Women's right to vote was a widely debated issue in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. Prominent women were on both sides of the debate, which pushed against traditional views of gender and class.
This Hubert H. Humphrey “signature scarf” fabric was designed for Humphrey’s 1968 presidential campaign by Frankie Welch (a.k.a. Mary Frances Barnett), a textile and fashion designer as well as personal shopper and boutique owner. When her husband’s new position at the CIA first brought the Welch family to Washington, DC area in the 1950s, Frankie taught home...
In celebration of World Pride, June Object of the Day posts highlight LGBTQ+ designers and design in the collection. Bricks were thrown. Not yellow bricks, of the variety that Dorothy and her friends eased on down. But bricks. And garbage cans. And coins. And bottles. And rocks. All of this debris was airborne because it...
This printed cotton calico featuring the slogan “The Constitution Must Be Preserved” was produced for the presidential campaign of Tennessee senator John Bell, the Constitutional Union Party’s candidate in the contentious election of 1860. The party was formed in 1859 by former Whigs and members of the Know-Nothing party to attempt to bridge regional tensions...
The election of 1840 is considered to be the first modern political campaign – the catchy slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too” lingers in the public consciousness 175 years later. It refers to Whig party candidate William Henry Harrison’s early military victory over the Shawneee Indians at the battle of Tippecanoe, which the party used to...
This fan commemorates in an interesting moment in early American foreign policy. During the eighteenth century, amidst the feverish rivalries of the European state system, various nations competed to dominate the world’s oceans. After the United States achieved independence, its political leaders championed the view that the seas should be free and common to all...
William Henry Harrison was thrust into the limelight for his Indian campaigns while a territorial Governor in the mid-west. After the war he served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1816-19), the Ohio State Senate (1819-21) and the U.S. Senate (1825-28). Harrison was the candidate for the Whig Party in 1840 and for his election...
Perceptive Pixel’s Magic Wall played a central role in CNN’s rather exuberant coverage of President Barack Obama’s press conference last week on the occasion of his 100th day in office. The press conference was streamed on the White House’s YouTube channel, marking the first time the White House had ever livestreamed a news event. It...
