An illustration of a man's face that looks happy on one side and grouchy on the other. Above/below the illustration is red text and everything is set on a yellow background. 

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An illustration of a toilet with white text at its sides. Everything is set on a black background

This is a button against the Great Society programs launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. It suggests that the Great Society programs should be flushed down the toilet, as illustrated on the button. The Great Society programs addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation, and were designed to fight poverty. Although applauded by many, oppositional voices started to increase when the Vietnam War was escalated. Anti-war activists often accused that spending on Vietnam had choked off the Great Society, in that many of the programs and policies were not consummated due to lack of funding. 

Black and red text on a white background.

This button is part of a series that General Electric designed in the mid 1960s. The buttons were distributed to high school students throughout New York to encourage them to do well and complete their education. While different slogans were used, each button featured the word GENIUS, with GE highlighted to emphasize General Electric's involvement in the campaign. 

A photograph of a boy leaning on a fire hydrant.  To the right of the boy is black cursive text on a yellow square that is set against a red background. 

"The Freshest Thing In Town" was an advertising slogan coined by Frederick Ziv for a local Cincinnati bakery. His catchphrase proved so popular that he drew a cartoon character in a derby hat and turtleneck to promote the slogan for advertisements. He even syndicated a radio program based upon this caricature called the "Freshest Thing".The slogan was used in advertisements in and around the Midwest in print ads, billboards etc. by such companies as Blue Seal Bread.

Red text on a yellow background.

Frank N. Stein is likely a play-on-words about the famous character created by Mary Shelley: Frankenstein. This artifact was most likely worn as part of a Halloween costume for the dress up event in October targeted to children trick or treating or teens and adults attending a party in costume.

An illustration of a Frankenstein with buck tooth with red text above it and black text below it. Everything is set on a yellow background. 

The Frankenstein character can refer to Frankenstein the mad scientist or Frankenstein's creation the monster. The name and characters were created by Mary Shelley, one of the first women writers of science fiction and horror, in 1818. Frank N. Stein is a play on the name often used to make the monster character more personable and separate him from the scientist. Several roadside attractions, cafes, and on screen references have all utilized this shorter name in order to avoid any copyright issues with Shelley's work specifically, but to take inspiration from it by using an original depiction of the monster, now a commonly known horror character.

Creative House Productions Inc. originated in 1964 and was a design and manufacturing company based in Chicago, Illinois. It was responsible for the creation of many promotional comic pins found in gumball machines and Cracker Jack boxes. Creative House eventually created the brand PinMart, which became the first website to sell lapel pins. PinMart eventually outgrew its parent company and bought Creative House in 2008.

A white silhouette of a fox with white colored text over it, both on a purple background. 

In the 1930s, badges advertising that the wearer was single rose in popularity among soldiers and in many cities where soldiers were temporarily stationed or took leave. Wolfing licenses, fox hunters, and similar phrases were casually pinned to gentlemen not looking for serious committments while heading to clubs and dance halls.

Swibco, out of Orlando, Florida, makes gift, souvenir, and novelty merchandise, specializing in personalized items.

Red and yellow triangle banners with white and red text on them and white text above them. Everything sits on a blue background. 

"Fink University" pins were manufactured by Topps, a company that is best known for sports memorabilia. Topps produced "Wise Guy" pins during the 1960s that featured  satire/parody for novelty and humor. "Fink" refers to an annoying, pesky male. The intention is to convey the individual is a student of irritating behavior at Fink University.  

An illustration of anthropomorphic cat doing office work on an orange background. 

Ms. Boynton is an award winning American author, illustrator and humorist. She began her career designing greeting cards for Recycled Paper Greetings in the 1970’s.  In the mid 1980’s, she sold over 80 million cards a year.  She has authored and illustrated over fifty books for children and adults.  Recently, Ms. Boynton has added songwriting and music producing to her repertoire.

 She has written and illustrated more than fifty books for both children and adults and has thousands of greeting cards to her name. She designs various products with her characters for companies, rather than licensing the characters to be adapted.

An illustration of an elephant carrying a trunk with blue text above and below the illustration. Everything is set on a white background. 

Elephants use their trunks in a variety of ways from caring for their young to carrying things. The dexterity of their trunks is extraordinary as they can reach up to twenty feet high, lift over seven hundred thousand pounds, and can push trees down with ease. While their trunk is not used for drinking, they do use their trunks to store up to ten gallons of water every minute to spray into their mouth for hydration and hygiene. They also use their trunks to express affection for their babies, family, and friends, but it equally comes in handy during confrontational times of need as well.