Question of the day
Thursday, Oct 6, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Share your political memorabilia with the UIS History Harvest at the Old State Capitol
WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Department of History is inviting members of the public to bring and share any and all political memorabilia during a History Harvest at the Old State Capitol. Students will photograph, scan and record the stories behind the items in an effort to document the way that people in central Illinois have participated in elections.
WHEN: Saturday, October 22, 2016, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WHERE: Old State Capitol, 1 SW Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield, IL
DETAILS: UIS students are asking people to share campaign literature, brochures, letters, photographs, diaries, buttons and bumper stickers related to the democratic process. Digital copies of the items made during the event will be included in an online exhibit and catalog. Participants will also have an opportunity to tell the ‘harvesters’ the stories behind the objects.
History Harvest offers the opportunity to “put yourself in the historical record.” By collecting information on the memories of the local electorate, the project will provide a unique insight into how ordinary citizens in central Illinois have participated in and remembered the democratic process. Items from both the recent and distant past are welcome.
Students from UIS Assistant Professor of History Devin Hunter’s undergraduate public history class and UIS Assistant Professor of History Kenneth Owen’s graduate history and digital media class will lead the effort to digitize items for the online digital exhibit. Illinois State Historian Dr. Samuel Wheeler will be on site between 11 am and 1 pm. Students will also display items from the Nelson O. Howarth Papers (Springfield Mayor, 1955-1959 and 1963-1971) and the Kozeliski Campaign Button Collection, courtesy of the UIS Archives and Special Collections.
For more information, visit http://www.uis.edu/history/historyharvest/
Pretty cool.
* The Question: What is your own favorite piece of campaign memorabilia?
- Stones - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:24 pm:
Re-elect VD - He’s contagious!
Printed up by State Rep LeRoy VanDuyne back in the late ’70’s. They were a huge hit on the floor. Everyone had to have one. LeRoy was a great guy.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:27 pm:
I have the picture of FDR that hung in my grandparents’ kitchen from some time in the 1930s until my father and his siblings sold the house in the mid 1980s.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:28 pm:
My Jay Hoffman bobblehead.
I kid.
Kinda.
It’s probably the autographed Richard J. Daley campaign poster, but I have a ton of stuff.
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:31 pm:
My dad received a signed note from John Kerry thanking him for his contributions during the 2004 Presidential elections.
- Capitol View - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:34 pm:
I have a Grace Mary Stern baseball card style campaign handout - lists her previous races and winning percentages.
- Juice - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:35 pm:
Blagojevich sponge
- d.p.gumby - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:36 pm:
Mondale/Vrdolyak button from the 1984 Dem Convention–a most curious form of negative campaign; and “Luv the Guv” sticker/button from the Sam Shapiro campaign–totally incongruous effort to “be cool”
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:40 pm:
Somewhere in my basement I have a box filled with more than 6000 Stevenson votes from 1982 that Seymour Simon refused to count.
I think it’s next to the jar that has Rahm’s missing digit.
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:47 pm:
Button that says “Dump Nixon Now”
Kid t-shirt I wore (in the middle of Kansas) that said Jimmy Carter for President.
- 4 percent - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:52 pm:
Paper dress for President Nixon
- Anon - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 12:56 pm:
Gary Forby’s “4B” bumper stickers, logos, etc.
The impact of a bumper sticker or other visibility stuff is negligible on the outcome of an election, but the fact that it doesn’t say his name and it requires you to already know the name of the candidate for office to understand it makes it even more entertaining.
>My Jay Hoffman bobblehead.
I’m going to find mine in a box many years from now and just marvel at it. I’m also a big fan of the fact he wrote a book. I’ve got a signed copy, of course.
- Retired SURS Employee - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:00 pm:
My 1964 Presidential campaign button that I wore in high school: “Bury AuH20″ with the “2″ being subscript.
- Mark S. - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:07 pm:
Was interning in D.C. and attended the posthumous Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for Jackie Robinson. Got then Senator Obama and Tommy Lasorda to sign the program.
- Finally Out (and now very glad to be) - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:11 pm:
Ross Perot for President button.
