CALIFORNIA POLITICAL BUTTON COLLECTION

A collection of 1950s and '60s political buttons supporting causes and candidates ranging from the Vietnam anti-war movement to Ronald Reagan's campaign for the California governorship. This group consists of 56 unique metal pinback buttons, which are housed in a period cardboard box. Most of the buttons are coated paper with metal backing; some are union printed.

Several of the political pins relate directly to Northern California. For example, a button for the Free Speech F.S.M. is associated with the 1964-65 student protest at the University of California, Berkeley, the first mass act of civil disobedience on an American college campus in the 1960s.

The orange and black Viva Kennedy button in this collection is representative of clubs formed by Latinx supporters of John F. Kennedy during his 1968 presidential campaign. The Viva Kennedy clubs began in Texas as a forum for Mexican American veterans to rally support for equal rights, and eventually spread to swing states with large Latinx populations like Arizona and California. They also promoted increased voter registration and political organization for the Latinx community.

Another button in this collection advocates "No on Prop 14". The Proposition 14 in question is the proposed amendment to the California Constitution which, had it passed, would have effectively allowed housing discrimination. The initiative was intended to counteract the effects of the Rumford Fair Housing Act, which was passed by the California Legislature in 1963 to help end racial discrimination by property owners and landlords who refused to rent or sell their property to people based on ethnicity, religion, sex, marital status, physical handicap, or familial status. It was drafted by William Byron Rumford, the first African American from Northern California to serve in the state legislature.

Overall, the buttons are in very good condition.