Digital Collections

Priddy memorabilia collage

Hervey A. Priddy Collection of American Presidential and Political Memorabilia

['National Union Republican Candidates' Lithograph]

National Union Republican
Candidates' Lithograph, 1868

['I Am Against Prohibition' Pin-Back Button]

'I Am Against Prohibition'
Pin-Back Button,
ca. 1920-1930

[Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson Inaugural Ball Invitation, 1865]

[Abraham Lincoln and Andrew
Johnson Inaugural Ball
Invitation, 1865]

['Let's Pull Together' Badge]

['Let's Pull Together' Badge],
ca. 1940

[Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge Campaign Window Decal]

Warren G. Harding and Calvin
Coolidge Campaign Window
Decal], 1920

[James Garfield Nose Thumber Charm]

James Garfield Nose Thumber
Charm, 1880

About the Collection

Holding library: DeGolyer Library

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Overview

While auditing a course at SMU on twentieth-century United States presidential politics, collector Hervey A. Priddy ventured into a small shop in New Orleans that specialized in nineteenth- and twentieth-century political Americana. The buttons, ribbons, and pins he saw there brought to life the candidates, issues, and elections he had been studying. Several hours later, Priddy recalls, he walked out of the shop with a sack full of buttons and a brand new passion—collecting campaign memorabilia.

The Hervey A. Priddy Collection of American Presidential and Political Memorabilia at DeGolyer Library now includes more than 500 buttons, pins, ribbons, posters, broadsides, textiles, ceramics, tokens, inaugural medals, programs, bumper stickers, toys, and other campaign commemoratives from the early nineteenth century to the present. Over 200 years of political history are represented here, and the cultural artifacts of the campaigns, candidates, issues, and elections chronicle the development of our political system and democracy in America.

The brass encased ferrotypes from the 1860 and 1864 elections are a particular favorite in Mr. Priddy’s collection. These nineteenth-century campaign lapel devices were usually about one inch in diameter, encased in brass, and punched with a hole so they could be suspended from the lapel. The ferrotypes featured the presidential nominee’s image on one side and the vice presidential nominee’s on the other, familiarizing distant voters with the candidates’ names and faces.

Source: From George to George, “Electing and Collecting” by Hervey A. Priddy

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Digital Collections Guidelines and Procedures

Items in SMU Libraries Digital Collections are digitized following the nCDS Digitization Guidelines and Procedures. Digital collections are created under the guidelines of the Digital Collections Workflow and Metadata Guidelines, or through specialized metadata profiles tailored for the collection.

Usage

Copyright usage terms vary throughout the collection. Each item contains information about usage terms. If SMU does not have the right to publish the item on the Internet, only the item's metadata will be available and the digitized object will be available on a restricted access basis. Such items may only be viewed on campus. When items are available for use, please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. A high-quality version of these files may be obtained for a fee by contacting degolyer@smu.edu.

Contact Info

For more information about the collection, please contact degolyer@smu.edu.