Buttons and Ballots was an on-line publication for the political hobby. It began publication in 1997 and last appeared in 2001. In all there were twenty-six issues, each containing three or four articles and a number of features. With the exception of three guest articles that appeared over the years, all material was written by Stephen Cresswell, and each article was copyrighted in the year of publication.
While Buttons and Ballots is no longer being published, many of its articles are still available on-line. Below are both a collection of Tables of Contents of past issues, and a more detailed alphabetic index.
Note that the Table of Contents includes links to past issues, but the index does not. If you find something of interest in the index, make a note of the issue number, and then go to the table of contents section. |
Issue 1
Something New in the Political Hobby
Slogan Buttons of 1940
Henry Adams on President Grant
George R. Lunn: Man of Two Parties
Issue 2
Mystery Button (1910 Polish Button from Milwaukee)
Profile of the American Labor Party
Collector's Dictionary: Roorback
Fear and Loathing on Campaign Trail 1972
The Landon Campaign: Something Completely Different
Issue 3
Collector's Dictionary: Brummagem
Holiday Season in the Hayes White House
Collecting Political Matchcovers
Issue 4
A Very Early Anti-Cigarette Campaign
Brummagem: Toughest Issue in the Hobby
Collector's Dictionary: Jugate
Why Didn't Nixon Destroy the Tapes?
Issue 5
Socialist Magic Lantern Slides
Profile of the Socialist Workers' Party
Collector's Dictionary: Normalcy
Truman & election night
Issue 6
Brummagem: Feedback and discussion
Socialist Workers Party: follow-up discussion
The Socialists Take L.A.--Almost!
Collector's Dictionary: Filibuster
Issue 7
April Fool's Day Debs
Collector's Dictionary: Foxing
Jimmy Carter and the Search for a Useable Past
Issue 8
Prices: Another Tough Issue, Part II
Collector's Dictionary: Celluloid
Bob Shuler: Forgotten Champion of the Prohibitionists
Identifying Coattails Name Pins
Issue 9
Personal Glimpse of Mr. Jefferson
Preserving Political Collectibles
Collector's Dictionary: Barnstorm
Issue 10
Oddities of the Electoral College
Collector's Dictionary: Bigwig
Profile of the Farmer-Labor party
Those Damn Coxsure Buttons
Issue 11
Remember October 9
Of Captains and Piglets: 1940 Willkie Slogan Buttons
Farmer-Labor Party follow-up
Collector's Dictionary: Collet
K.O. the Kennedys! The Rubel Phillips Campaign
Introduction to Coattails Word Pins, Part II
Issue 12
Study of the 1852 Election, by Kevin Smyth
Collector's Dictionary: Ferrotype
Wallace, Rainey, and Ravetz: Details at Last
Odds and Ends from 1948
Brief Political Quiz, by Joel Rubenstein
Issue 13
Cold Water and Hot Coffee on the Campaign Trail: Joshua Levering
Collector's Dictionary: Lame Duck
Parties and Factions: A Quiz
Issue 14
Socialists en masse in Reading, Pennsylvania
Collector's Dictionary: Progressivism
Robert LaFollette and the 1924 Progressives
Harry S Truman and His Screwy Porch
Issue 15
Dump Nixon, 1952: The Checkers Speech
Collector's Dictionary: Pork Barrel
Dump Nixon, 1956: The Herter Movement
John G. Woolley and the 1900 Prohibition Party
Issue 16
The Wizard of Oz: Parable of Bryan and Silver
Collector's Dictionary: Smear
Presidents Quiz: A Youthful Bunch
Index 17
The Fighting Parson: Silas C. Swallow
