Dark blue text on white background. 

This button was produced in the 1960s along with other pinbacks that included 'friendly phrases' such as "I Like Fun...With An Evinrude". The 'Evinrude company' has primarily produced outboard motors since roughly 1909. Ole Evinrude, a Norwegian immigrant born in 1877, was a consummate machinist. After producing his first functional outboard motor in 1909 his wife Bess saw profit in advertising. The first campaign for the Evinrude's would read: "Don't Row! Throw Away Those Oars! Use an Evinrude Motor!". The original 62 pound, $62 motors sold so well that Evinrude collaborated with other builders to found the Outboard Motors Corp. (OMC) in 1929. Ole Evinrude, the active president, passed away in 1934. 

The company that produced outboard motors bearing his namesake lasted until 2000, wherein the company filed for bankruptcy and was acquired by Bombadeier Recreational Products (BRP). Ole Evinrude is still honored today at the annual New York boatshow with the Ole Evinrude award given to the individual who has contributed the most to recreational boating. Interestingly enough, many 'knock-off' brands have appeared over the years touting outboard motors such as the Evenride company which faltered in the 1960s.

An illustrated man holding a sign that says "REALLY GOOD!" standing next to another man holding a package while waving. The red text forms a border on the white background.

Giglio, an Italian immigrant, opened Gai’s Bakery in 1931 in Seattle Washington. The “New Home Bakery” was located at 20^th Avenue South and South Jackson Street. After ten years of business, the specialty-bread store changed its name to “Gai’s Seattle French Baking.” The two sons of Giglio, Henry and Phil, eventually took over the bakery for their father. While Phil and Henry were in charge, they turned the business into a one-stop-shop with customers, including the Space Needle Restaurant. The height of the company’s productivity was in the 1980s when they had over 1400 employees and 480 delivery trucks. Gai’s bakery supplied rolls and buns to various places from 5 star restaurants and fast-food chains to grocery stores. The two brothers worked in different capacities for the business. Phil was known as the outgoing and gregarious salesman while Henry was more reserved and tended to the baking operations as the head baker. In 1992, Gai’s Bakery merged with the San Francisco French Bread. 

A black illustration of a cat hanging from a bar next to black text on a pink background. 

This button is based on a popular motivational poster, the original of which little is known other than that it has a 1968 copyright and it is now in the public domain. The original image was black and white, featuring a Siamese-type kitten. Over the years there have been many variations on style of the image and phrasing of the saying, but it has held steadfast as a significant component of popular culture in the United States. This button looks most similar to a 1970s version of the poster featuring an orange tabby kitten.

Illustration of a nude person with legs that curl up and behind their body, with dark green text above and below on a light green background.

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."

An illustration of a guy with shaggy hair playing a cracked guitar with broken strings. He is wearing a blazer and a t-shirt that says "ROCK", and platform shoes. His left arm is bandaged and his right leg is wrapped with a wooden splint. The background is white  and the illustration is outlined in black.

The figure found on this button is from a record sleeve found in Dave Edmund’s album Twangin… The album was released in 1981 by the label Swan Song. Dave Edmunds is a Welsh singer mainly associated with pub rock and new wave music. Many of the songs he produced were covers of other songs that he reworked to fit his style. His most recent album was released in 2013 and contained 5 new vocal recordings, the first in nearly 2 decades for him.

Black text on a white background at the top with a photograph of Uncle Bob underneath and red and black text on a white background under the photograph. 

Philip H. Grennan was the founder and owner of Grennan Cakes. The business was established in Detroit, Michigan in 1914 as the Grennan Cake Bakeries and was later consolidated in 1919 into the Grennan Cake Corporation. Branches of the company, in 1921, were located in Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, St. Paul, Milwaukee, and Toledo. The company specialized in ready-to-eat cake. The ready-to-eat cake was marketed to housewives as a relief from baking on hot summer days. In a 1921 article in Printer’s Ink, housewives confirmed that they were purchasing pre-made cakes because they had “relief from baking-day work, banishing hot kitchen toil, saving time and money, quality and variety.” (p. 49). In 1924 the company was supplying cakes, cookies, and fried cakes to around 482 cities and towns. There is an announcement in Kokomo Daily Tribune from Thursday May 16, 1929 for the Uncle Bob Cake Club of Children radio program. The radio program was on NBC Chicago at 8:00 and featured 30 minutes of Music and Stories. 

Multiple geometric shapes with black, white, yellow, pink, green, and light blue colors.

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Illustration of a face with a shocked expression and grey skin. The mouth is open and wrinkled on the sides, and there is a large nose and furrowed brows. The cheeks are bright red.

This button is part of  2003 "Faces" Button-O-Matic artist series produced by Busy Beaver Button Company. It was designed by artist Emily Counts.

Orange button with a googley eyed face with a circular mouth

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.

Googly eyes are a plastic craft item meant to represent eyeballs. Typically, a white shell to represent the whites of the eyes with a loose black disc to represent the pupil are encased inside of a clear plastic lens. They are often placed on objects to personify them.

In internet culture the Face with Open Mouth consists of open eyes and open mouth within a small yellow face. The emoji represents: Oh my! or Wow! in addition to mild disbelief or awe. It is thought that the first inception of googly eyes began in the early 1900s within a comic strip by Billy DeBeck called Barney Google and Snuffy Smith. The Barney Google character had large “googly” eyes. In the 1970s Tom Blundell, an executive of a toy company (BIPIO), manufactured the craft version of googly eyes.

An illustration of twenty eyeballs with various sized pupils. The largest eye has eyelashes and a purple pupil. The other eyes have brown and blue pupils, and they are all mostly white and outlined in black. The background is dark blue, pink, and brown.

This button is part of the very first Button-O-Matic artist series in 2002 produced by Busy Beaver Button Company. It was designed by artist Krista Babbit.