Nabisco Masters

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Text on Button Player-Guest Nabisco Masters presented by Paine Webber
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Light green  and black text on a white background with a tennis player cartoon

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The Nabisco Masters were tennis tournaments played on indoor carpet courts at Madison Square Garden in New York City and at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

The Masters was a series of the tennis season-climaxing tournaments begun in 1970 Tokyo that offered points for each win and cash bonuses for the leading finishers. It moved from city to city across the world and finally settled in New York in 1977, and stayed at Madison Square Garden through 1989. The format went on as the ATP tour world championship in Frankfort, Germany, in 1990.

Nabisco, from National Biscuit Company, was a sponsor for the Masters series from 1985-1989. Paine Webber, a stock brokerage firm, was also a sponsor of the Masters series, and was known for their ads inserted on the broadcasted matches.

Catalog ID EV0309

Bah Humbutton

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Text on Button Bah HUMBUTTON!
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White text over a dark green line over mistletoe on a red background

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copyright HALMARK CARDS, INC.

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Bah Humbutton! is a play on the phrase Bah, Humbug! which is typically used to convey extreme displeasure and negativity. The phrase was coined in 1843 when it was used by Ebenezer Scrooge, the cranky old man in the movie A Christmas Carol.

Sources

Sliter, L. (2019). What Does Bah, humbug Mean? Retrieved from https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/bah-humbug/

Catalog ID SR0089

Gimme Candy or Else

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Text on Button Gimme candy or else!!
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Orange background with black text

Curl Text Copyright 1987 RUSS BERRY and COMPANY, INC. OAKLAND, NJ
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This "Gimme candy or else" pinback was likely used during Halloween for trick-or-treaters.

The pinback 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.

Catalog ID IB0060

Getting Better With Age

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Text on Button Getting Better with Age.
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White background with black text with a symbol resembling a Fleur-de-lis above the text

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The Older Americans Act of 1965 was passed by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson in July of the same year. The act resulted in the creation of the national Administration on Aging as well as a program referred to as Area Agencies on Aging, which focused on providing local support and community planning for elders in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Health. Agencies on Aging sprung up in cities around the country, including Lincoln, NE where this button was likely distributed. Although it's not certain if the buttons were put out by the Administration on Aging at-large or the local Lincoln-based agency, history seems to support the latter: some “Getting Better With Age,” buttons similar to the one seen here also include curl text revealing their creator as “Lincoln Area Agency on Aging, NE.”

Though the reasons for creating the buttons may never be known for certain, they may have been aimed at promoting healthcare for aging Americans or simply as a way to celebrate the beauty of old age. As of July 2025, the Lincoln Area Agency on Aging continues to support the elders in their community, now under the name Aging Partners (AP). 

Sources

Boosalis, H. (1986). Nebraska Department on Aging: 84-85 review. Nebraska Government Publications. https://govdocs.nebraska.gov/epubs/A4500/A001-1984.pdf

Dans Collectibles. (2025, May). Lincoln Area Agency on Aging – Getting Better With Age Button Pin [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/185131053381

National Council on Aging. (2025, May). The background and history of the Older Americans Act. Older Americans Act News. https://www.ncoa.org/article/the-background-and-history-of-the-older-americans-act/

Northeast Nebraska Area Agency on Aging. (2025). Area Agencies on Aging. https://nenaaa.com/aging-network/area-agencies-on-aging/

Thrifty Cracker. (n.d.). Getting Better With Age Lincoln Nebraska Commission on Aging Pinback Button [eBay listing]. eBay. https://www.ebay.com/itm/286609472869

Catalog ID IB0059

Fancy Dancy

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Text on Button FANCY DANCY
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Yellow background. A picture of a woman in a red dress and a man in a black suit with red music notes on each side of their heads. Red text on both sides of the two figures dancing

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The phrase “Fancy dancy” has indeterminate origins, but it can be found in print as far back as 1861, when the Red Bluff Beacon quoted an opinion piece in the La Crosse Democrat on the details of going on a date to a dance cautioning, “don’t take a girl to a fancy dancy party unless you know all the ropes!”

Sources

Fancy Dances. (1861, March 6). Red Bluff Beacon. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=RBB18610306.2.5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txI…

Catalog ID IB0044

Eh

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Text on Button eh?
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White background and black text

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“Eh” is an exclamation used to represent a sound made in speech in a variety of situations, in particular to ask for something to be repeated or explained or to elicit agreement. Although it originated in Middle English, it is commonly known to be a popular marker of Canadian speech that serves 10 functions in daily communication. The term has decreased in use in recent decades because of the stigma that became associated with it through its use in film and stereotype of Canadian people.

Sources

Eh. (nd.). The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/eh

Catalog ID IB0492

Eat

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Text on Button EAT
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Orange with black text

Curl Text Copyright The Big Store 112 MacDougal St. NYC.
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Have info on this button? Contact us here.

Catalog ID IB0046

Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty

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Text on Button DON'T TRUST ANYONE OVER 30
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Bright red background with black text

Curl Text 000 28 ST. MARKS PLACE N.Y. 10003
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"Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty" was a phrase coined by Jack Weinberg in the 1960s. Weinberg was a part of the Free Speech Movement while he was attending the University of California at Berkley. When asked about the origins of this phrase Weinberg stated, “I was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter and he kept asking me who was ‘really’ behind the actions of students, implying that we were being directed behind the scenes by the Communists or some other sinister group.” He goes on to say, “I told him we had a saying in the movement that we don’t trust anybody over 30. It was a way of telling the guy to back off, that nobody was pulling our strings.” After his statement, other leaders in the movement started to use the phrase and newspapers across the country picked it up, making the phrase extremely popular. 

Catalog ID IB0105

Don't Ask

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Text on Button DON'T ASK
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White background with orange text 

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This phrase implies that someone did something obvious, and does not want to be questioned about it. It is used for telling someone that you do not want to talk about something because it was not good, pleasant, enjoyable, etc.

Sources

Don't Ask! Urban Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=don%E2%80%99t+ask. 

DON'T ASK (phrase). DON'T ASK (phrase) American English definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary. (n.d.). https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/don-t-ask.

Catalog ID IB0333

Cowabunga Man

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Text on Button COWABUNGA! MAN
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Black background with hot pink text

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The term "Cowabunga" was a creation by the writer of the Howdy Doody Show, Eddie Kean. Kean came up with the exclamation during his tenure on the show, which was between 1947 and 1954. Howdy Doody was a western-themed children’s TV show featuring a puppet named Howdy Doody. On the show there was also a Native American character named Chief Thunderthud. Kean originally made up a greeting for this character — kawagoopa. Kean couldn’t use the more familiar “how” because he didn’t want anything too closely resembling real Native Americans. He then invented the term cowabunga for the Chief to use whenever he got mad or frustrated. The phrase continued to be popular for decades after that due to TV shows such as GidgetTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Simpsons which had main characters using the phrase. However, instead of being used during times of frustration it turned into a term that was used to express delight or satisfaction. 

Catalog ID IB0068