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“Human Be-Ins" are events modelled after the original "Be-In" called the "The Gathering of Tribes for a Human Be-In" that was held in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, on January 14th, 1967. That Be-In featured all the iconic luminaries of psychedelic counter-culture, including Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Dick Gregory, Lenore Kandel, and Jerry Ruben. Here are some footage of the event: http://www.openculture.com/2014/09/rare-footage-of-human-be-in.html. 

The "Be-In" events are often accompanied with meditation, music, beat poetry readings, and use of psychedelic drugs and are based in humanist values. The term "Human Be-In" was coined from a chance remark by artist Michael Bowen at the Love Pageant Rally.

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This button was created by the Russ Berrie & Company Inc. which was founded in 1963 by a toy salesman named Russ Berrie. The company sold "impulse" items such as, mugs, small figurines, stuffed animals, greeting cards, and various other home accessories. The company's brands included: RUSS, Applause, Sassy, and Kids Line. In 1964, Berrie created his first line of manufactured novelty items. The first was a line of stuffed animals called Fuzzy Wuzzies and the second was a line of rubber dolls called the Bupkis Family. In 1992 one of the companies oldest product, trolls, spiked in popularity due to wild demand. In 2009 the company changed its corporate name to Kid Brands, Inc. and as of April 2011 The Russ Companies no longer exist as an entity.

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Harvey Wallbanger is a cocktail made from vodka or gin, orange juice, and Galliano. It is known as an essential drink of the late ’70s disco and fern-bar era. The cocktail was allegedly created in a Sunset Boulevard bar in Los Angeles and was inspired by a Californian surfer named Harvey, who liked to drink Screwdrivers spiked with Galliano liqueur. One day, after binging on his favorite drink after a particularly bad day, he walked smack into the wall as he was heading out of the bar, hence the name “the Wallbanger.” George Bednar, a college football player and marketing director, launched the "Harvey Wallbanger" mixed drink to a national audience, giving the Wallbanger character and the tag line -- "My name is Harvey Wallbanger and I can be made." Today, the drink still connotes a sense of grooviness and funkiness. The button is most likely created in the 70s or early 80s to both promote the drink and convey a sense of humor--suggesting people to "take it easy" after a long hard day.

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The playful and irreverent slogan “Give me a quarter or I’ll touch you” humorously combines a fake threat with a money demand, creating an intentionally uncomfortable yet funny effect. This kind of humor reflects the larger style of novelty pinback buttons from the late 1980s through the 1990s, which often used sarcasm, sharp one-liners, and ironic comments to make people laugh or poke fun at politeness. These buttons served as minor signs of personality, often referencing pop culture or social taboos in ways that were both confrontational and self-aware. The bold statements they displayed aimed to attract attention, start conversations, or just entertain those who enjoy humor that pushes boundaries.

Ephemera, Inc. is a Phoenix, Oregon-based novelty wholesale company founded around 1980, known for its humorous, irreverent products like magnets, buttons, and stickers. The company considers itself the “belligerent drunk of the online novelty item community,” featuring sarcastic, edgy slogans in a bold, throwaway style reminiscent of the literal meaning of “ephemera.”

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Fruit Cake is a type of dessert that is usually aged and contains suspended jellied fruits. It used to be something that only the rich could afford to eat because fruit was expensive. This also made fruit cake seem like a prized gift as many homemakers knew the cost and time required to make it. As time went on and fruit became less expensive, fruit cake became more common and the distaste for the dessert grew.

Johnny Carson said, “The worst Christmas gift is fruitcake… There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other, year after year."

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The Detroit Red Wings are an American ice hockey team whose colors are red and white. The Detroit Red Wings memorabilia is well- known and recognized even amid those who are not hockey enthusiasts. In the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Cameron is seen wearing a Red Wings jersey throughout the film.

This item is manufactured with a ‘union bug’ label on the back. This mark represents the International Allied Printing Trades Council label marking the item as union made.

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In 1996, Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman led the Chicago Bull to win the historic championship at home. They defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in the finals, winning their 4th NBA title in six seasons. The button was created by the Chicago Sun-Times, along with a poster, to promote and commemorate the team in 1997. 

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“Go Bulldogs” is a traditional cheer heard during Yale University intercollegiate athletic team games—notably the university’s football team—where the Yale mascot is “Handsome Dan,” a real and very much alive bulldog. Yale has had a long line of living bulldog mascots over the years, one of the first coming along with the class of 1889, when alumnus Andrew Graves brought the namesake “Handsome Dan” to Yale. The very first bulldog, according to Chief Research Archivist at the Yale University Library Judith Ann Schiff (1937-2022), was an earlier dog named Harper.

Yale students are affectionately nicknamed “Elis” after Elihu Yale, the university’s founder of the early 1700s. At games, one can hear students chanting one of the school’s fight songs—“Bulldog,” written by fellow alumnus Cole Porter—which goes: “Bulldog! Bulldog! Bow, wow, wow. Eli Yale! Bulldog! Bulldog! Bow, wow, wow. Our team can never fail!”