Prosperity Club

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Text on Button PROSPERITY CLUB MEMBER
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Illlustration of an United States flag with black text above and below it on a white background. 

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Catalog ID CL0279

The Pope Smokes Dope

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Text on Button THE POPE SMOKES DOPE
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Black text on white background. 

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John Lennon discovered David Peel in 1971 when Peel was playing in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. John Lennon produced an album for David Peel called The Pope Smokes Dope, which was released on April 17, 1972 through Apple Records. John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Lower Eastside Band performed with Peel on one of the album tracks, “The Ballad of New York City.” The album was banned in many countries and has since become a collector’s item. 

Catalog ID MU0158

Abstract Art Five

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White background with a small black circle on the left side, a turquoise shape on the right side and a thick pink line going across the shape vertically.

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6/79

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Catalog ID AR0142

Philadelphia Museum Of Art

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Text on Button PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART
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Capitalized white text surrounding a white griffin on a dark teal background.  

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The Philadelphia Art Museum began as a continuation of the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, America’s first World’s Fair. The Memorial Hall, constructed as an exhibition art gallery, was kept open as a Museum of Art and Industry. For the first twenty years of the museum’s existence the collections focused not only on industrial objects, but also decorative art objects. The art objects were European and included ceramics, textiles, paintings, etc. The museum continued to obtain collections from various collectors throughout the twentieth century to increase and diversify their holdings. Today the museum is one of the largest in the country and olds more than 227,000 objects. Some of the artists that are held at the Philadelphia Art Museum include Picasso, Duchamp, Rodin, Robert Adam, Greco, Rubens, Turner, and Dali.

Sources

Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 1 October 2021, from https://www.philamuseum.org/

Catalog ID AR0098

Phil Hale WKNB

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Text on Button PHIL HALE THANK HEAVEN IT'S FRIDAY CLUB WKNB-840 YOUR VOICE IN HARTFORD COUNTY
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Red text on a white background.

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WKNB first came on air for the first time on August 18, 1946.  With call letters standing for Kensington-New Britain, the station served the area around Hartford, Connecticut.  One announcer which served the station in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s was Phil Hale.  Hale’s program often filled the early morning time slot.  By 1962, the station’s callsign had changed to WRYM.

Catalog ID CL0171

Basil Wolverton Peace Corps

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Text on Button PEACE CORPS
Image Description

Illustration of a head with a fist coming out of the nose on a light blue background. Text above and below the illustration.

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The 1965 series of LEAF "Fink Buttons" were illustrated by popular Mid-Century artist Basil Wolverton. Perhaps best known for his work at MAD Magazine, Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978) was an American cartoonist and illustrator famous for his humorously grotesque drawings. Wolverton worked in the "Golden Age" of comic books doing features like "Powerhouse Pepper" and "Spacehawk" in the 1940s. A 2009 New York Times article states that Wolverton’s drawings embodied the “sick-and-proud humor” of MAD magazine and were considered a “virtuoso exercise in bad taste, made all the weirder for being so meticulously executed."

Catalog ID AR0074

Out For A Wild Time

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Text on Button OUR FOR A WILD TIME
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Black text on an off-white background encircled by a red border. 

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The phrase "out for a wild time" typically means that someone wants to show a lack of restraint and have no inhibitions. It is often said when one is going for a night out on the town or having some other fun occasion. This saying, which likely became popular in the mid-twentieth century, is still used today. 

Sources

McGinnis, J. (n.d.). Out for a wild time. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/116671446580740422/

Catalog ID IB0329

Ottawa Ski Club

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Text on Button OTTAWA SKI CLUB 1949
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Blue illustration of a profile view of a person in a Native American feathered headdress with blue text above and below on a white background.

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ST. LOUIS MO ST LOUIS BUTTON CO. (repeated over and over)

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The Ottawa Ski Club was founded in 1910 by a group of ski jumpers. They set up jumps in Rockliffe Park to begin with. Ski jumpers, unlike pleasure skiers were in need of a club where they could build towers and jumps. The popularity of ski jumping continued to grow and during World War I the club raised a lot of money jumping for the Red Cross. The tower was knocked down by weather in 1915, but the club reorganized in 1919. The new club members began promoting pleasure skiing, long distance outings, racing, etc. they did not want to just be known for ski jumping. As the club grew they invested in shelters and lodges throughout the Gatineau park. The club also continued to groom and clean trails. The Ottawa Ski Club was extremely influential in bringing skiing sports to thousands of people. The ski club also published newsletters as a way of reaching their members.

 

Mortureux, C. E. (1942). “The Saga of the Ottawa Ski Club.” Ottawa Ski Club Handbook. 2-9.

Catalog ID CL0146

Abstract Art Three

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Half the button has a white background and the other half is purple. There is an orange circle on one side overlapping both background colors.

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GO SUPER
GO MLLE

N.G. SLATER CORP. NYC

Curl Text N.G. SLATER CORP. NYC 11
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Catalog ID AR0145

Orange and Black Face

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Image of a face with orange large eyes, a mouth, and eyebrows on a black background.

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The classic yellow smiley face is comprised of a yellow circle, two black dots for eyes, and a black arc ending in serifs for a mouth. It was designed in 1963 by commercial artist, Harvey Ross Ball. Ball was commissioned by The State Mutual Life Insurance Company to create a happy face to raise the morale of their employees. His version was created in 10 minutes. The design was printed onto more than 50 million buttons. Neither Ball nor the company copyrighted this smiley, so it was continually used by other businesses in their promotions.
The design and concept is quite simple and was definitely used before Ball’s 1963 version. However, his has become the most iconic. Variations have been used for advertising campaigns and in popular culture ever since.

Sources

About Harvey Ball. (n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://www.worldsmileday.com/index.php/article-index/item/380-about-ha…

Catalog ID SM0021