Museum’s political exhibit intended to encourage voting
Photo by Clay Schuldt Anne Makepeace shows some of her political collection of buttons and memorabilia in the latest display case of the Smallest Museum Exhibit in front of The Grand Center for Arts & Culture.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Amid the buttons of various campaigns stands the highlight of the collection: A badge for Alf Landon, the Republican1936 presidential nominee, which is the oldest item in the collection.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Among the items in the political collection of Anne Makepeace is the campaign card of her father, Phillip Gross, who served in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Tacked in the panel on the right are buttons from more recent elections, but also an LBJ poster and an anti-McCarthy bumper sticker.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Anne Makepeace shows some of her political collection of buttons and memorabilia in the latest display case of the Smallest Museum Exhibit in front of The Grand Center for Arts & Culture.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Amid the buttons of various campaigns stands the highlight of the collection: A badge for Alf Landon, the Republican1936 presidential nominee, which is the oldest item in the collection.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Among the items in the political collection of Anne Makepeace is the campaign card of her father, Phillip Gross, who served in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Photo by Clay Schuldt Tacked in the panel on the right are buttons from more recent elections, but also an LBJ poster and an anti-McCarthy bumper sticker.
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NEW ULM -- Political art can have a short shelf life, rarely surviving beyond a single election, but the Smallest Museum Exhibit in front of The Grand Center for Arts & Culture is highlighting the preservation of this art.
Through Oct. 7, the museum will host a political campaign button and memorabilia art collection belonging to the Gross-Makepeace family.
Anne Makepeace is the collection's curator. She said her parents collected campaign buttons and other memorabilia. Her father, Phillip W. Gross, even ran for Wisconsin State Senate and was a member of the Wisconsin Assembly. Memorabilia from his campaign in the collection.
Most of the Republican buttons were received from her parents. Some of the buttons may have even come from her grandparents, based on their age.
A badge for Alf Landon, the Republican governor of Kansas and 1936 presidential nominee, is the oldest item in the collection. It is also one of the most unique in terms of artistic design.
The Landon badge is shaped and colored like a sunflower. Most badges, regardless of political party feature a combination of red, white and blue.
Makepeace said she caught the political button collecting bug as well. She managed to collect several Democratic campaign buttons over the years. The display is split between the Republicans and Democrats.
Much of the memorabilia is for presidential campaigns, but there are also some unique to political races in Wisconsin or Minnesota.
One of the larger posters reads: "Joe Must Go." Makepeace explained this is actually a reference to Joe McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator who gained notoriety during the Red Scare hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War.
Makepeace said even though her parents were Wisconsin Republicans, they were not McCarthy fans.
Makepeace said the exhibit is not intended to be divisive, but to harken back to a time when people could discuss different political views, and the discourse remained civil.
"My purpose in displaying this collection is to show the various styles of campaign art and memorabilia from 1936-2012 and to encourage everyone who is eligible to get out and vote," Makepeace said.