JACKSON COUNTY, Mo. — To understand the issues of previous elections, you needn’t look beyond Don Dagenais’ political memorabilia collection.
“The coolest thing I have is a button from Teddy Roosevelt’s election in 1900 when he ran on the slogan, ‘A Full Dinner Bucket,'” he said. What a candidate was trying to do is put a chicken in every pot. Make sure everyone had enough to eat, which back in those days was a real campaign issue.”
Dagenais’ collection of political pins, stickers, fliers and the like began with a Nixon for President button, something he picked up back in 1960 when he was nine-years-old.
“With political buttons and other pieces of memorabilia, you’re holding a little piece of American history in your hand,” said Dagenais. “If you follow the campaigns, it tells you a lot about American history in general – what the issues were has a lot to do with what was going on in the country at that time.”
Now the collector is sharing his passion with others by teaching classes about the history of American Presidential Campaigns through the University of Missouri Kansas City’s continued education college. His non-partisan class covers the election of George Washington through the 2008 campaign.
“There are political campaigns where issues occur and elections take place, but whatever happens, the republic will continue,” he said. “There have been issues in the past and times in the past where we just feel we have to win or the country will end. The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t end, it keeps on going and if you lose this time, come back in four years you might win.”
And if you do come back in four years, make sure your buttons, fliers, hats and bumper stickers are in optimal shape, because chances are, someone, somewhere is collecting your political memorabilia.
To begin your own collection, Dagenais recommends that you pick up a book on presidential campaigns or presidential campaign collecting. Then, he said, figure out what you want to collect (i.e. only buttons, only memorabilia from a specific candidate, etc…). Finally he says search for the goods you want on eBay and at antique shops.
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