Ten Ways to Date Your Presidential Buttons

This article first appeared in Issue 23 of Buttons and Ballots, in Spring 2000.

1. Read the Date. Okay, so we start with the obvious! Some buttons are easy to date because they have the date right on them. For many collectors, having the date on a button is a real plus, and increases the value of the pin somewhat.

2. For candidates who ran only once, use a basic reference source to determine the date. Alton B. Parker ran for president only once, and so all his presidential buttons must date from that one campaign. An encyclopedia, almanac, or even Hake's Encyclopedia of Political Buttons will tell you the date (in this case, 1904).

3. For candidates who ran more than once, use the running mate to determine the date. Many candidates sought the presidency two or more times, and had a different running mate each time. Grover Cleveland was the Democratic presidential nominee three times, and had three different running mates. Bryan also ran for president three times, and just to complicate matters he had two running mates in 1896. Using a basic reference list (like the one at the end of this article) we can determine that a Cleveland-Hendricks item dates from 1884, while a Bryan-Stevenson pin dates from 1900. For these candidates who had more than one running mate, dating the buttons can be easy so long as the button in question pictures, or names, the vice-presidential candidate.

Bryan's Running Mates: Sewall, Watson, Stevenson, and Kern

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4. Use the running mates pictured on a matching button. At first glance, the Eisenhower-Nixon pin pictured at lower left is impossible to date. Eisenhower had the same running mate in 1952 and 1956. In this case, however, we are lucky, because there is a matching Stevenson button that clearly was made in the same year as the Republican mate. Stevenson had different running mates in 1952 and 1956. Sparkman was his 1952 running mate, so this Ike-Nixon jugate must also date from 1952.

5. Use the text of the button to determine the date. If a presidential button urges reelecting the president, that tells us for which campaign the pin was issued. (The only exceptions are items for FDR, which urged reelection of the president in 1936, 1940, and 1944.) In the case of slogan buttons, we can do some basic research to find out in which year the slogan was used. For example, Wilson buttons that speak of peace and preparedness date from the 1916 campaign, since only domestic issues were emphasized in the 1912 race.

6. Use the candidate's photo and his apparent age to determine the date. This may not be easy if the candidate ran for the second time just four years after the first. But for candidates like Nixon (1960 and 1968-1972), Teddy Roosevelt (1904 and 1912) and Debs (1900-1912 and 1920) the apparent age in the photo can be reliably determined. Nixon is very youthful-looking, and has more hair, in 1960 than in his later buttons. TR looks older, and is heavier, in 1912 photographs when compared with 1904. Debs by 1920 was looking old and gaunt. Another candidate for whom this technique is especially useful is William Jennings Bryan (1896-1900 vs. 1908).

Nixon in 1960

7. Use a candidate's photo by comparing it with a dated button. The previous method involved a certain amount of guess work, trying to determine the candidate's age from a photograph. Method 7 may be more scientific, since we are searching for a perfect match (the exact same photo) on the undated button as on a dated one. Often candidates had only three or four photographs made for a particular campaign, and all the picture buttons used one of those three or four. When the next campaign came four years or eight years later, a new photograph was made. Thus if a photo on an undated button is exactly the same as a photo on a dated button, it is probable (though not certain) the two buttons were made for the same campaign.

8. Look for designs that match a button with a known date. Companies like Whitehead & Hoag devised catalogs of ready-made button designs, and the candidate's managers simply picked out one of these prefabricated designs. These designs were usually phased out after four or five years, and new designs replaced them. To date the Bryan pin at lower left we might start by noting a somewhat older photograph, suggesting a 1908 Bryan item. We can reinforce our belief in the 1908 date by finding a matching Taft pin. Since Taft ran for president in 1908 and 1912, we can be reasonably sure the Bryan pin also dates from this period. A search for a matching button for an 1896 or 1900 candidate would turn up no matches.

9. Use the identity of the manufacturer to identify the date. Many button companies were in business for a fairly short period of time. By checking the data on company life spans given in the book Collectible Pinback Buttons one can determine a probable date range for the button. Suppose you have a Debs-Hanford jugate. Debs and Hanford ran together in both 1904 and 1908. Suppose the backpaper is of the Pulver Manufacturing Company. The entry in Collectible Pinback Buttons looks like this:

Thus this pin most likely dates from 1904. Note, however, that this method cannot be 100% certain, since the entries in Collectible Pinback Buttons will need to be updated regularly as more data is found about the history of button manufacturers. Still, this method can provide excellent guidance, especially for pins that may not have a candidate name, but simply say (for example) "Vote Socialist" or "Turn the Rascals Out."

10. Use a backpaper guide to determine the button's age. Stuart and Emily Barr and Ted Hake did yeoman's work in studying the backpapers of dated buttons. They were able to develop a guide to changes in backpaper design for six major button manufacturers. Suppose you have a Woodrow Wilson for president button you have been unable to date by the other nine methods. Suppose the backpaper is as shown below. According to the Barr-Hake guide printed in the book Collectible Pinback Buttons, this backpaper design was used by Keystone Badge between 1902 and 1914, with a new design coming into use in 1915. Thus this pin dates from the first Wilson campaign. As with the company history guide discussed in method nine above, the Barr-Hake backpaper guide will need to be updated and refined over the years to come, and it does not offer 100% precision. Still, it is a very useful method for dating pins.

For Further Reading:

Ted Hake & Russ King, Collectible Pinback Buttons, 1896-1986.

Stephen Cresswell, For the Love of Backpapers, Buttons & Ballots, Issue 7 (1997).

• Buttons and Ballots Welcome Page, with links to reading and reference materials
• Cresswell's List Welcome Page, with links to the Basic Catalog and Monthly List