Collection inventory

Special Collections home page

Campaign Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: --
Date: circa 1990

Biographical History

The first U.S. presidential election took place in 1789. Technically there were twelve candidates but George Washington was the undisputed first choice; the other candidates were really competing to see who would be Vice-President, since at that time the recipient of the second-highest number of votes took that office. Since then there have been 55 presidential elections, hundreds of congressional and senate elections at the national and state level, and thousands of others for lower-level offices. All have involved campaigns with their accompanying paraphernalia: buttons, pins, brochures, booklets, stamps, ribbons, hats, posters, photographs, pamphlets, platform statements, scarves, figurines, bumper stickers, slogans, and more.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Campaign Collection consists of ribbons, campaign literature, posters, photographs, clippings, and more relating to nearly two hundred years of American political campaigns. Most are presidential campaigns but there are a few mayoral and others represented. Candidates represented include Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Dewey, Millard Fillmore, James Garfield, Grover Cleveland, Alf Landon, Adlai Stevenson, Richard Nixon, Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, William H. Taft, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Wendell Wilkie, Martin Van Buren, Harry S. Truman, J. Strom Thurmond, and Harold Stassen. Parties represented include the Democratic and Republican but also the Socialist, States' Rights, Independent, Progressive, and Prohibition parties. There are also a few items from other major events such as the Panama Pacific International Exposition, a banquet for Secretary of the Navy Victor Metcalf, and party conventions.

Special Collections Research Center also has several drawers of campaign memorabilia in the file cabinet along the West wall. These have not been inventoried. Please inquire for more information.

Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is in no particular order. The inventory is a box list only.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has many collections relating to politics and government. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Subject Headings

Corporate Bodies

Democratic Party (U.S.)
Prohibition Party (U.S.)
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )

Subjects

Campaign literature.
Campaign insignia.
Campaign paraphernalia.
Political campaigns -- Souvenirs (Keepsakes)
Political candidates -- Souvenirs (Keepsakes)
Political parties -- United States -- Souvenirs (Keepsakes)

Genres and Forms

Buttons (information artifacts)
Brochures.
Bumper stickers.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Invitations.
Photographs.
Songs (document genre)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Campaign Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Table of Contents

Campaign memorabilia

Inventory