White background with red and black letters. Black, white, and red circles in the middle. Within circle is the image of a torch and the words "Espirito. Sport. Fraternite. America."

The 1959 Pan American Games were held at Chicago's Soldier Field where 40,000 came to watch athletes from the Americas compete in sports such as cycling, diving, basketball, baseball and even yachting (swimming was held at Portage Park's pool). Participating athletes lived in housing provided by the University of Chicago.

Silver foil button with black ink. Image of King Tut wearing aviator glasses.

Tuts was one of the first active punk clubs in Chicago, open from 1980-1984. Located on the corner of Belmont and Sheffield, Tuts routinely played some of the best and most active alternative, punk, and post-punk bands from around the nation. The more well-known location of Tuts (953 W. Belmont) was preceded by The Quiet Knight and replaced by The Avalon. 

Tuts photographer Howard Greenblatt published photos of blues legends Buddy Guy and Otis Clay, as well as local acts like Heavy Manners, Missing Persons, and Phil 'n' the Blanks, and touring big names of the era like Sun Ra, Richie Havens, Loudon Wainwright III, and the Romantics for an exhibit on Tuts that was available on Michigan Avenue in 2015.

The physical location as all three names over the years, Quiet Knight, Tuts, and Avalon, became a Chicago hot spot for entertainment featuring many well-known artists and bands that played there including Bob Marley, Tom Waits, R.E.M., Prince, Run D.M.C., The Cramps, Naked Raygun, Black Flag, Bauhaus, The Stray Cats, Psychedelic Furs, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Although Tuts was only there for a limited time, its presence in the area provided opportunities for music clubs to expand beyond only hosting popular music or top 40 music acts.

Blue and red lettering on white background. "Jesse Jackson" in blue on upper half, "'88" with red line on botton quarter of button.

Jesse Jackson's second attempt to run for the Democratic nomination for President was in 1988. Although he surpassed expectations, Dukakis won the Democratic ticket.

Illustration of a refrigerator with number 72 on the door and a football helmet on the ground next to it. Text surrounds the outer ring and Secret Weapon is "stamped" on the image.

William "The Fridge" Perry was born on December 16, 1962 and is best known for his years as a defensive lineman for the Chicago Bears. He was nicknamed "The Refrigerator" for his large, rhomboid-like frame. He was a first round draft pick in 1985 and won the Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears his rookie year. His Super Bowl ring is sized 25, the largest ring in Super Bowl history.

White background with dark blue text, light blue silhouette of Chicago (Hancock buidling) with "VM" in red in middle of button.

In 1972 IBM introduced a virtual machine operating system. This button may refer to an IBM convention or event related to this that took place in Chicago at the time.

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Black and green text on white background.

Jane Byrne was the first female mayor of Chicago. Known as a reformer, she lived in the housing project Cabrini-Green to bring attention to the crime rate there. She was also the first mayor to recognize the gay community. In 1981, Dan Goodwin climbed the Hancock Tower dressed as Spider-Man and Mayor Byrne intervened when the Chicago Fire Dept wanted to hose him off the building. He continued to the top, receiving cheers from the crowd of onlookers.

Red silhouetted section of the Chicago skyline with a white heart, red Chicago stars, and text on lower third of button below the image on white background.

This button is possibly a reference to an annual food drive event held by the City of Chicago, benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The event typically takes place at Thanksgiving. "Sharing It" Day is the largest one-day, indoor food drive and the single largest contributor to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Celluloid button with the building in the center and red background. Blue outer edge with white text.

Montgomery Ward & Co. was founded in Chicago in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward. Montgomery Ward became a successful mail order business after many false starts, including its early inventory being destroyed by the Chicago Fire. Montgomery Ward was a direct competitor with Chicago-based Sears. Around the time of this button, the company mailed out three million 4-pound catalogs to its customers.

Black text over a ringing alarm clock illustration on white background, white text on blue background on lower third of button.

This slogan was used by radio and television broadcaster Art Hellyer. Since the mid-1940s, Art Hellyer has been a cornerstone of Chicago broadcasting. He was a television announcer, sports broadcaster, news anchor and feature reporter with WLS-TV (and its predecessor, WBKB-TV). He also spent time with WMAQ-TV & WBBM-TV. He was the deep voice heard over many advertisements. He is probably best known locally for his over 50 years in radio, where his dry, off-beat sense of humor and outspoken ways thrilled fans and infuriated management. Over the years, Art Hellyer had worked for WCFL-AM, WBBM-AM, WJJD-AM, WGN-AM, WAIT-AM, WIND-AM, WMAQ-AM, WLS-AM and WLS-FM. Hellyer's zany wit and "take no prisoners" attitude was a huge hit with listeners, but got him fired frequently. Regardless of his many firings, Hellyer was the #1 rated on-air personality in Chicago four different times, on four different stations, in four different decades.

Black text on yellow background, black on upper and lower third of button.

Donald Rumsfeld was elected to congress in 1962 at age 30. Born in Evanston Illinois,  he represented the 13th district for Illinois in the United States House of Representatives. He was re-elected in '64, '66, and '68.