- Dee Lay - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:16 pm:
Thank you note from former Gary Mayor Rudy Clay that featured an image of Clay with then Sen. Obama.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:29 pm:
My Goldwater/Miller gold ball point pen.
My Kansas Grandmother’s Landon/Knox sunflower button.
- Betsy - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:46 pm:
SIU has a great collection of political memorabilia from a retired political science professor. I’m not sure how they display it now. May be in the library. Here is a link to an old article from 2008 when he donated it.
http://news.siu.edu/2008/08/082208par8098.php
- TwoFeetThick - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:49 pm:
My Obama yard sign from when he ran for the U.S. Senate. I’ve also got an Obama pin from his failed run for Congress.
- Stooges - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 1:57 pm:
Carol Mosley Braun for President button
- RNUG - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 2:02 pm:
Campaign - probably my Ross Perot bumper sticker.
Overall? - my framed Paul Powell sign warning against bribing SOS employees.
- Been There - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 2:33 pm:
I grabbed one of those bogus George Ryan signs that popped up right before the election and looked just like the real Ryan signs. Except of course the wording
GEORGE RYAN
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commercial
Drivers Licenses
For Sale
Expires Nov 3rd
- Rabid - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:03 pm:
Sophie Tucker for president 78 LP
Pat Paulsen for president bumper sticker,honest capable fearless
- KJ - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:10 pm:
Not that old, but have a Barack Obama/Lane Evans Fighting for Illinois Families t-shirt. It’s my favorite.
- walker - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:17 pm:
A personal note from Eugenia Biden, to my grandmother, saying “our Joey just won his first election. We are so proud.” They were friends since childhood.
A political poster of my Grandfather running for Mayor during the Depression, on the Labor ticket. He was UMW, and his Vice Mayor was a Pullman Porter union black guy.
- JoanP - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:45 pm:
My “Convict #9653 for President” button. That’s Eugene V. Debs.
I’ve also got a “Shirley Chisholm for President” button.
- Gooner - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 3:55 pm:
There are two that are worth mention.
One is a signed campaign sign from Paul Simon’s 1984 Senate race: “Some Illinois Families Don’t Have to Worry about Housing Costs or Heating Bills or School Tuition. But who will speak for the rest of us?”
The second is a sign from Cook County Judge Grogan. My first jury trial was in front of him. A few years later, I moved to a new firm and was assigned an office. Turns out it was his when he has a practice in the space and the sign was still there.
- Southside Markie - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 4:13 pm:
The West Virginia floor standard that I carried out of Madison Square Garden at the 1980 Democratic National Convention as a young staffer for DSCC.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 4:25 pm:
–Overall? - my framed Paul Powell sign warning against bribing SOS employees. –
In the Illinois pantheon, that’s a lot of shoe boxes.
- A guy - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 4:33 pm:
A very old “I like Ike” pin my pop had. That and a Kennedy pin that I think I remember saying “If I were 21, I’d vote for JFK. This QOTD reminds me that I’ve got to find the right box from the last move 20 years ago. Both of these wonderful possessions are in a fruit cellar.
- d.p.gumby - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 4:58 pm:
Oh, and a 45 of “I Wish that Everett Dirksen Were All Mine”
- Anonymous - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 7:06 pm:
“Goldwater 64″ bumper sticker from my grandfathers work bench and the No Edgar sticker the bars were handing out in 1990.
- Not quite a majority - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 8:31 pm:
RMD in 83 button. Rich Daley thought about running for mayor that year but never pulled the trigger. The buttons were given out at an early ‘trial balloon’ fundraiser.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 8:44 pm:
-RMD in 83 button. Rich Daley thought about running for mayor that year but never pulled the trigger.–
LOL, you’re kind of right. He finished third, behind Washington and Byrne in the Dem primary.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Oct 6, 16 @ 9:27 pm:
The “Pigs Don’t Vote” sticker from the 1990’s.
Anyone got one?
- Rabid - Friday, Oct 7, 16 @ 7:50 am:
Senator bobby flip side wild things 45
- Curious Cat - Friday, Oct 7, 16 @ 10:04 am:
Not sure if it was campaign material or not, but my Paul Powell Beer Bottle!