Photograph of Wendell Willkie bordered by black text on a white background, and an outer border of flag illustrations.

Produced in support of Wendell Willkie's 1940 presidential bid, this particular button features a rare black and white photograph of the dark horse candidate. Prior to the election, Willkie was a corporate lawyer, employed by the Commonwealth Southern Corporation, a company that distributed electricity in eleven states. He became the company president in the mid-1930s.

Before his campaign, Willkie had no experience as an elected public official. He had also never once run for public office before his presidential bid. Once a former Democrat and Wall Street industrialist, Willkie became one of the three major isolationist candidates fighting for the Republican nomination in 1940.

Although Willkie lost the election to incubent Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Roosevelt offered him the opportunity to serve as a US representative abroad. Willkie traveled to the Middle East, Britain, and the Soviet Union during the early 1940s. A few years later, in October, 1944, at the age of 52, Willkie suffered a major heart attack and died.

Blue and yellow text illustration with "XXX" whiskey bottle. Heart symbol for love and lips drawing the O in women.  

Country music singer Tom T. Hall (aka The Storyteller) wrote a song proclaiming “faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money" are the mysteries of life.¹

But why do men love younger women? Apparently, women mature faster than men; men like playing the role of breadwinner and protector; men like knowing they’re preferred to their “more virile male peers;” and the attraction to the physical perks of younger women². 

As for the whiskey, the XXX could mean distilled 3 times - high proof (44.4% alc/vol.).³  Top shelf. 

Photo of bulldog with tongue sticking out wearing black glasses, black shirt and blue and pink polka-dot birthday party hat. White text on blue background.  

The Bulldog’s narrow windpipes, soft palates and narrow trachea often result in breathing problems; hence, the hanging tongue.  But that doesn’t stop the Bulldog from making us laugh. They’re always up for a photo shoot! 

Illustration of Dracula getting out of purple coffin. Black text on white background.

Russell Berrie (1933-2003) was a businessman at heart. He began his career as a toy salesman in 1956, which ignited his passion for the toy industry. Berrie envisioned selling inexpensive toys and knick-knacks in the checkout lanes at grocery stores, targeting impulse shoppers and children. Berrie started his own business—Russ Berrie & Company—inside a rented garage in 1963 with just $500. With the company's eye-catching easy-to-grab toys, sales grew to a soaring 1 million dollars by the late 1960s. Russ Berrie & Company went on to release numerous successful toys: the Bupkis Family and troll dolls, ultimately becoming a multi-million dollar company. The company’s success continued, partnering with other toy brands, including Barbie, Carter’s, and Disney, to create popular toys under licensing agreements. 

Russell Berrie was also a philanthropist, giving back to the community and expressing gratitude for his success. One of Berrie’s largest contributions was a grant of $13.5 million to build the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University. After Berrie died in 2003, the business experimented with several mergers, ultimately leading to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. In 2011, other toy companies purchased the remaining rights of Russ Berrie & Company.

Illustrated man salivating while eating sandwich. White text on red background.

A "freeloader" is someone who takes advantage of the charity, generosity, or hospitality of others. It was possibly originated as a trucker’s slang for "somebody who had goods carried along with somebody else's cargo at no charge." But by 1930s, its meaning had shifted to mean the sponger or schnorrer.

Its first documented use could be found in Daily Messenger (Canandaigua, N.Y.) on August 23rd, 1933: "He was inducted into office as the new president of Madison Square Garden..with the customary beefsteak gorging ceremonies and all the members of the freeloaders association in attendance." It was also alleged that "Freddie the Freeloader," a character from  50s-60s TV program The Red Skelton Show, popularized the word. 

Illustration of a freckle faced boy with a red hat and blue striped shirt. Blue and red text on a white background.

Illustration of a rabbit wearing a coat and hat running with text underneath. White illustration and text on a black background. 

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Red and blue text, red and blue illustration of electric fan blowing on chicken. White background.

This button is a play on words. The picture on the button illustrates the literal meaning of "cool chick" -- a hen in low temperature, whereas the expression is generally used to describe a fair, and perhaps laid-back, young woman. 

"Chick" as a colloquial term for "young woman" it is first recorded 1927, supposedly originated from U.S. African American dialect. In British use in this sense was documented circa 1940; the term was popularized by Beatniks in late 1950s.

Black text and red heart on white background. 

The I heart NY logo was created in 1977 by Milton Glaser for an ad campaign created by advertising agency Wells Rich Greene. The marketing campaign was sought by then-Deputy Commissioner William S. Doyle to increase tourism in the state of New York. The campaign was a wild success. The original sketch of the logo is permanently on display at the MOMA.

The logo has become iconic in pop-culture and has been imitated in many forms around the world.

White script on red heart on white background

This pinback was a giveaway button from an A&S department store in the mid 20th century. A&S, also known as Abraham and Strauss, was founded in 1865 in New York City by Abraham Abraham and Joseph Wechsler. The department store was originally named Wechsler and Abraham, but in 1893 the Strauss family bought out Joseph Wechsler interest In the company and it became Abraham and Strauss. In 1912 Isidor Strauss, a financial partner, and Ida Strauss passed away in the famous sinking of the Titanic. Years later the company would become a part of the Federated Department Stores Inc. In 1994 most of the A&S department stores would change their name to the more widely know Macy's name, another company under the Federated Department Stores Inc.