Collector's Dictionary: Uniface Jugate
The Fighting Parson Accepts
Collector's Bookshelf
Issue 18
Odds & Ends: Hayes Secretary of Navy, McGovern KMA, and more
Collector's Dictionary: Stickpin
Quotations of the Month: The Senate
Documents from History: First Lady from Plains
Benjamin Harrison
Issue 19
The 1934 Pacific Waterfront Strike
Collector's Dictionary: Token
"I Hate It When They...": Issues of Preservation
Issue 20
Richard Nixon and the 1950 Pink Sheet
Collector's Dictionary: Hard Times Token
Cache of Cards of the Socialist Labor Party
Auction of Third Party Rarities
Issue 21
Up from the Streets: Al Smith of New York
Collector's Dictionary: Stalking Horse
Grover Cleveland: The Buffalo Hangman
Issue 22
1944: Dewey's Toughest Campaign
Collector's Dictionary: Dark Horse and Donnybrook
Marijuana as a Political Issue
Issue 23
Ten Ways to Date Your Presidential Buttons
Collector's Dictionary: Rebus
Visceral, Viturperative Vice-President: Spiro T. Agnew
Beware a Man on Horseback: American Military Figures as Presidential Candidates
Issue 24
Gray's Harbor Stamp Works: A Profile by John Hughes
Collector's Dictionary: Solon, Veep, Rock-Ribbed
Bill Miller: Scrappy Little Son-of-a-Gun
Barry Goldwater and Republican Defeat in 1964
Issue 25
Nastiest Campaign Ever: The 1884 Presidential Sweepstakes
Collector's Dictionary: Ballot
Recollections of a Youthful Harpo Marx: Politics in New York City
Farewell to Harold Stassen: America's Most Persistent Presidential Hopeful
Issue 26
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Other articles from various sources
Three Socialist Pinbacks: Following the Paper Trail
West Virginia's Taxicab Governor: William C. Marland
Reference Materials Posted in 2003
Socialist Party Items: Several Reference Guides
More of these Socialist Party Reference pages coming soon
After noting the issue number, go to the Table of Contents, above. If the article is posted on-line you will find a link there.
Adams, Henry 1
Agnew, Spiro T. 23
Alaska, and 1900 election returns 25
Alexander, George, mayor of Los Angeles 6
American Labor Party 2
Anti-Cigarette crusade 3
April Fools 7
Army officers who ran for president 23
Backpapers 7, 23
Ballots, 1876, including fraudulent one 9
Ballots, Collector's Dictionary 25
Barnstorm, Collectors Dictionary 9
Baum, Frank 16
Berger, Victor AVS
Bigwig, Collectors Dictionary 10
Billings, Warren 16
Blaine, James G. 25
Bonus Army 6
Bristow, Dick 4, 6
Brummagem, Collector's Dictionary 3
Brummagem, Toughest Issue in the Hobby 4
Brummagem, Discussion 4 and 5
Buffalo Hangman 21
Bull Moose studs 26
Button manufacturers 7
Bryan, William Jennings, and Wizard of Oz 16
California, 1932 Senate race in 8
California, 1950 Senate race in 20
Captain--I Want to Be a Captain 1, 11
Carter, Jimmy, Why Not the Best? 7
Carter, Rosalyn, First Lady from Plains 18
Chafin, Eugene, and 1912 election 26
Checkers Speech of Richard Nixon 15
Cigarettes, campaign against 3
Circus and President Jefferson 9
Cleveland, Grover 21
Cleveland, Grover, and 1884 election 25
Coattails Word Pins, Introduction 8, 11
Collecting Specialties 21
Collection Display & Preservation 9
Collet, Collector's Dictionary 11
Cox, James: FDR on Cox buttons 10
Coxey, Jacob S. 10, 11
Dark Horse (Collector's Dictionary) 22
Dates of Political Buttons, tips for determining 23
