Photograph of a shirtless person with long blonde hair wearing a large necklace on a black background with white text along the outer edges.

This button is from The Edgar Winter Group's third studio album, They Only Come Out At Night, released in 1972. The album has two of their most popular singles, Frankenstein and Free Ride, and it stayed on the Billboard Hot 200 for 80 weeks. This American rock band broke up in the mid-1970s.

Illustration of a winged insect over black text on a white background

Stan Ridgway is an American musician who fronted the alternative rock band, Wall of Voodoo, from 1977 until 1983. He has nine studio albums to his credit, including his 1989 release, Mosquitos, by which the illustration on this button may have been inspired.

Color photograph of a turtle in grass with white and yellow flowers and red text across the top of the button and white text over the turtle

This button is from Squeeze's eighth studio album, Frank, released in 1989. The band had noted success before making this album, with four certified albums between 1979 and 1987. With no charting singles, Frank became one of the least successful records by this English new wave band.

White text and a white illustration on a black background

Your Little Secret is the fifth album by singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released in 1995. The single "I Want to Come Over” reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Melissa Etheridge, born in 1961, is a rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She has also been a gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993. Her debut album was released in 1988, but she didn’t reach mainstream success until the release of her fourth album in 1993, Yes I Am, which featured three hit singles. Etheridge earned her star on the Walk of Fame in 2011.

White text on a black background at the top of the button and black text on a white background on the rest of the button

Faster and Llouder is the title of the second album by American country duo, Foster and Lloyd. The album was released on April 15, 1989 under the RCA label. The duo was considered a new kind of country music when they came onto the Nashville scene. Their fast-paced Rockabilly style and aesthetic was described as louder than other typical country music of the era.

Blue outer edge with white text with a gold outline and an illustration of an aerial view of the Parisian Novelty Co buidling with an airplane flying above it.

The Parisian Novelty Company was a button producing company which was founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1898. In 2008, the button portion of the Parisian Novelty Company was sold to the Matchless Group and renamed Matchless Parisian Novelty, Inc.

Black text on the outer edge with photographs of four women inside circles on an American flag background over an off white background

Hyatt Manufacturing Company produced this button as a means to advertise their company's services and to promote their catalog.  Hyatt Mfg. Co. was located in Baltimore, Maryland on the northeast corner of Holliday and Baltimore Streets.  

Black and white photograph of Darth Vader with black text on a white background

This button is for the first radio production of Star Wars on a Chicago radio station in 1981.  The first two movies were dramatized by NPR and first broadcast in 1981, four years after the original movie premiered in theatres.  The rights for the adaptations were sold for $1 each to the University of South Carolina's public radio station, KUSC-FM (noted on the pin).

An image of an American flag with five stars and white text on the blue corner

This button commemorates America's Bicentennial in 1976. The design imitates the Bennington Flag of 1777, one of the American flags during the revolution; the flag was associated with the American Revolution Battle of Bennington, hence the name. 

This button was officially recognized by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration which was an organization created by Congress and charged with the duty of encouraging and coordinating locally sponsored events for the Bicentennial.

Illustration of a building with blue ground underneath and white sky and red letters across the top and bottom

POCCNR is the Cyrillic spelling for the word Russia. It is most often used to refer to the country of Russia prior to the year 1917. The only Russian affiliated organization that goes by the acronym BDAA is the Balalaika and Domra Association of America. According to their website, the BDAA was created in 1978 to study and perform Russian and Eastern European music on the traditional folk instruments of Russia. The balalaika is a triangular shaped stringed instrument and the domra is a long necked stringed instrument with a round body. In early spring the BDAA holds a week-long convention that is hosted by a different city every year.