Ladies of Beer
Sure, beer can have the reputation as a guy’s drink (think Homer Simpson), but as these examples from the Button Museum can attest, ladies and beer have a long history together. Clockwise from top right: 1. Valley Forge Beer button from the 1940′s/1950′s. The beer survived Prohibition and was brewed up into the 1980′s. 2....
Button Museum featured in The New Yorker
Readers of The New Yorker may have noticed a pinback button featured prominently in the April issue. The Busy Beaver Button Museum was honored to have a 1970′s women’s rights button from our collection featured in the header of Susan Faludi’s article, “Death of a Revolutionary,” about the life of activist Shulamith Firestone. Busy Beaver...
Historic Rectangle Examples from the Button Museum Collection
Last month’s introduction of our new 2×3″ rectangle size had us thinking about some of the interesting rectangle examples from The Button Museum. Rectangle buttons have been around for decades and used primarily used for advertising and promotions. Check out some of our favorite rectangles from the museum’s collection: 1. One of our favorite odd...
The Button Museum Roaring 20′s Collection
In anticipation of the release of the new movie version of The Great Gatsby this weekend, it seems that the 20′s are back. The Button Museum has plenty of buttons from the 1920s in it’s archives, including quite a few of the “roaring” variety– buttons that epitomize the bobbed hair, sexual freedom and fun-loving attitude that personified...
New Acquisitions to the Busy Beaver Button Museum – April 2013 Edition
The April auction additions to Busy Beaver Button Museum include 20th century-spanning examples of advertising, history and activism buttons. Check out the new additions– 1970′s advertising button for Tad’s menswear company. Apparently the naked lady gimmick was sort of their thing. Museum curator, Joel, thinks it could’ve been a precursor to Ryan O’Neal’s So Fine Jeans....
The Devil and The Cowboy
Co-curators of the Busy Beaver Button Museum, Christen and Joel, occasionally peruse the online auctions at Hakes.com to see if there are any buttons worthy of being added to the museum. Here are two that they recently bid on: Will these buttons become part of the permanent collection? I sure hope so!
Ted Hake Still Doesn’t Have Enough Buttons
Ted Hake, founder of Hake’s Americana and Collectibles and author of the leading guide for button collectors, recently launched a new website selling some of the many buttons he’s collected over the years. Ted’s been working in collectibles since a teenager and has built up quite a collection of his own in that time. His...
Historic Heart Button
While searching out Valentine’s buttons from the Button Museum archives to share this week, we were struck by this lovely turn of the century pinback made for LaPrelle-Williams Shoe Co advertising $2.50 pairs. The company seems to have used the heart and arrow design as a logo, based on this postcard we came across online....
Love from the Button Museum
Wearing your heart on your sleeve might leave you a bit vulnerable, but wearing your heart on a button is never a bad idea. In honor of Valentine’s Day, we present a few selections from the Button Museum‘s extensive collection of heart buttons. 1. I “heart” Hiney Wine – Got it? The heart is an upside-down...
Frank Bostock, the Animal King
The Busy Beaver Button Museum is the proud new owner of this circa 1900 pin featuring Frank Bostock and 10 of his trained animals. Bostock, known as the “Animal King”, came naturally to his role as famed animal trainer– both his mother and father’s families managed traveling menageries throughout the 19th century. Bostock continued the tradition...
New Acquisitions to the Busy Beaver Button Museum
The Busy Beaver Button Museum is always acquiring interesting new buttons for our collection, and in December curator and Head Beaver, Christen Carter, won a couple of fascinating new buttons at auction to add to the archives. From top left: Pan-American Exposition Monkeys – A play on the 1901 Pan-American Exposition emblem featuring two ladies...
Happy Milk Day!
Milk Day celebrates the day in 1878 when milk was reportedly delivered in bottles for the very first time. So grab a quart and make a toast to Elsie the Cow! And if plain milk isn’t your thing, just wait for September 27— National Chocolate Milk Day!