Debs, Eugene, and 1912 election 26
Debs, Eugene (April Fools) 7
Debs, Eugene, postcards 20
Democratic National Convention of 1964 26
Dewey, Thomas E., and 1944 election 22
Dewey, Thomas E.: "To a T" pin 18
Displaying Buttons 9
Donnybrook (Collector's Dictionary) 22
Douglas, Helen 20
Draft (Collector's Dictionary) 26
Education of Henry Adams 1
Election of 1852 12
Election of 1876 9
Election of 1884 25
Election of 1912, Oddities of 26
Election of 1940 26
Election of 1948 12
Electoral College, Oddities of 10
Electoral Commission (1876) 9
Environmental conditions of storage (humidity, etc.) 9
Factions and Parties quiz 13
Farmer-Labor party 10
Farmer-Labor party follow-up 11
Fear and Loathing (1972) 2
Ferrotype, Collector's Dictionary 12
Fighting Parson (Silas C. Swallow) 17
Filibuster, Collector's Dictionary 6
Forman, James 26
Foxing, Collector's Dictionary 7
Gaylord, Winfield AVS
Generals who ran for president 23
Goldwater, Barry 24
Gonzo journalism (1972) 2
Grant, Ulysses S., according to Henry Adams 1
Gray's Harbor Stamp Works, 24
Hake, Ted, price guide update 17
Hamer, Fannie Lou 26
Hard Times Tokens 20
Harriman, Job 6
Harris, Chick 20
Harrison, Benjamin 18
Hayes, Rutherford B., and 1876 election 9
Hayes, Rutherford B., and Christmas Holidays 3
Hayes, Rutherford B., and his secretary of the Navy 19
Hemp 22
Herter, Chris, and the 1956 election 15
Hoover, Herbert, and the Bonus Army 6
Hughes, John, article by 24
Humphrey, Hubert, and 1964 Convention 26
I Want to be a Captain 1, 11
Identifying local candidates 11
International Longshoreman Association 19
Jackson, Andrew, and Hard Times Tokens 20
Jefferson, Thomas (brief) 9
Johnson, Lyndon, and the 1964 Convention 26
Jones, Mary Harris (Mother Jones) 5
Jugate, Collector's Dictionary 4
Jugate Collecting 21
K.M.A. McGovern pin 19
K.O. the Kennedys Button 11
Kennedy, John F., and integration of Ole Miss 11
LaFollette, Robert 14
Labor prisoners 16 19
Landon sunflowers 2
Levering, Joshua 13
Liberal Party (N.Y.) 3
Little Pinkies 10
Los Angeles mayoral race (1911) 6
Lunn, George 1
MacArthur, Douglas, and Bonus Army 6
MacArthur, Douglas, and Korea 22
Magic Lantern slides, Socialist 5
Mailing Political Items 19
Marijuana 22
Marland, William C. AVS
Marx, Harpo, and New York City politics 25
Maryland politics and Spiro T. Agnew 23
Mayberry, N.C. (fictional town) 4
Matchcovers, Political 3
McGovern, George, and Hunter S. Thompson 2
McGovern button: K.M.A. 18
McGovern button: Remember October 9 11
McKinley, William 13
McNamara case (Los Angeles) 6
Medical Marijuana 22
Michigan Socialist Labor Party 20
Military Figures as presidential candidates, 23
Miller, William 24
Milwaukee, Socialist Party in 26
Mississippi, 1963 election 11
Mississippi, 1964 election 26
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party 26
Mooney, Tom 16
Moose lapel pins (Bull Moose) 26
Mother Jones, see Jones
Munk, Michael, article by 19
New York City Elections, Harpo Marx on 25
Nixon, Richard, and 1950 race for the Senate 20
Nixon, Richard, and the Oval Office Tapes 4
Nixon, Richard: as Vice-presidential candidate 15
Nixon, Richard, and Spiro T. Agnew 23
Nixon, Richard: his memoirs 4
Nixon button (anti-), Remember October 9
Nome, Alaska, and 1900 election returns 25
Normalcy, Collector's Dictionary 5
O'Brien, Jarvis P. 4, 5
Officers (military) who ran for president 23
