him to gain publicity concerning non-political issues.

Fort Pitt Beer is printed on the front of the button in blue text over a white background with a silver border; a trade council emblem and an I.P.E.U. emblem appear in silver text at the top and bottom, respectively. 

Fort Pitt Brewing Company was a brewery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1906 until 1957. The company had manufacturing plants in Sharpsburg and Jeannette, PA. In 2014, the Fort Pitt Brewing imprint was revived by the Duquesne Brewing Company.