Outhouses, WPA 3
Oz 16
Paper political collectibles AVS
Parties and Factions quiz 13
Patch, Don, article by 19
People's Party 19
People's Party, and Wizard of Oz 16
Phillips, Rubel 11
Photographs, youthful presidential 16
Pierce, Franklin 12
Piglets Squeal 11
Pink Sheet, and 1950 California Senate Race 20
Polish language button, 1910 Milwaukee 2
Political buttons, determining dates of 23
Populists--See People's Party
Pork Barrel (Collector's Dictionary) 15
Portland, Oregon and ILA strike of 1934 19
Preserving Political Items 9 19
Prices of Buttons 7, 8
Progressive Party (1924) 14
Progressivism (Collector's Dictionary) 14
Prohibition party (1932 California race) 8
Prohibition party (1896) 13
Prohibition party (1900) 15
Prohibition party (1904) 17
Rainey-Wallace-Ravetz pin 9, 10, 12
Reading (Pennsylvania) Socialist party 14, AVS
Rebus, Collector's Dictionary 23
Remember October 9 button 11
Reuther, Walter, and 1964 Democratic Convention 26
Roorback, Collector's Dictionary 2
Roosevelt, Elliott 11
Roosevelt, Franklin: 1920 Cox-Roosevelt word pins 10
Roosevelt, Franklin: 1940 1, 26
Roosevelt, Franklin: 1944 election 22
Roosevelt, Theodore, and 1912 election 26
Rubenstein, Joel 12
San Francisco waterfront strike of 1934 19
"Save 28 Innocent Men" 19
Schenectedy, New York 1
Scott, Winfield, 12
Senate, U.S., and Filibusters 6
Senate, U.S., quotations on 18
Sheriff collectibles 4
Shuler, Robert 8
Sigoloff, Marc 4
Silver Issue, and Wizard of Oz 16
Sixty After 60 slogan AVS
Smear (Collectors Dictionary) 16
Smith, Al 21
Smyth, Kevin, articles by 12, 23
Socialist Labor Party in Michigan 20
Socialist Magic Lantern slides 5
Socialist Party, Los Angeles 6
Socialist Party, Milwaukee 26
Socialist Party Pins RMP
Socialist Party Postcards 20
Socialist Party, Reading (Pa.) 14, 26
Socialist Party, Schenectedy (N.Y.) 1
Socialist Workers' Party 5, 6
Socialist Workers' Party in 1966 AVS
Socialists for Congress pin, AVS
Specializing as a Collector 21
Stalking Horse (Collector's Dictionary) 21
Stassen, Harold, overview of his career 25
Stassen, Harold, and the 1956 Herter Movement 15
Stickpin (Collector's Dictionary) 18
Storage of political collectibles 9
Sullivan, Edmund, book by 17
Swallow, Silas C. 17
Tabs 5
Taft, William Howard, and 1912 campaign 26
Taxicab Governor 25
Third parties, and 1996 congressional races 5
Thomas-Maurer jugate 20
Thompson, Hunter S. 2
Thompson, Richard W. 19
Thurmond, J. Strom 6
Tilden, Samuel, and 1876 election 9
Tobacco legislation 3
Tokens (Collector's Dictionary) 19
Tokens, Hard Times (Collector's Dictionary) 20
Trigates 6
Truman, Harry S, and 1948 election 5, 12
Truman, Harry S, and Korean War 22
Truman, Harry S, and White House portico 14
Value of Buttons 7, 8
Walker, William 6
Wallace (Henry) coattails button 9, 10, 12
Wallace (Henry) and piglets issue 11
West Virginia, and Governor Marland 25
White House, second story porch 14
Willkie, Wendell, overview 26
Willkie slogan buttons 1, 11, 26
Wilson, Woodrow, and 1912 campaign 26
Wizard of Oz 16
Wonderful Wizard of Oz 16
Woolley, John G. 15
Works Progress Administration 3
Year of issue of political buttons, how to determine 23
Yehudi is For Willkie Too 26
AVS means "Articles from Various Sources," i.e. not Buttons & Ballots. Clicking on the AVS takes you to the list of on-line articles in this category.